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Choqoa introduces the finest origins to Barry-Callebaut

By on April 8, 2010 in Tastings & Events

Who would have ever thought of this scenario? I could have dreamed about it,… but it actually happened! This week I gave a Choqoa Tasting workshop for the European team at Barry Callebaut HQ in Wieze, and introduced them to ‘my world’ of premium origin chocolates.

Both my curiosity to their reactions and above all what I could learn from them myself, overruled any reason of being nervous. In the end this was not about pleasing them with good chocolates, it was about sitting together and explore the amazing varieties great cacao has to offer us.

We started our session with a Pacari, and I also brought Francois Pralus, Bonnat, Michel Cluizel, Domori, and Akesson’s. Especially for this Callebaut team I equally shared a nutty TCHO bar from the US and opened an extraordinary fine Criollo ‘Porcelana’ bar from Domori.
With every bar I gave some inspiring background on the brand, the region and bean type, shared a personal memory from my youth or revealed a very particular process that creates signature tastes for a passionate chocolate maker.
We talked about the idea and relevance of percentages, complex genetics of cacao, the ‘myth’ of Belgian chocolate, and consumer preferences across countries as well.

It was just great to discover together with such a team how different cacao flavors can develop, even within a single small geographical area. There were several Venezuela’s on the table and most of the participants were astonished how very different these cacao bars did taste! Whether it was wonderfully fruity or way too sour, very balanced aromas or flavors jumping around, all together we rediscovered the incredible variety fine origin cacao brings to our palate.

The personal Top 3 from the participating Vice President?

  1. Michel Cluizel “Vila Gracinda”
  2. Bonnat “Hacienda El Rosario”
  3. Domori Criollo “Porcelana”

Let’s hope this saga continues, for there is so much more we can learn from each other, when a passionate guy meets and innovative leading company. A big thanks to Barry Callebaut for inviting me to share my obsession!
Once more it confirmed that chocolate is one of the most inspiring, intriguing and passionate products in the world :)

Continue reading for details on the tasted bars…

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Preparing for the 2009 Salon du Chocolat in Paris

By on September 30, 2009 in On Chocolate & Cacao, Trips

After some lenghty tasty posts on a series of London discoveries in the past weeks, it’s time to look at Paris for the Salon du Chocolat 2009. Yep, it’s like chocolate season is officially open!

salonduchocolat-2008

My trip last year was revealing up a whole new world of food concepts and ideas, but also a labyrinth in retail, wholesale, agents and distributors. Now that I’ve got that puzzled out a little bit more, I’m looking forward for a new visit, with some promising lookouts… Unlike last year where I felt a bit more touristy, this time I’m looking forward to meet a bunch of great people.

I’ll be travelling with Sofie from Callebaut, a super enthusiast person who’s always eager to help anyone out on new biz. I should be seeing Valerie again, the export manager from Pralus again, after our lovely passionate chat on last year’s fair. Moreover Pralus will be launching tree new Venezuela bars: a Chuao, Cuyauga and a Porcelana as well!
I’m also having sales reps from Domori on the agenda, a great brand (isn’t it KüchenLatein? ;-) ) with a distinctive signature taste that also has a reworked series of Criollo to be discovered, next to so many other things.
Then there is Clay Gordon from the US, both of us want to meet each other so I hope all goes well, and maybe he can even smuggle some US bars over here (mmmm)… I’m also tweeting back and forth with Genaro from the Salon du Chocolat, and who knows I’ll bump into Carol “ParisBreakfast” Gillot, who I got to know through Flickr, is a waterpainting artist and crazy on chocolate!
And it’s not only the 15th anniversary of the Salon, this year also hosts the biennial Salon du Chocolat Professionel, where I’d love to take a peek as well. I’m really curious how in these economic times the fair will do, as Karen from TheNibble pointed out… Stay tuned on Choqoa.com!

PS: and for those in the UK, or not making it to Paris, there’s also the London Chocolate Week :) (also on Twitter)

Tasting Battle: Amedei Chuao, Porcelana vs. Valrhona & Marcolini

By on September 15, 2009 in On Chocolate & Cacao, Reviews

A couple of days ago, we had our friends from Singapore over for dinner, and since I didn’t really had a (chocolate) dessert prepared, I decided to throw in some luxury bars for a chocolate tasting. The table was honored with Amedei Chuao, Amedei Porcelana and Valrhona Caraïbe, all from the “London Collection” and Marcolini’s “Tabasco” and “Puerto Cabello” origin bars.

