Tag Archive for 'Amedei'

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The London Collection feat. world’s best Amedei

Published on August 10, 2009 in On Chocolate & Cacao and Trips. 5 Comments Tags: Abinao, Amedei, Caraïbe, Caranero, Chuao, Ecuador, Grenada, Jamaica, Jivara, La Tavoletta, London, Madagsacar, Rio Caribe, Selfridges, Trinidad, Valrhona, Venezuela, Venezuelan Black.

Yesterday while I was spending the weekend in London I jumped in at the Selfridges Food department in Oxford St., where to my surprise I ran into a pile of Amedei bars! While a had planned to go for a chocolate tour listed with shops like Rococo, Hotel du Chocolat and others, I wasn’t expecting to find world’s best chocolate right here exactly! My London basket within minutes became definitely one of my most expensive ones ever, but happiness is priceless

From Amedei I bought the big black “I Cru Collection” box, containing 36 origin napolitan tasting squares from Madagascar, Trinidad, Ecuador, Grenada, Jamaica, Venezuela.I couldn’t resist buying 2 of the Porcelana bars, and buy the Porcelana napolitan box on top, were it for the beautiful packaging design along. Also the napolitan Chuao box had to be bought, though sadly Selfridges didn’t had the bar version. Getting into the ’shopping’ I eventually even was to weak to resist stocking a milk bar and white bar from the La Tavoletta series, on percentages of cacao which I had left aside since long to date And as an dessert I eventually also bought a Toscano Red, fruited bar.

From the same shelves I equally collected some long sought new Valrhona series (Caraïbe, Abinao and Jivara), with a very attractive new pack design. From the UK chocolate scene I also had the chance to collect and discover the Green & Black’s organic dark bar and get hands on the Venezuelan Black brand, aimed more at kitchen use, from which I bought the Rio Caribe and Caranero Superior.

Well, I huge pile of exquisite acquisitions to discover here, and I won’t reveal how much cash I pleasantly burnt, but the aim is to prepare a small intimate event for which one these bars certainly spawn lots of fun on our palates. I’ll post tasty reviews of the London bars soon for sure!

Pierre Hermé, Porcelana and Valrhona

Published on August 5, 2009 in On Chocolate & Cacao and Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: Amedei, Belcolade, Callebaut, Galler, La Maison du Chocolat, Pierre Hermé, Porcelana, Valrhona.

If you really get into the sources and processes of the chocolate you eat, you’ll be likely to start feeling the tension between chocolate farm, manufacturers, and ‘chocolatiers’. To me it somehow became a playfull quest to figure out wether a ‘chocolatier’ works with his own bean-to-bar process (like Amedei, Bonnat etc) or if he is ‘merely’ a ‘pralinier’ who buys source material from e.g. Callebaut or Belcolade (eg Dominique Persoone). There’s nothing wrong with the latter, except off course if they’re trying to hide too hard. Like where would La Maison Du Chocolat buy theirs? I know where Galler is buying most of theirs

The other time when I was in Paris I finally had the time to visit the small shop of Pierre Hermé at Rive Gauche, St Germain. It was at that time when I got intrigued by hunting down what chocolate these world class chocolatiers were actually using. Previous efforts trying to demistify a Callebaut, Belcolade or Chocovic in chocolatier stores got me angry faces more than once
People queueing outside the street made clear where the action was. The store was looking gorgeous: small, clean, modern with a lot of sobrely designed wood putting all of the macarons and chocolate creations right in the centre of your attention. What caught my attention really were the prices! I don’t even dare to mention some of the ganache and truffles! On the shelves I spotted some bars including a “Origine Porcelana”, priced at a fat 10€. Wow, that is what I’d start to call really expensive stuff! I’ve bought Amedei at that price knowing that it was worth it, but here it was an investment for the truth. Turning towards a employee asking what the bar was made of, to my pleasant suprise he instantly revealed it was from Valrhona. I was struck by his open attitude as if he was used to answer the question. It even made me buy the overpriced Porcelana and some other bars to check out this Valrhona creation.

I don’t know what Hermé or Valrhona did wiht the bar, but I frankly was dissappointed. Where’s the taste gone, even the pacaking was rather cheap, with a bar coming wrapped in plastic foil. I had tasted much better Valrhona from their Plantation series in 2005 and 2006, but this one didn’t even come close to Porcelana As Magritte would say: ‘This is not a chocolate bar’. Lesson learned: if you want bars, buy bars from passionate bean-to-bar manufacturers.

The Paris Collection

Published on November 5, 2008 in Trips. 0 Comments Tags: Amedei, Bonnat, Coppeneur, Domori, Maglio, Paris, Porcelana, Pralus, Salon du Chocolat, Valrhona.

Here is a small preview on all the bars I collected at the Salon du Chocolat 2008 in Paris. It was a great trip with lots of learnings. And with the “Original Introduction Pack” the overall total of bars I bought surpassed the magical One Hundred! I’m finalizing the little brochure and label on the packing, and I think it looks good so you will get your samplers soon.

Domori and Pralus came out with a whole new and fresh packaging design. Unfortunately, several brands I was looking forward to were not present or on sale at the fair at all: Amedei, Valrhona, and none of the US ones I hoped to catch a glimpse of, and Coppeneur only showcasing their hot chocolate products.
Then again, in the excitement of the action I forgot or overlooked to get Maglio and other small brands in my bag. Bonnat however just launched 3 new Porcelana based bars I found inspiring. The samples we tasted were very interesting, so I bought all of these 7€ priced bars.

