You are here: Home > cacao
Tag Archives | cacao

Tribute Interview met Mott Green van The Grenada Chocolate Company

By on June 5, 2013 in Interviews & Video

Mott Green, oprichter en bezieler van The Grenada Chocolate Company is onverwacht overleden op 1 juni 2013. Hij was op dat moment net aan het werken in zijn chocolade opslagplaats in Belmont Estate. The Grenada Chocolate Company is één van de meest unieke chocolade projecten die er zijn en Mott is een grote bezieler voor de hele origine chocolade beweging. Er is meer dan één blogpost nodig om zijn dromen en verwezenlijkingen te beschrijven.

De eerste keer ontmoette ik Mott Green toevallig op een beurs in London, in 2009. Ik was zelf nog maar net met Choqoa begonnen. Samen met zijn soulmate Chantal Coady van Rococo Chocolates deelde hij een kleine stand, maar uit het korte gesprek bleek al snel dat er grote ambities aan het ontluiken waren.
In 2011 spraken we met elkaar in Brussel en had ik de kans om een klein interview te doen met hem. Een stukje werd opgenomen op video, en om zijn inspiratie verder te laten leven wil ik het graag met jullie delen. Mott praat over zijn passie en de toekomst van originechocolade.

Neem zeker ook een kijkje op http://www.elsauco.biz/chocoladekaravaan. Over een paar dagen komt het zeilschip Tres Hombres aan in Amsterdam, een uniek “fair transport” project waarmee The Grenada Chocolate Company haar chocolades naar Europa brengt!

Uiteraard kan je de Grenada chocolades proeven via Choqoa.

Choqoa Introduces Real Cacao Stories at TEDxFlanders / Youth 2012

By on October 25, 2012 in On Chocolate & Cacao, Tastings & Events

TED.com is a fantastic platform where people share there knowledge and experience in passionate ways. Drawing millions of viewers and fans across the world, I was no less than honored to be invited at the local TEDxFlanders / Youth event. The committee appears to be a big fan of Choqoa, the passion and  stories, and proposed to bring both a talk on stage and a workshop to top it off.

Educating some 130! kids from various nationalities and languages about the real taste of cacao & fine chocolate. It wasn’t an easy challenge, but fun! In less than 10 minutes I guided them through the origins of cacao, the difference between cacao and chocolate, a change of cultural habits and false assumptions on its health potentials. I could talk a lot more of course, but I decided to do something better: have all these kids taste fine origin chocolate!

It was my biggest tasting event ever… I distributed a truck load of samples to all of them; 2 chocolate chunks and a cacao bean. And then we performed a “Slow Chocolate” tasting, supporting the campaign from our friends at SeventyPercent.com. It was worth a movie to see all those faces turn into happiness.

The feedback I got from the TEDxFlanders team was more than flattering.

“It was so nice to work with you, and on behalf of our team we thank you so much for your efforts… When I talked to kids at the end of the day, a lot of them thought the chocolate workshop was the highlight of their day.”

Here is my presentation to share with you. Feel free to contact me for any idea or performance. Looking forward to open up the wonderful world of origin chocolate to many many more kids, children and their parents. Will you help?

Our Second Whisky & Chocolate tasting with Anverness.

By on July 17, 2012 in Tastings & Events

Anverness and Choqoa recently joined forces again to setup a fantastic Whisky and Chocolate tasting event. We accomodated a full house, people who were all very curious to join our journey of aroma’s, flavors and sensations.

The pairings we offer pass by far the idea of putting red wine with meat and white wine with fish. We take it a lot further, offering genuine one-to-one pairings where one specific whisky elevates one specific chocolate. With our previous experiences in mind, we raised the bar again approving our pairings. Should I first bite the chocolate, or rather begin with a sip from the whisky? Given the complexity of aromas in both, getting them together is truly a challenge.
Peter and I have been working hard to try and taste over 60 combinations of whisky and cacao. Some don’t result in anything special, others just walk together fine, few pairings really create a clash. the cream of pairings however yield wonderful and fine sensations that surpass the individual elements. And those are the ones we offer: world-class whisky and chocolate pairings.