We started with the Valrhona to get our palate ‘choq’ready. This 66% bar is a blended Trinitario creation, which combines a nice texture with a pleasantly bitter though and roasted taste. A powerful tone to start.

Then we headed for the beautiful Amedei Porcelana. The Amedei Porcelana his is a very rare bar, and Amedei only produce a limited amount of Porcelana chocolate each year. The boxes are even individually numbered! The texture was a first big difference with Valrhona, but the flavoring really was like a slow hike on the discovery of cacao for the palate. The bar starts only slowly to release its various characteristics from subtle fruity tones towards a real chocolaty sensation.

Such and addictive signature taste had me grab on the famous “Amedei CHUAO” without hesitation: ranked one of the world’s best bars, to some even the reference. Contrary to the Porcelana, the CHUOA doesn’t have you wait to be indulged in a sublime and overwhelming cacao sensation. Darker, stronger, more powerful, punchy, and thick on the tongue, this bar reveals how intense and complex cacao can be.

To boost the comparison vibe at the table, Marcolini joined our exploration of origin bars. Both the Tabasco and Puerto Cabello came in with very pronounced flavors, both times however so strong you would even suspect Marcolini to add in spices and herbs. After the subtle and strong explorations of cacao with Amedei, Marcolini almost only seemed focused on getting one flavor in charge, which came a bit like a deception, but it depends how you look at it probably.

Tasting Battle: Amedei Chuao, Porcelana vs. Valrhona & Marcolini

It’s an easy decision: the Amedei Porcelana and Chuao really got gold, mostly because they mastered to always keep a chocolaty undertone throughout a great palate experience, whilst staying close with the nature of cacao. They had superbly crafted taste curvatures, releasing flavors one after another.
The excitement isn’t that much in having one very particular flavor (I think this is where Marcolini focuses way too much), but Amedei crafts bars that bring the full flavor cacao experience to live, from the first moment you break a chunk until the last bit melted and swallowed along your mouth.

Pierre Hermé, Porcelana and Valrhona

By on August 5, 2009 in On Chocolate & Cacao, Reviews

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 :)

Pierre Hermé. Porcelana Origine Chocolate

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.

Chocolat Bonnat: Marfil de Blanco & Apotequil

By on July 5, 2009 in On Chocolate & Cacao, Reviews

Chocolatier Bonnat launched a new series of origin bars a while ago, which I discovered on the Salon Du Chocolat in Paris a couple of months ago. From the color of the packaging you could tell it’s gotta be something special. Where to date Bonnat’s single origin collections came wrapped in white (with the exception of the Red 100%), the new series is launched in different mainly orange-beige tones.
Chocolat Bonnat. Marfil de Blanco

The Marfil de Blanco is an extremely snappy bar that sounds when you break a chunk. Its color is rather light, which has all to do with the Porcelana cacaobean variety. The name ‘Porcelana’ is derived from the white color of these spcific cacao beans, and delivers cacao bars that have a much more clear color. Both the Marfil de Blanco and the Apotequil bar have a near-perfect texture, no bubbles at all, a marbleish inner texture and after the first snappy bite, swiftly they evolve into a smoot silky sensation.

While both bars are Porcelana based, the Apotequil is harvested from Peru and offers more sweet and floral flavours. Making the bitterness wonderfully obsolete, it remains smooth with buttery notes of caramel, slight hints of wood and vanilla, and end up with a hazelnut finish.
On the other hand the Marfil de Blanco has its roots on plantations in Mexico, more specifically in the Tabasco region, and it’s good to know the Marfil de Blanco bean is a transplant of the rare Porcelana cocoa bean itself. The Marfil bar comes in with a rich, tasty aroma and slightly more acid flavours.

Bonnat is the brand that made me discover the wonderfull universe of true cacao, and I think the team makes a good move in updating the origin series after so many years. Its recognizable signature texture goes very well with the tastes in these Porcelana series, and once again, I can only warmhartedly recommend these bars to you!