Cocoa beans

Origin: Ghana
Type: Forastero
Year: 2025
Certificates: Rain Forrest Alliance

The aroma is clear chocolate with mid and high notes of soft vanilla. In short it smell like you would expect chocolate to smell like, a warm, soft hug.

This is the epitome of a well rounded chocolate flavor profile and is the chocolate flavor we all grew up with and came to love. The chocolate is deep and rich like fudge with toasted almonds. I also get warmed soft leather that has a slight tang to it. The same vanilla notes that are in the nose are in the chocolate that lends an extra depth of flavor. The bitterness and astringency are there and fully in check further lending structure and body.

There is a persistent gentle molasses note. It is heavy but not cloying. It counterpoints the bitterness in a great fashion.

This is a very forgiving origin and a good one to start with and will go well in light milk chocolate all the way to brooding dark chocolates.

Drum Roasting

The drum roasting profile I used for the evaluation sample was 11:10/13:10/17:45 @ 264 F. After that, you can treat this bean pretty strongly as there is tons of chocolate and fruit. You absolutely want to pay attention to the aroma and reduce your power/ramps if you smell it trying to be acrid but that is going to be pretty difficult with this bean. You will notice the Development time is a mere 2 minutes and barrels on strongly to the lower 260s.

Behmor Roaster

Roast 2 lb and use P1 on the one pound setting, for 16 minutes or until you hear a pop or two. Then take it longer. 2-3 minutes. It is virtually impossible to over roast in the Behmor with 2 lb in there. If you are using the current model with Manual control, turning down the power to P4 (75% power) when it starts to become aromatic (or smells sharp) is a nice way to keep the EOR tempering in check.

Oven Roasting

Pre-heat your oven to 325 F. Put 1-2 lb of beans onto a tray single layer deep. Check the temperature every 5 minutes, stirring at that time. When the beans are in the 205-215 range, reduce the oven temperature to about 10-15 F above your target EOR, so if you are going for 265 F, set it to 280 F. When the beans reach your desired temperature and/or are smelling sharp, another 15-30 minutes, remove them and let them cool. This should give you a nice fully developed roasted bean that is in little danger of being over roasted.

Overall it really isn't too fussy.

Brewing Cocoa

The flavors as a brewed cocoa are more bold than some of the other varieties I carry. The dry aroma is unmistakably chocolate and this of course carries through with the wet aroma. There are flavors of nut and tobacco and a substantial mouth feel. There is a good, balanced, pleasant bitterness and lingering deep (for a brewed cocoa) chocolate. It also has a good smoothness to it. Overall, I am left with the impression that I have just eaten a nice handful of luscious roasted cocoa beans.

Ghana RFA

Given the long and sometimes poor history Ghana has had with slave and child labor (forced) this is the one time I specifically put stock in the fair trade practices of the Rain Forest Alliance certification.

The preparation is remarkably clean and it is a full, even fermentation.