Organic | Choqoa

The first Choqoa Tasting Event this year was again very different from the previous editions, and not only for the reason that people came from across the country to attend our Antwerp session!

Among the attending chocolate explorers we had Gunther, one of the founders of a chocolate brand (Baru, Diepenbeek), eager to learn about making his own chocolate in some future; Geert, a dedicated chocolatier & patissier who passionately cares about his base Valrhona couverture (Patisserie Vercruysse, Kortijk); and Mo, who runs an inspiring lunch bar and is a former winner of the Best Sandwich competition!

I found it pretty intriguing given their background they often did heard of several of the top chocolate brands we tasted, but hadn’t take the effort or had the chance to taste every variety that they could get their hands on? On the other side also some US brands like Taza and TCHO were not unknown and I was happy to have a TCHO ‘Fruity’ bar on the tasting table (thanks to @ActiveLife). And with brands like Zotter and Pacari, I had something new to offer even for these professionals

It was utmost pleasant and charming to see how participants discovered variations in freshness, color, melting patterns and lingering aftertastes by themselves. Even to the detail where they felt one bar more coming up in front or gathering in the back of their tongues and palates. All added their views and knowledge on chocolate and food so we got some lenghty talks along the tasting session as well.

Eventually, again this gourmet chocolate tasting event was full of fun, sharing tasting impressions and notes, discovering the immersive world of real fine chocolate, and brainstorming on future possibilities!

Continue reading for details on the tasted bars…

Continue reading ‘Report: Choqoa Tasting Event 10.1′

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!