Biscotti Mintz was the fourth variety The Doc grew when he did a run with Barney’s Farm West Coast strains only.
About its parents, Biscotti and Mintz, Barney’s says they’re “two of the USA’s premium and most elusive strains.” Such statements of rarity always get The Doc fired up, and Barney’s assertion it’s a “plant with trichome production off the scale” added to the fascination, of course…
Another eye-catching feature of this strain is its dazzling colorfulness – at maturity, the leaves display a beautiful array of red, orange, purple, green, and yellow. This extraordinariness continues into the flavor. A terpene high in limonene, caryophyllene, and eucalyptol leads to a spectacular feast of aromas characterized by spicy Kush notes fused with chocolate chip cookies and creamy mint. The description of effect sounds quite unusual for a plant with 80% indica dominance, with Biscotti Mintz delivering a turn physically energizing and mentally clear and focused – a way of effect generally ascribed to Sativa or Sativa dominant varieties.
It’s also accompanied by relaxation, so it does not entirely lack an effect typical of Indica. Like many other Barney’s strains, Biscotti Mintz doesn’t need more than 8-9 weeks of flowering to ripen fully and boasts a yield potential of 600-650 grams per sqm. It is ranging in the above-average department. In sunny regions, outdoor cultivators can even look forward to yields of up to 1.5 kilos per plant if optimally grown, with a harvest window of as early as the first to the second week of October. Outside, the usual height measure of the plants is about two meters, whereas 80-90 cm is the standard indoors
A fully Indica-style growth habit, absolutely identical
Also, those two Barney’s Farm seeds sown by The Doc went through germination easily; he saw the seedlings standing upright above the ground after three days. In the veg stage, they exhibited a fully Indica-style growth habit, becoming very dense and bushy, with a lot of branching propensity. In doing so, the two turned out to be identical – same height, same width. When The Doc moved them into blooming by reducing the daily light cycle to 12/12, the two Biscotti Mintz plants stood 33 cm tall.
The strain description sounded sensational, so The Doc was curious about Biscotti Mintz’s blooming performance. After two weeks – flowering had noticeably begun – he noted that bud formation in the branch tips went along with red leaf coloration – “now they’re getting that announced play of colors started,” The Doc rejoiced. It took him by surprise that the two plants revealed a strong stretching temper now, clearly more than doubling their height in the first half of flowering. Indeed, he witnessed the rise of a kaleidoscope-like festival of varied colors; Barney’s hadn’t exaggerated: at the end of flowering, the buds were ablaze with color, shining so gorgeously red, yellow, orange and purple that The Doc, as fascinated as he was, almost couldn’t avert his eyes from them. Also because that glorious color spectacle further escalated through an insanely abundant trichome blanket, as enthusiastically reported by The Doc: “One has to speak of resin incrustations, so overly generous is the frosting of trichomes, looking as if the buds had been exposed to a trichome shower, with those silvery crystals dramatically piling up.
A truly breathtaking sight!” Also, in terms of volume, the Biscotti Mintz buds excelled, having grown into fat chubby rock-hard flower heads looking like pure indica. Last but not least, The Doc was besotted by the buds’ scent, too – it was much sweeter than expected, pretty exotic and fruity, providing a delicious mango note to The Doc’s nose that was only slightly underpinned by some Kush spiciness. “Jeez, I’m extremely keen to taste and feel Biscotti Mintz, but that will have a wait a few weeks, so I gotta be very patient,” he said when he harvested his two plants (that had eventually reached 75 and 82.5 cm tall) after timely 59 and 62 days.
Post-drying result: Chunky mango buds spreading hefty aroma clouds
The chunky and massively resin-encrusted Biscotti Mintz buds were most charming in a dried state then. 97 and 108 grams yield went into The Doc’s big storage jars. When he opened them again the next day, he got engulfed in hefty aroma clouds enthralling his nose with a sweet mango flavor that was even more pronounced and smoother now that Kush’s piquancy, already little before, had moved further into the background. “But if it had disappeared, unknowing and blindfolded, one may have difficulties identifying this odor as cannabis!” he marveled and added, “well, Biscotti Mintz also has a mango pheno.”
The sampling session: A luxury taste followed by a blissful sensation
The big moment he had finally come when his Mighty+ Vaporizer was ready to go, filled with half a gram of Biscotti Mintz. The flavor inhaled with the first toke was a revelation to The Doc: “What an indulging treat to the palate it is! That sweet exotic mango aroma fully translates to the taste, deliciously covering my mouth cavity. That spicy Kush note also becomes noticeable in the aftertaste, bringing a unique twist to that fruity sensation. So damn tasty I’d like to suck on my Vaporizer all day. And while he indulged in this luxury taste, Biscotti Mintz began to play a second ace: After three drafts, The Doc felt a warm exhilarating wave of blissfulness surging inside of him, Biscotti Mintz rang the bell in his head, announcing a way of effect which, clear and focused, spurred his mind, at the same time providing a nicely chilled feeling of being well-balanced, indeed. Also, he didn’t have a heavy body feel; he noticed on a physical level, though, that his right triceps had stopped twitching at last! It was an intense turn full of relaxing bliss that lasted more than two hours.
The Doc‘s verdict
“With this tremendous strain, Barney’s Farm has once again excelled! Across all departments, nothing else than brilliance, amazement, and elation. Lemon Tree recently had become my personal BF favorite #1, but with this awesome ace performance, Biscotti Mintz has drawn level with it; this spectacular showpiece of a plant shares the BF throne with Lemon Tree now.”
Genetics: Biscotti Mintz (Biscotti x Mintz)
Vegetative stage: four weeks (after germination)
Flowering stage: 59 and 62 days / 56-63 days in general
Medium: Bionova Bio Soilmix, 11 litre pots
pH: 6.3-6.8 EC 1.2–1.8 mSLight up to 5x SANl
Light: EVO 5-100 = 1600 watts
Temperature: 19-28°C Air humidity 40-60%
Watering: manually
Fertilization: Bionova Soil Supermix, plus PK 13-14 in the flowering stage
Height: 75 + 72.5 cm
Yield: 97 + 108 g
Written and Published by Green Born Identity – Barney’s Farm in Weed World Magazine Issue 163
Images Supplied By Barney’s Farm – Green Born Identity