Tag Archives | cacao

Gut & Gerne chocolate bar in Dusseldorf

By on September 29, 2008 in Trips

Interesting things are happening on dark chocolate in Dusseldorf, and as ar far I would be able to tell in Germany in general. With brands like Hussel and Coppeneur it seems Germany is fighting with success for a place in the high level cacao markets, mostly dominated by master chocolatiers like Cluizel and Bonnat in France, and Amedei and Domori in Italy.

Gut & Gerne. Chocolate bar in Dusseldorf

A particular spot I found admirable is the “Gut & Gerne” Chocolate bar and shop in the heart of Dusseldorf’s old town, on Burgplatz 3. Bettina Dahl is running the spot for some years now with passion, and as the manager of the shop she really helps customers through discovering the vaste collection of the more than one hundred! different bars, she claims to offer in her collection. Though Gut & Gerne also offers sweets and chocolates, the focus definitely is on exclusive, high-end origin cacao bars. Next to the classic top brands like Amedei, Domori, Cluizel, Valrhona and alike, she also offers less known chocolatiers like Dolfin and Maglio in many variaties. Bettina also offers great info cards on the brands you buy from her, so you can learn about the specific chocolatiers, beans, plantations, roastings etc that define the many different aromas. Share this info with your peers and you’ll sound like an expert.

Next to the shop, she also has a chocolate bar next door where you can relax for a while from your wanderings through town, and taste from her sweets, chocolates and cacao, to be accompanied by a delicious hot chocolate prepared on the spot. Just as in the store, the atmosphere is very warm and cosy with a lot of wooden tables and cupboards, making this a place with a charming German touch. From the menu you can pick from a great selection of hot drinks ranging from hot white chocolate, over a selection of different percentages of cacao including a 100% cacao hot chocolate.

This one was absolutely gorgeous, and the cups come in huge portions so you have to take the time to relax and enjoy. This was definitely one of the yummiest hot chocolates I ever had.
Here are some more pictures from Gut & Gerne, if you’re in Dusseldorf, put this spot definitely on your list!

Hussel. Bejofo Grand Cru de Plantation de Madagascar 72%

By on September 29, 2008 in Reviews

From the Dusseldorf Collection, Hussel was a new German brand to look forward to tasting the first time. I had a “Bejofo Grand Cru de plantation de Madagascar” at 72%. Bejofo refers to the name of the plantation in the Sambirano valley in Madagascar, where Hussel cultivates Trinitario beans for this origin bars. Madagascar’s Sambirano region is known to offer exceptional cacao, with a light, but well elaborated flavor and tones of citrus and blackcurrants. Hussel also offers another range under the name Jara, which comes from their plantation in Los Rios, Ecuador.


The square shaped packaging comes with a lot of red in its design, classy golden lettering and has nice designed imagery in the background evoking the atmosphere of cacao plantations and tropical forests, quite similar to the packing illustrations from Domori. The bar also focusses on organic agriculture with a clear Bio label on the front.

Hussel has this bar conched for 72 hours. Conching is a kneading process that takes place as one of the last steps in manufacturing, to smooth out cacao and to enhance the flavor. The bitter taste of the cocoa slowly disappears and the chocolate flavors and aromas becomes fully developed.  Conching is also important for making chocolate homogeneous. The first impressions of this Hussel Bejofo 72% reminded me much of some Pralus bars, like the Indonesia and Venezuela versions. From the first bite this cacao immediately takes you on a tasteful journey. The Bejofo 72% is very well tempered and has a pleasant mouth feel. The chuncks comfortably melt away and with every step release more of its aromas. A balanced curve with touches of acid, spices, definitely citrus and typical Madagascar orange tones, changing into blackcurrants, and with an ever sustaining woody palate,  this bar offers a perfectly balanced experience.

