Sifting through my bag collection till I came up with this one brought the memories back to the ol’ gray cells. I remember because I had just tried a cousin of this bean and thought she was just ok. Nothing really distinctive to set it apart.

So then I took this one for a spin. “Dark chocolate” I read; “well we’ll soon see about that”. Spun up the behmor and took it right into second crack- I figured that’s where the “dark” chocolate was. I remember the distinctive look of these dark pearls. Now look. I’m getting older - I’m impatient. I cheerfully ignored even a 24 hour rest of which I’m sure more sophisticated types will shake their wizened heads.

I was not disappointed- which tells you where I would’ve been if I’d waited. This bean definitely joins the proud ranks of “Chocolate Monster” (see my review on the Vietnam Lotus shg). Here was a distinct taste of dark chocolate indeed. A perfect bitter full mouth feel of it. But mind you the right kind of bitter. And yet the finish was wonderfully sweet and kept you coming back for more.

As the notes said - definitely walnut, a wonderfully fruity walnut actually - as if you’d just shucked one yourself. The apple was there, content to play third fiddle.

The nose was amazing and overall she held up considerably well over the days I had; developing nicely into even more tones of the chocolate. A fantastic little bean; I’d buy it again. You’ll not be pouring this one down the sink.