Hickory smoked bacon chocolate anyone? Ok, it isn’t like that in the chocolate, but it IS the first thing I thought of upon my first smell of the freshly winnowed roasted nib.

It is the traditional practice to fire dry the cocoa beans in Papua New Guinea, and when that is done, the beans pick up a hint (or sometimes more than a hint) of smoke or peat flavor. A lot of people in the chocolate industry find this to be a flaw. I think if you smoke dry a bad bean to cover poor quality, that is one thing, but smoke for the sake of smoke is not in my opinion a flaw. There are smoked meats, and cheeses and what comes to mind for me – Scotch. This reminds me nothing so much as a good peated Scotch, and would make a great chocolate to pair with anything aggressive like that.

Now, there is more to this than just smoke. There is a nice balance of piquant acidity and base notes. It is piquant like a good Mexican tomatillo sauce. Nothing really jumps out at you (well, the smoke does), but there is a good base of chocolate flavor layered with a little dried leather, the peat and just enough acidity to bring it all together. This bean is fully fermented, so you don’t have to worry about under fermented acidity. It roasts a lot like the Ghana Forastero – pretty hot and moderately long. Maybe 325 F for 20 minutes. I am not sure everyone will appreciate the smokiness of this bean as a single origin chocolate, but it will blend in really well for another layer if you want to do a blend. I like it as a single origin, but like drinking Scotch, you don’t drink pints. A couple pieces (or a tumbler) and that is that. But you go away content.