I’ve had it tasted by friends too, and the Hussel is a very good bar to introduce people to the rich taste varieties of dark origin chocolate bars. They were all pleasantly surprised by this very new cacao tasting and made them talking about dark bars, percentages and origins. The Cote d’Or Sensations for example, that are widely available on the market here, are left far behind in tasting experience. The sweetness achieved by the added cane sugar definitely helps to appreciate dark origin cacao on a new level, without diving into a lot of bitter discussions. Hussel, definitely a brand to keep an eye on!

Bonnat 100%

By on September 28, 2008 in Reviews

Following the earlier post of the 100% in Paris experience, I thought is was a good moment to take out the 100% Cacao bar from Chocolat Bonnat. Amidst the white wrapped bars that Bonnat offers with different origin varieties, the 100% bar firmly stands out with its bright red packaging. It actually has a very high Charlie & The Chocolate Factory feeling. If you look at the shape and design of the bar – ready to break off  bite ready chunks -  you’ll probably recognize its structure from the current Choqoa blog header image. Bonnat has a simple and classic looking bar, with in the middle a bigger area reserved for the signature. But how does it perform?

(Photo by Everjean)

Upon breaking a piece off, the first smell already announces this is going to be a very bitter bar with short powerful touches of raw cacaobeans and spices. The tempering is great. The taste curve starts rather flat, and only briefly releases a first impression of what’s about to come. Then the taste experience softens down away, and even almost disappears. The bar then melts further and makes a striking come back with deep cacao scents, where it reveals a very strong character, opens up its full aromas, with a biting bitterness mostly at the end.

It’s a bitter bar for sure, that runs dry your mouth, with an aroma that relates a little to artichokes. The Bonnat 100% reminds of Cluizel’s Noir Infini, though I think Cluizel tasting experience focuses on variety in tones of aromas, and the Bonnat’s strength is a variation of bitterness. I liked to try out this red wrapped Bonnat, though I found this bar less expressively tastefull. It’s bitterness is its strenght, but also its prevails over taste.

The bar also had some clear fat blooming on it, but it was easily wiped off.

(Photo by Everjean)

On a quest for the 100% bar

By on September 23, 2008 in Trips

Some 8 or 9 years ago, when I only just started chasing dark cacao bars, I was still focusing on at how much percentage the bar came. In my mind, the more cacao, the better so the hunt was open to find that 100% cacao bar.

Soon after, I spent some time in Paris and jumped into every chocolate store I ran across, and with so many chocolatiers in that beloved city, it didn’t take much time to find a 100% pure cacao bar. I don’t remember the name of the shop, but I’ll never forget that first bite:
I was actually disappointed, the taste of it was very much like putting black sand in your mouth, the cacao crawled like raw oil from tooth to tooth, and rather than tasting something, this 100% cacaobar had the effect of 7 espresso’s on me!

Loaded on this cacao energy  boost, I continued my quest and that’s when I discovered a small store from Michel Cluizel in 201, rue Saint-Honoré. I hadn’t heard of him before, but the wide range of origin bars drew my attention. And Cluizel had this very tiny bar: the “Noir Infini” at 99%, 30 grams.
This one tasted a whole lot different. You had to let the cacao do its work while keeping it long enough in your mouth, but you actually could enjoy some of the deepest cacao aromes. The bar was unsweetened, bitter, very bitter, but delivered a pleasant and powerfull tasting experience.

When these 2 tasting experiences were rather extreme, they were also very different. The most important thing I’ve learned in those days in Paris was that cacao comes with a lot of expertise, and offers many many experiments with varieties of blends, beans, roastings, percentages etc. and that it takes a lot of craftsmanship to build a well balanced dark bar.

Hello Haçienda!

By on September 21, 2008 in On Chocolate & Cacao

After many years of munching dark chocolates, and since long dreaming of launching a cacao brand some day, I’m starting this blog as a first online space to share my dedicated passion for dark chocolate bars and single origin cacao.

I’ll most likely start catching up and write about trips, news, experiences and ideas gathered from the past. But off course the goal is to share as many more stories in the future too.

This blog is a start. And maybe… who knows, one day I’ll be the owner of my own beautiful cacao hacienda.

(Cacao Fruit by Christine4nier)