Overall I returned with a lot of the good ol’ know brands, and little new. But I’m going to Cologne soon to discover a new shop with a unique offering. I’ll be posting more “Paris Collection” pictures soon!

Preparing for “Le Salon du Chocolat” in Paris

Published on October 22, 2008 in Trips. 2 Comments Tags: Amedei, Bonnat, Cacao Barry, Coppeneur, Dagoba, De Bondt, De Vries, Domori, exhibition, fair, Guittard, La Maison du Chocolat, Lindt, Michel Cluizel, Nestlé, Newtree, Paris, Phillipe Pascoët, Pralus, salon, Salon du Chocolat, Scharffen Berger, TCHO, Valrhona, Zaabär.

The “Salon du Chocolat” goes around worldwide with famous fairs in New York, Tokyo, Beijing, even Moscow, and next week shows in Paris with a 4 day fair, from October 29th till November 2nd. A one-way cacao Valhalla, the ultimate theme park, or eventual deception… I’m haven’t really got a clear view about what to expect from the 2008 “Salon du Chocolat“.

It is hard to imagine entering the halls in Portes de Versailles, that has more than of 12.000m² to offer for chocoholics, cacaophiles, and aficionados. I only know I’m going one day out of four, for the first time, and the plan is to discover more about artisan & origin chocolate explorations. With a vast range of all known top chocolatiers and artisan brands present at the fair, there sure must be lots of fun to share with other people.

The Paris team for the Salon conducted an amusing survey together with Le Figaro/Madame, on the French and their chocolate habits. Some fun facts:

Men and women, everyone prefers dark chocolate (50%), followed by milk chocolate (35%) and white chocolate (15%).
Solitaire or social? 24% of men do not share their munches … against 22% of women. Shared with family, between lovers, then friends, chocolate however still remains primarily a pleasure that is offered to and experienced together.
41% of women believe that eating chocolate gives them more pleasure than making love …
In buying habits, respondents like to buy their chocolate in priority from small but high quality artisan chocolatiers (48%) and in a much lesser extent from big industrial brands (23%).

I’ve been spotting the 400+ participants list, which includes some 140 chocolatiers, and I’m glad to see a whole range of favourites in place: Domori, Lindt, La Maison du Chocolat, Maison Bonnat, Michel Cluizel, NewTree, Phillipe Pascoët, Pralus and the Belgian new Zaabär too.
Some others to discover are: Nestlé, De Bondt and Cacao Barry (from Meulan). I’ll also seek after bars from Dagoba, and USA brands like De Vries, Scharffen Berger, Guittard, and maybe TCHO, although none of these are listed with a stand. Big misses are Amedei, Valrhona and German brands like Coppeneur.

I’ll keep you posted with writings later on!
Any other brands you think of are worth checking out?

The Real Chocolate Secret of Ferran Adrià

Published on October 14, 2008 in Marketing and On Chocolate & Cacao. 0 Comments Tags: Albert Adrià, Amedei, Barcelona, Cacao Sampaka, Chocovic, El Bulli, Ferran Adrià, store, Xocoa.

How could I not think about that earlier while writing my previous article “The Chocolate Secret of Ferran Adrià” !? The latter post eventually was an introduction to Amedei, the chocolate admired by El Bulli’s top chef. But there is indeed a story were Adrià really has a chocolate secret, one that actually lies with his older brother.

Ferran’s talented chef brother Albert Adrià is one of the key founders & partners of Cacao Sampaka, a company established with backup from Chocovic, the fine chocolate producing company rooted in Spain. Now to be clear before we continue, Cacao Sampaka is a store concept that is conceived as “Cacao Markets” and as such is not exactly delivering the products and quality that would fit our “Cacao Aficionado’s and Chocolate Sommeliers”, but there is a huge cacao history & culture to discover in the gastronomic roots of Barcelona, the stubborn Catalunyan culture and the historic position of Spain.

With Spain being the first country to experience cacao upon arrival from the New World, as well as having the inventor of the first chocolate making machine produced in 1780, Barcelona has a deep rooted history in chocolate. This gourmet city boasts not only a Confectionery Guild, a Pastry and Confectioner School, a Museum of Chocolate, a plethora of patissiers and chocolatiers, but also one of Spain’s oldest and largest chocolate couverture manufacturers, Chocovic, which is located only one hour north of Barcelona in Vic. Wandering the streets around La Rambla, Barri Gotic and El Born in particular, you are certain to stroll by and discover Barcelona’s love of chocolate.

From the first of my several visits to Barcelona back in the nineties I remember my girlfriend was raving about the hot chocolate served in Bar Schilling, a chocolate so deliciously thick you could almost put your spoon straight up in the cup. Later on I started discovering small chocolate stores as Xocoa, also a local brand with several branches in town, that has recently been expanding towards Madrid, Valencia and Alicante a.o. And eventually some years ago the Barcelona chocolate culture made me discover the luscious Cacao Sampaka stores. [update] Sampaka actually is a tiny place in Koulikoro, Mali, Africa, though I’m not sure if that is where Cacao Sampaka’s name is derived from. Its apparently also a location in Indonesia, which makes more sense for cacao… [/update] The brand is conceived as a cosmopolitan concept for a high quality chocolate shop and cafeteria, offering an indulgent shopping experience with around 300 cacao based products, ranging from bars to bonbons, and ice creams to sauces…

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