Photo taken from our Whisky Import Belux tasting.

We came with a very challenging chocolate selection, that I would never run, unless it were with these fine accompanying whisky’s. We kicked off with the bold François Pralus Vanuatu, shaking our general idea on chocolate. Putting then 3 different bars of Pacari opened people’s eyes on origins and single region chocolate. But we also matched Original Beans ‘Beni Wild Harvest’ and a Rogue Chocolatier ‘Silvestre’, a unique opportunity to taste the results of different chocolate makers working with the same Bolivian beans.
The ‘Cru Virunga’ from Congo and the brand new Menakao from Madagascar closed the series of complex pleasures.

The exquisite whisky’s we offered included highly premium bottles from the likes of Bushmills, Glenn Garioch, Tullibardine, Glendronach, Benromach, Ledaig… to name a few. Along the pairings we shared background information on both food & drinks.

@Choqoa Heerlijke whiskey & chocolate tasting gisteren. Openbaring. Tot een volgende keer. *

Tx @Choqoa om je fascinerende chocolades te koppelen met wonderbaarlijke whiskeys #choqoa  *

No use trying to describe how it feels. Those who attended where at least impressed and very pleased with our pairings, proof their reactions. They were gladly sharing – if not bragging about – their experiences with their friends through Twitter and Facebook.
But above all, they had a great time discovering the wonderful sensations of origine chocolate. Will you be next?

 

Choqoa Video: Charley “Woodblock” Wheelock, on tour in Costa Rica.

By on August 31, 2011 in Interviews & Video, Trips

Meet Charley Wheelock, craft chocolate maker and owner of Woodblock Chocolate.
On the Costa Rica tour I shot tons of video. Finally here’s a first one to share with you!

I still remember the first night at the hotel bar in San José, Costa Rica. Charley just came in late from the airport when he shared some of his samples. His intriguing Rio Caribe was one of the strongest I ever had, well hello nice to meet you too.

Charley Wheelock only recently decided to become a craft chocolate maker. His designer background will surely help him to develop a personal take on the chocolate experience. We shared a lot of time together as two cacao comrades. On the tour he absorbed all knowledge and experience to strengthen his skills, so I’m very happy to see Woodblock came alive. And from what I tasted then, I hope the world gets more of it.

He was a great guy to share this amazing Costa Rica experience with, and I hope our chocolate trails may cross again one day soon. Enjoy the video!

The Fruit of Costa Rica

By on March 17, 2011 in On Chocolate & Cacao, Trips

As said I went to Costa Rica with an open book, no expectations, just an extra big sponge under my preverbial cranial hood to soak it all up. From the first day it was subject to unexpected information, however all the more relevant regarding my first ‘food of the gods’ experience.

On Saturday, Steve voluntarily took some of the early arrivers to the vibrant fruit market and showed us around through the various colorful stalls, exposing a wealth of fruit known and unknown to me. The usual mango I had turned out to be unlike any mango I had before, and the cainito was unlike any fruit I ever saw. There were varieties of pineapples, guavas, papayas and limes, fruits with flesh or pulp, with seeds or juice. A contest of deliciousness in flavors unknown!

This extremely tasteful start of the Costa Rica tour triggered a first reflection on appreciating cacao, and more specific chocolate bars. What is the relevance of reviews that focus on listing a series of references to what we know. What use in describing a food to taste like apple, peach and mango if everybody may have a different experience and reference to that flavor? Or even doesn’t know the fruit. I’d love to point out a bar has hints of cas or limon dulce, who will tell me wrong where I live.

In extension of these philosophical meanderings, it reminded me that the places where cacao grows and where chocolate is eaten are far away from each other. Another disruptive thought on appreciating chocolate as we know. Well, just some ‘food for thought’ here, but it intrigues me.

Steve warned us, at the end of the week you will merely know what you don’t know. So what are your thoughts on appreciating and reviewing food?