Firetree
Solomon Islands Makira Island 75%
Smell: Brigh sharp fuity. Warm deep tropical. Florid. Reminds me of the scent of the carolina jasmine vine I bought today. But with more candy in it. Like a saltwater taffy.
Slightly grainy melt, but just barely. Nice even medium speed melt. Playful but solid. Building a tree house. Mmm, satisfying chew. Dark but not intimidating. Sitting in a tree, the leaves rustling and branches waving. A friendly chocolate. If this were a dog, it would be medium size, low floof, medium derp. It would dig a hole for your petunias when you pointed at a spot on the ground. It would love nothing more than playing fetch with a frisbee in a sunny field, and it would run alongside your bike on the way home.
Phillipines Mindanao Island 73%
Smell: Oh gosh what. Um this has a bit of the vomit thing. But it's like, the ok version of it. It feels like the tunnels under the university that I found in the middle of my first winter away and practically lived in so I didn't have to see other people. (That's a fictional account, there unfortunately were no such tunnels.)
Starts quiet and dark. Bit of the pennies and vomit thing shows up. Yeah this tastes like Indonesian chocolate. Um. What else. Grass? I wouldn't be very surprised to encounter some of this experience after crushing and smelling the leaves or stems of a tropical plant. It's got a smooth solid foundation like the last one. If this were a bird... if this were a bird, it would be three stories tall but live in a giant cave with its beak pointed up through a sinkhole disguised as the ground, and it would wait a very long time to eat unlucky travelers who happened by.
Vanuatu Malekula Island 72%
Smells: ...I don't know. My brain says "smells like chocolate from SE Asia/The Philippines/Indonesia", and it's kind of covering up the details. Maybe a little bit of oranges. If this smell were a flower it would be a big goofy floppy colorful flower that sprays sticky liquid.
Sort of a dry almost ashy thing going on. Sweet. Makes my mouth pucker a little like unripe persimmons. It's like the powdered ashen skin that sloughs off of a wooden deck after it's cracked from too much sun and heat and wind. But it's also a tiny bit sour. It's nighttime, and the desert is broken.
Papua New Guinea Karkar Island 72%
Smell: Good old vomit and pennies again, but irises and waterslides as well.
My mind is drifting off of this chocolate for some reason. I'm thinking about conversations with people that I plan to have. Refocusing. It's sharp bright sour. Citrus. Those green rindy citrus fruits from middle America. Can't remember what they're called. They go in the sauce for chicken mole. It's like a slightly disappointing birthday party that most of your cousins came to but not many of your favorite classmates. It's a little like traditional East Asian stringed instruments that go "wiiiiii wii wiiii wiiiiiiiiiiiii". It kind of makes a big circle in my mouth while missing the middle of my tongue.
Solomon Islands Guadalcanal 69%
Smells like selling candy bars door to door to support the marching band. More warm caramel pink than any of the others.
Sweet. Kind of the same energy as strawberry ambrosia. Or like it's a Pacific island chocolate playing strawberry ambrosia in a play, and doing quite a good job given that it's a Pacific island chocolate. A shame how it's addicted to jello shots and flavored cigarillos. Otherwise it might be able to give up the morning shift at the shitty diner and go full time in theater. Might end up getting type cast as fairies.
