Published on
March 3, 2010 in
Reviews and Tastings & Events.
Tags: Amano, Arriba, Bali, Bonnat, Brazil, Ceylan, Criollo, Dominican Republic, Domori, Ecuador, Esmeraldas, Francois Pralus, Jembrana, Los Ancones, Madagascar, Michel Cluizel, Pacari, Sao Tomé, Sur del Lago, USA, Valrhona, Venezuela, Vila Gracinda.
Wrapping up our second tasting this year, again it’s an evening to which I can look back loaded with sensations and discoveries that are changing people’s mind on dark origin chocolate. In our beautiful loft-lounge style setting I introduced the cacao harvest & production process, to show people how careful this pretty sexy tree needs to be treated to give us such fine chocolate. Every tasting session is somewhat different and the Q&A was focused around Belgium not being ‘The Promised Land’ of chocolate (anymore), the scary variety of substances in chocolate bars, en tips to keep and store chocolate.
Chocolate and its plethora of surrounding topics always make a great conversation starter, so pretty soon we had a good vibe, getting us open to enter the tasting part. After 4 bars only, people were amazed already by my broad offering and the variety in tasting sensations, even ‘less appreciated aroma’s’ were adding to overall discovery experience. 
Noteworthy where also organic Pacari, the recent Akesson’s and absolutely the handcrafted Amano Jembrana, which I exclusively got from the USA directly from founder Art Pollard, with a big help from Martin at SeventyPercent as well in London.
These treasures aside I also showed a bloomed bar of Willie’s (don’t know how that happened actually), and wowed them with the Michel Cluizel ‘Grand Lait 45% milk bar’ (‘Is this milk chocolate?!’), shared unroasted and roasted cacao beans I received from Pralus, and put the cherry on the cake with the Pralus 100% as the usual über chocolate experience!
You can tell it was fun if people say they would come back for another tasting session, hope to see you next time as well!
Continue reading for details on the tasted bars…
Continue reading ‘Report: Choqoa Tasting Event 10.2′
Published on
October 20, 2008 in
On Chocolate & Cacao and Reviews.
Tags: Argentina, Arriba, cacao, Carbernet Sauvignon, Fantelli, Ghana, Malbec, origin, pairing, Savanna, tasting, Venezuela, Vinas del Adagio, wine.
Last Sunday afternoon I went to a wine tasting home event at a friend. I thought this was a nice low-profile opportunity to smuggle in some origin chocolate and engage in my first ever wine & cacao pairing. I emailed him to ask what wine types he would be offering, and he said his first home tasting would be for wines from Argentinian domaines with a lot of body, mainly Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon vintages. He was very open to my pairing suggestion and I was lucky enough to get some sample packs from my new friends and chose 4 origin varieties that should match with Argentinian wines according to their experience: so I had selected a range of Venezuela, Ghana, Arriba and an African Blend.
Of course I was very curious to see how things would go and as usual would just let things come as they are. There were some twenty-some people over the place, and I found myself a spot behind the counter in the kitchen where I could stealthy place my sample bars. Attracted by noticing these different anonymous chocolate samples next to the wine flights, folks asked my about my story. I had really nice chats with various friends and visitors about this idea of pairing and they were pleasantly intrigued by discovering these various cacao flavours, and the wine experience of course perfectly topped it all of…
Continue reading ‘My first Wine & Chocolate pairing experience’
Published on
October 20, 2008 in
On Chocolate & Cacao and Reviews.
Tags: Arriba, Colombia, Coppeneur, Domori, Hussel, Madagascar, Mangaro, Michel Cluizel, Neuhaus, Ocumare, Pralus, Sur del Lago, Trinidad, Valrhona, Venezuela.
Lately I’ve been ’sacrificing’ quite a lot of my premium bars to my friends and family to invite them into the world of chocolate, or better the world of ‘my’ chocolate. Because the only way to really enjoy your passion is to share it with others and listen to their input. From the Dusseldorf Collection I already briefly reviewed the Hussel Madagascar, Pralus Venezuela, and the Neuhaus Ocumare, origin bars I had taste at several visits. I wrote a story about my nephew with the Michel Cluizel 1er Cru ‘Mangaro’ and also with a bunch of various people shared a Pralus Colombia, Domori’s Sur Del Lago Classificado and their Arriba, a Coppeneur Trinidad bar and finally also unwrapped a Valrhona Ampamakia 2007 vintage.
The Pralus Colombia was mild and fudgy but came with original flavours, again a typically dark roasted Pralus bar that tempts you to discover its terroir aromas. The first Coppeneur I tasted was a Trinidad, and though the first impression wasn’t delivering a lot of ‘wow’, it seemed to taste distinctively better the day after; is it because the cacao had had the time to acclimatize after being sealed in so long in its plastic foil? The Ampamakia 2007 was a known friend from Madagascar, whose mild fruity character and gentle texture pleases to many. Both the Domori’s were a big discovery, since they manage to create indulgent, well-tempered smooth bars that taste far from ‘chocolate’, and with their very expressive hyper-aromatic characters they are definitely an hate-love challenger brand to introduce to people.
Armed with a short introduction into origin chocolate, people were all curious to expect and experience something different, and tasted the chocolate chunks with patience. Almost all of them spontaneously started talking about the taste of cacao on other terms than good or bad, and put aside the ‘bitter’ cliché. I never pushed them into a certain feedback or direction, but on every moment I had offered a tasting, people were into describing various flavours and textures rather than nag on the bitterness of bars.
It works better if you immediately showcase more than one origin bar, so people can nibble from various aromas and experience the differences and character varieties instantly, which always brought the taste discussion on a higher level.
Spread the passion!
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