Ecuador 2019 Organic Palo Santo

Origin: Ecuador - Palo Santo

Type: Nacional

Certs: Organic

Crop: 2019

Flavor Notes:

The aroma starts off with higher notes of pine resin, mint and citrus peel.  There is chocolate and sweet nut aromas in a subtle way too. Going around the chart, there is a soft malic acidity, the bitter edge of orange rind and a bit of hoppy astringency. The sweetness noted in the aroma continues on in the flavor and backed up by an candied nuts.   It rounds off with a creamy mouth feel, light clove, resinous wood and a soft sweet fresh date in the aftertaste.

Hacienda Palo Santo, is a cocoa and derivatives farm located on the Cerecita Valley near the Ecuadorian coast, one hour away from Guayaquil.   Palo Santo is owned and daily managed by a family of agronomist who has been involved in the cocoa production since the past three generations, developing innovative production techniques to protect resources and increase.

Due to the higher nut value in the spider chart, I recommend keeping the EOR temperature pretty low so it does not go extra bitter.  To assure there is not a raw astringency taste you want to draw the Finishing phase out past the minimum 3 minute mark to make sure there is full heat penetration and a development of the inherent sweetness.

In the Behmor, go for a pretty standard roast profile, getting in the 18-20 minute mark, pulling when the sweet aroma starts to shift to sharper aromas.  If the beans happen to pop (in the time range above) go ahead and pull them.

Drum roasting I found I like X/2.75/4.5 @ 254-256 F