16 January- Taste Test #6

Today was Varietals (65%) chocolate day. The brand was E. Guitad and is an American brand. The types included:Ambanja, Chicuri, Sur del Lago, and Queredo. The Ambanja is made from Criollo bean and is the most rare. Yet, I found the taste astrigent, with a strong aroma. The chocolate itself came from Madagascar. In today's class we focused on how the location in which it is grown can influence the taste of the chocolate. The Chicuri is the middle of the three types of bean. I found it milder than the first but still very rich. The chocolate was grown in Colombia. The third chocolate was Queredo and is from the Forastero bean, which is grown in Ecuador. I enjoyed this chocolate and its nutty taste. The fourth chocolate is called Sur del Lago and is the blend from Criollo and Trinitario. It was definitely the sweetest of all the samples, but it lacked the smoothness of the others that I liked.

On Friday, we talked about how life experiences can influence individual tastes. Another part of tasting is genetics based. The class as a whole tasted PTC stripes to determine if we had the ability to taste the bitter chemical. I could definitely taste the chemical, and it was absolutely terrible. Aften was sitting right next to me and couldn't taste it all. It's crazy how much factors into individual differences in tasting palates. Fascinating.

Next we did Coffee! Yep, God's gift to college students. I am a huge fan of coffee and the tasting took me by surprise. I realize the limited time that we have for this class. I had my doubts if we would make it to coffee, but my prays were answered. The video on the Starbuck's taster was very interesting, and I learned a lot about the vocabulary used to describe the varying tastes of coffee. The three coffees we sampled were: Sumatra, which I thought had an earthy, bold taste; Guatemalan, which tasted spiced and very 'coffee-like'; and Kenya, which was sweet but slightly acidic. Of the three I would definitely choose a cup of Guatemalan.

Finally, we ended today's series of taste test with surface ripened cheeses. Today's samples kind of turned me off to cheese. Number 1 is Fromage de Chevre, which I found firm and salty. Number 2 is Fromage de Chevre le Chevrot, which was softer but tasted too acidic, and Number 3 is called Robiola but what they should of name it is stinky. I probably should of tried closing my nose while tasting it because the aroma just destroyed any potential of me liking the cheese. I can't say I will be shopping for any of these surface ripened cheeses in the fresh market, but the brie cheese on the otherhand...