Limited Release, Yasica Especial

About This Bar

Over a decade ago Giff discovered what he thought may be ancient Criollo trees in a remote area of the jungle in Nicaragua.  He had the leaves from several trees tested by the USDA (test results below), and one tree (identified as "Laube 1" on the test results) turned out to actually be ancient Nicaragua Criollo.  Giff cleared a section of his farm away from his other trees and began to propagate this ancient Criollo along the Yasica river through grafting.

Almost ten years after first beginning this labor of love, Giff's painstakingly grafted and nurtured trees finally produced enough beans for a single sack of dried cacao.  He sent us that sack, and we created this incredibly special bar, which won Best in Competition when it debuted at the Northwest Chocolate Festival.  This year Giff sent the beans via air freight as soon as they were ready, and we began crafting this bar right away.  We only have a very small number of bars.

The beans themselves are white, which result in a light brown color once dried (see cut test picture in the gallery).  They're extremely small, and with only one sack we had to get everything right the first time.  After deciding on the best roasting temperature we carefully monitored the entire roast, tasting beans at one-minute intervals and stopping the roast as soon as we felt the flavors were fully developed.  We took a similar approach with the conch, tasting hourly throughout the process and stopping the grinders once we felt the chocolate had reached peak flavor.

The flavors in this bar are intense and exquisite, with notes of sweet Concord grapes (grape jelly), juicy strawberries, honey and cashews (among others).  It's fascinating to think that these may be some of the same flavors that indigenous Latin American peoples tasted in their cacao hundreds of years ago.

Flavor notes:  Sweet Concord grapes, juicy strawberries, honey & cashews.

Yasica Genetic Testing, Graph

Examples of cacao genetic varieties

A Note on Cacao Genetics

There's often confusion surrounding the term "Criollo."  A common misconception is that there are three genetic types of cacao:  Criollo, Forestero and Trinitario, with Criollo being considered the best.  This is absolutely not true.

For one thing, Forestero and Trinitario aren't even genetic types - they're cultivars.  In addition, there are over a dozen different genetic types of cacao that have been catalogued, and more that haven't been.  Plus, unless specific genetic varieties are planted in areas separate from other genetic varieties, the genetics get mixed together not only between trees in the same area but even within pods on the same tree.

Most importantly, growing Criollo is NOT particularly good for cacao farmers.  The trees are very susceptible to disease, and aren't good producers.  This is one of the reasons Giff was only able to produce one sack despite having many trees.

This project is truly a labor of love on Giff's part.  He has a large cacao farm which is productive and sustainable, and was able to undertake this years-long project because the other operations on his farm made it financially possible.  In addition, he was lucky enough able to get the cacao leaves tested by the USDA - something that's very difficult to do.

In the end, great flavor comes down to many factors other than simply genetics - the expertise of the farmers, how the cacao is cultivated and harvested, the skill and techniques of the post-harvest facility, and of course the approach an individual chocolate maker takes to roasting and conching (among other things).

We're very lucky that Giff put so much time and effort into making these beans, and that he chose to share them with us.  As a cacao farmer, Giff understands and appreciates the value of such a special project, and as chocolate makers we're fascinated and intrigued by the unique flavors in this bean, and what it represents.  But, this bar needs to be viewed as a flavorful exception to the standard practices of viable cacao farming.