Domori Cacao Criollo 70% Porcelana

0.88oz (25g) bar

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, cane sugar

Corporate Info: [Altered from 1/23/11] A Google search on Italy's Domori mostly finds retailers and the occasional layperson like me, not news articles or other credible sources of information. (One minor exception is a short blog post from 2005 by famed pastry chef David Lebovitz.) Domori is currently a subsidiary of gruppo illy, which also owns several other high-end brands including the obvious illycaffè. Otherwise I'll refrain from making any claims about Domori as a company and just point you to the areas of its website that talk about its plantation, the company today, its production process, and so on. It's not all that enlightening, but the focus (whether in reality or just marketing terms) seems to be on quality and flavor. The bars are very small and pricey, so they'd better be high quality!

This Bar: I received the Porcelana from a friend, who absolutely loves Domori and this bar in particular. It's made with prized criollo beans from Venezuela, which supposedly have a subtler, “finer” taste. Domori's website claims the Porcelana bar has “hints of bread, butter, and jam for an exhilarating round palate.” Hm, okay.

Appearance: Domori's thin, flat shape with a low-key sheen and orange undertone. (The photo above was taken some time after I received the bar, so my description is based on my having rubbed my thumb over the bloom evident there.)

Smell: Not strong, but earthy, bitter, and roasted.

Taste: Texture is super rich and creamy. Flavor is indeed subtle but with a thin, bitter edge and long finish. I'm getting earthy and dried, like dirt or mushrooms, plus there's that long-lasting but not especially tannic (as is often the case) bitterness that reminds me of the aftertaste of strong, dark-roasted coffee. Lots of complexity here.

Conclusion: Domori Cacao Criollo 70% Porcelana is smooth and subtly earthy, with a long-lasting bitter finish.