Name: Mexican Ruby Lavados (washed / unfermented) Sandy/Iris 2024
Brand: Chocolate Alchemy
SKU: 41076878245991
Price: 115.0 USD
Availability: InStock

Mexican Ruby Lavados (washed / unfermented) Sandy/Iris 2024

Origin: Mexico
Region: Tabasco, Sandy/Iris Coop
Type: Trinatario
Sourcing: Direct Trade
Fermentation: None, washed raw cocoa
Uses: Ruby chocolate, Purple phase
Crop Year: 2024

First and foremost, this cocoa is not fermented and because of that, it is particularly unsuited for classic eating chocolate. I'm not going to bother with my classic spider chart as it will show 11s (and it only goes to 5) for extreme bitterness and astringency, plus other really funky notes like green banana skin and citrus pith with undertones of sour stone fruit and unripe green peppers. So why am I offering it?

This unfermented and raw cocoa is absolutely great for drinking chocolate. I'm not meaning Brewing cocoa nor am I meaning sipping chocolate that is little more than melting chocolate in a cup. I'm meaning something you would mix with water or milk and as little or as much sugar as you would like. Once you have diluted it with liquid, the astringency drops away to something much more balanced and even kind of addictive. As for the taste, the chocolate is a little understated but certainly there. The mouthfeel is wonderfully thick and full and that unripe pepper flavor I mentioned integrates in a lovely fashion, with back notes of nut and chili pepper.

I recommend making a 50-60% chocolate with it as you normally would. For drinks, grate up about 1-2 oz per cup of liquid and mix it until well incorporated. I personally like using my espresso machine to steam it together but just doing it on the stove top or pouring boiling water or hot milk over it and then whisking will do just fine.

Now, for the other thing you can do with this beans. You can make Ruby Chocolate! As a review for people, this isn't a new chocolate. It is just certain raw beans, when high in catechins turn either red or purple when treated with acid.

Ruby chocolate is the red phase and what we are offering here is the purple phase..

Here is how I made the chocolate you see in the photos.

100 g unroasted or roasted "Ruby" Lavados
10 g citric acid dissolved in 20 g water
300 g cocoa butter
300 g milk powder
290 g sugar
optional
10 g vanilla powder

Dissolve the 10 g of citric acid in the water (you might have to heat it) and then mix that with the nibs. Let the set and absorb the liquid for 24 hours. Then lay them out on a tray and dry them at about 150 F until the weight is back down to 100 g. If you are using the nibs unroasted, they will have some water which will also be driven off, giving you technically less weight than you started with (i.e. 100 nib + 10 acid = 110 g total). This should take a few hours and the added benefit is that should there be any bacteria on them (one of the MAJOR reasons I don't like raw chocolate) those should be killed off with this drying step.

At this point, just make the chocolate as you would any other. I really like the added vanilla they are optional and only for flavor.

You'll note there are two different purple chocolates in the photo. This 10% one is the darker one, the lighter one that resembles Ruby chocolate is 5%. Also, that recipe is just a jumping off point. Feel free to experiment. The only really thing you need to keep in place is adding 10% of the weight of the nibs worth of citric acid and driving the water off so the chocolate does not seize.

Profile Drum Roasting: The thing about unfermented cocoa is that it hardly cares or is affected by roasting profiles. Don't worry about profiles, just apply heat until you get to an EOR temperature of 255-265 F. It is really no more complicated than that.

Behmor: If you are roasting blind in the Behmor, P1 loaded with 2 lb going to 18 minutes will be just fine. It isn't like you can make it extra bitter or astringent. If you are doing 1 kg, go on to 20 minutes and for 2.5 lb, you'll probably need another couple after that.. Due to the cold start of the the Behmor, you can just set it on the 1 lb setting with 2.5 lb of cocoa and go. This is all of course if you don't have a thermocouple in the beans (Modifying your Behmor)

Oven Roasting: You will need an IR thermometer. Roast 2 lb of beans. Preheat your over to 350 F. Place your cocoa beans in a single layer on a baking sheet and into the oven. Stir the beans at 5 minutes and check the temperature. Continue roasting until the surface temperature reads 205-215 F (it may well vary across the beans). At that point, turn your oven down 10-15 F above your target EOR, in this case 260 + ~15 = 275 and continue to roast, stirring every 5 minutes until approximately 265 F. Again, there will be variation but the beauty of this method is having turned the oven down it is difficult to over roast. The important part here is to get good momentum going in a hot oven and then basically coasting to finish.

Lavados - San Felipe de León – Dionisia's Mountain Farm

Why Washed?

The grower says it best: "Due to the rainy weather and cold climate, cocoa fermentation is a near impossible task. However, farmers wash cacao according to the Mexican tradition. And as washed cacao the bean shines in drinking chocolate with its strong and herbal flavor notes."

The People Behind the Bean

In the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca, nestled among forest paths and mountain streams, lies the small village of San Felipe de León — part of the municipality of San Juan Bautista Valle Nacional. Home to around 300 people of the Chinanteco indigenous community, the village shares a mother tongue of Chinanteco, one of Mexico's endangered native languages. Most households rely on agriculture for their livelihood, growing corn, squash, beans, citrus, and green beans for home consumption while raising chickens and turkeys.

For decades the community's primary cash crop was coffee, but declining prices driven by overproduction across Mexico have pushed many families to transition to Theobroma Cacao and Theobroma Bicolor (pataxte). At the heart of this transition is Dionisia — the farm's owner and the community's key organizer, coordinating cacao and pataxte farmers collectively to fulfill orders. Her farm sits atop a small mountain, more than an hour on foot from her house, uphill through the forest. The land is fertile and well-watered, with creeks running throughout.

Cacao in Oaxaca

Although Oaxaca is famous for its moles and drinking chocolate, commercial cacao production there is so modest it barely registers in national statistics. Only around 100 tons are thought to be harvested across the entire state each year, almost entirely from small backyard gardens — cultivos de traspatio. Production is too dispersed for centralized fermentation to be practical, which is why all Oaxacan cacao is available only as cacao lavado — washed and unfermented — in small quantities.

Post-Harvest Details

Process: Washed / unfermented (cacao lavado) — traditional Mexican method
Bean Types: Theobroma Cacao and Theobroma Bicolor (pataxte)
Best For: Drinking chocolate — not recommended for traditional eating chocolate