Holy Cow 85% Kerala: Monsoon vs Dry

Two Harvests, One Coastline, and a Very Loud Weather System

There are tastings that feel like a neat sensory exercise and tastings that feel like you’re eavesdropping on nature mid-conversation.

This one is the second kind.

Same maker, same cocoa origin (Kerala, India), same percentage (85%), same minimalist, almost ceremonial packaging and yet two radically different “moods” of chocolate: Monsoon and Dry.

The premise is simple: one harvest handled during the monsoon season, the other outside it. But once you start thinking about what rain does to fermentation, drying, microbiology, and chemistry it becomes less of a premise and more of a plot twist.

I opened both bars on the same day, same palate, same room, and tried to keep my pharmacist brain on a short leash. (It failed, gently, as usual.)

Kerala, monsoon, and the original “supply chain disruption”

Kerala sits along India’s Malabar Coast, facing the Arabian Sea. Historically, this coastline has been a trading heartbeat: spices, aromas, plant resins, botanical intensity. Long before cacao ever arrived in India, this region already “spoke flavour” fluently.