Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Review: Patric Rio Caribe Superior 70%

Lindy's Rating: 9.0 (previously ***)
Richard's Rating: 8.5 (previously ***)

chocolate makerPatric
barRio Caribe Superior
regionVenezuela
plantation(blend)
cacao trees(unknown)
year(unknown)
size65g ~ 2.3oz
cocoa solids70%
added fatcocoa butter
sweetenercane sugar
emulsifier(none)
flavoring(none)
other ingredients(none)
list price$7.99

colormedium brown
PANTONE 19-1015
Bracken
texturematte with imprint
aromaroast (coffee, cocoa), floral, spice, earth, hint of sweet
snaphard
tastesweet, tart, fruit (berry, apricot, citrus), roast, hint of walnut
meltmore smooth
lengthmedium
finishslightly sour, very slightly acidic

The bar arrived broken :(

Patric is the creation of independent American craft chocolate maker Alan McClure. In addition to his work making great bean to bar chocolate at his factory in Columbia, MO, he is also one of the founders and current Chair of the Craft Chocolate Makers of America.

Patric Rio Caribe Superior is a single-origin bar made of 70% cacao from the Paria peninsula of Venezuela. The only additions to the cacao beans were cane sugar and cocoa butter. Inside the paper wrapper, the 65 gram Rio Caribe bar was enclosed in clear plastic. As I've mentioned before, I prefer foil to plastic, so that you can easily reuse it if you don't eat the entire bar in one sitting. The best before date was November, 2011.

The chocolate bar was a single slab with a matte finish and a large cursive "Patric" imprinted across it. The bar we reviewed had unfortunately been broken at some point. In any case, it had a medium brown Bracken (PANTONE 19-1015) color and a hard snap.

Lindy soon mentioned that the chocolate had a pleasant aroma. The scents we noticed were roast (as coffee to me; cocoa to Lindy), floral, spice, earth, and a hint of sweet.

Rio Caribe had a taste that was both sweet and tart, with fruit flavors of berry, apricot, and something citrus. I also experienced some roast, and Lindy detected a hint of walnut.

The melt was smoother than average, definitely in the more smooth category. The flavor lasted 20 to 25 seconds after the chocolate was gone, placing it on the near end of a medium length. The final aftertaste was slightly sour, and I also noticed a very slight acidity.

Overall, the Patric Rio Caribe Superior had many great qualities, and although it did not break into either of our favorites lists, we both thought well of this chocolate. Lindy described her rating as a high ***. This was our first review of a Patric chocolate bar, but it won't be the last. We look forward to trying others.

You can purchase Rio Caribe Superior online for $7.99, either directly from Patric or, if you want to bundle it with some bars from other chocolate makers, from Chocolopolis.

3 comments:

  1. Hello Richard!

    I still haven't had the chance to try this bar, but enjoyed reading your review. Thank you for posting them all!
    Can I ask which bars is your favorite list comprised of, so far?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for the feedback! You can view our favorites by clicking on the links at the top right in the Pages section. Richard's Favorites takes you to my favorite bars and Lindy's Favorites takes you to Lindy's. You can also see a summary of all of our ratings and bars, along with list price per ounce, at Best Chocolate Values.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you, Richard, and sorry about that...
    Failed to notice.
    I would certainly be happy to try any bar from both these lists.
    Thanks again for creating this blog!

    ReplyDelete