Cocoa Raw 70% with Pecans

Cocoa Raw are a Poland based bean to bar company, sourcing direct from farmers. The aroma was distinctly Peruvian yet, admittedly, more so Polish. Bear in mind that my definition of what smells Peruvian and what smells Polish is purely subjective. Despite the hindering metallic note, it was rich with cherry liqueur, fruity syrup, blackberry, coffee and coconut. The nuts gave their natural scent, and there was also a prominent savoury scent

The flavour was difficult to decipher. I knew I liked it, but no words were coming to mind. Now this wasn't because I was mesmerised, but simply because I didn't have a clue what I could taste. This would be down to the fact that the chocolate was 'raw', meaning roast was kept to a minimum, therefore flavours hadn't fully developed, and rather they remained soft and balanced. Eventually words of the tongue surfaced: red wine, quite acidic, hammy (slightly smokey), mustard, brown bread, seeds, red berries, dark chocolate and the Bourbon vanilla

The pecans and hazelnuts had their nutty flavours, but did not affect the chocolate. The pecans were very buttery, with a walnut-like taste and slightly sweet

The texture was grainy but with that 'raw' title you couldn't possibly expect it to be silky smooth. There was a sweetness in taste, but not like other chocolate so it could be that coconut blossom sugar isn't as sweet as cane sugar. The flavours being so in equilibrium made the chocolate taste calming and I strangely enjoyed it, it was like a glass of red wine (not the sweet kind). I say 'strangely' because of the more savoury flavours it had... quite bizarre, I did not enjoy the metal smell/taste but the fruity aspect of it was my favourite