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Report: The First Choqoa Tasting Event

By on November 29, 2009 in Reviews, Tastings & Events

In Belgium, home of the world famous ‘Belgian Chocolates’, I’ve taken up the challenge to share and show people the path to real chocolate, fine origin artisan cacao.
After a long while I decided to do so starting with the now infamous Choqoa Sampler packs, and also by organizing chocolate tasting events to have the means and moments to personally inspire people with “the food of the gods”. My first event took place some days ago and here’s how people responded to chocolate:

We were with a nice group of about 10. After some earlier small informal tryouts I took some learnings with me and started off with a small introduction on the sexy cacao tree, pods and beans, and briefly explained the making process. We had some good questions then on the differences with industrial brands like Callebaut and I showed some pics of the Amano Chocolate factory.
Mosts really appreciated this introduction, because the cacao tree is funny, sexy and full of secrets, and how often do you wonder yourself about the source of your food?

Choqoa Chocolate Tasting Event

Off to the tasting then! I learned from Martin Christy, founder of SeventyPercent.com, to make a program instead of just grabbing for some bars, so I made small plates with chunks from all the bars to hand out. I also distributed some sheets to take notes and a tasting wheel to have some reference to our taste buds. All this helpst to take the clutter of the table and focus on tasting chocolate. The Amedei was a great opener to ‘set the bar’and we then moved on to plenty of other bars, the full list is below this post.

Time after time most were pretty intrigued by the variety of aromas and sensations, though they suggested getting some more guidance in what flavors they should detect. A good point to work on! I would also have put some more variety in the selection, I still had too many options, but off course it also depends on your stock as well.

One of the participants, Johan, is doing a great job in sharing the message for me and he brought me a fresh Amano Ocumare milk from San Fransisco. All of us were really surprised by this very untypical milk sensation; it’s a superb bar that gives a whole new level to milk chocolate. I’m leaving the idea of ‘percentages’ more and more and this bar proves it’s very very possible.

As a special for this evening I also served a double fine whisky and chocolate pairing: but you can read all about this tantalizing pairing experience in my previous blog post.

Those true discoveries were the better moments, and most likely everybody said to have had a very nice tasting experience and gladly returned home with their own chocolate bars.

Check out the next Choqoa tastings en events on my EventBrite page, see you soon!

Read on for details of all the tasted bars!

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It’s finally here: the 2009 Choqoa Sampler selection

By on November 22, 2009 in On Chocolate & Cacao

Chocolate has put me to the test lately: slow distributors, fast selling stocks, last-second changes… I almost had it all! But most important is, all pieces are finally joined together. I think the booklet and detail sheets will make it all in all a nice package and look really nice. And on top of it all, I believe it’s a nice selection of chocolate bars to introduce you to a new level of Cacao appreciation.

Choqoa 2009 Sampler

From the plethora of bars on display at The Salon du Chocolat in Paris, I’ve made a modest selection that takes you on an imaginary tour of the cacao growing belt:

Michel Cluizel takes us to the Sambirano valley in Madagascar and to the Dominican Republic, where we experience an entirely different character from the same brand. Francois Pralus leads the way to Brazil and demonstrates – together with AMMA Chocolates – how similar beans can be mastered in different ways. Finally, Bonnat takes us back to the heart of fine cacao:  his Venezuelan masterpieces from the mythical Chuao cacao beans.

I hope this selection pushes you forth into the exploration of real, original chocolate. Whether you’re in for trying different regions, different percentages or different ways of production – that’s entirely up to you. As long as you’re having fun, you can discover anything you want in a great chocolate bar.

With the sampler I hope your fine origin discoveries will only make you hungry for more!… :)

Marcolini Unleashes His Bean-to-bar Passion

By on August 27, 2009 in Marketing, On Chocolate & Cacao

Marcolini. Carre² Chocolat. Gran Cru de Propriété I’d say I’m really glad Belgium’s most exclusive chocolatier Pierre Marcolini finally as devoted his time on a truely fine collection of single origin bars. Beyond the aged myth of ‘Belgian Chocolate’, Marcolini is achieving to catch up with the real luxury chocolate scenes of France, Italy and Germany. Abroad the consumtption of luxury dark chocolate with curious consumers has been lifting since 5 years at least, and now this iconic Belgian chocolatier finally ventures into origin chocolate bars with a luscious collection. Featuring Venezuelan Criollo, cacao from the Sambirano valley in Madagsacar and the Tabasco region in Mexico, this series are wellworth exploring!

Meanwhile, Marcolini get’s the website upgrade his passion deserves. Brussels interactive agency Emakina recently launched the new www.marcolini.com and sure did a great job here. Be sure to watch the Carre² Chocolat video where the Master Chocolatier himselve talkes passionately about the various pleasures and obstacles of single origin cacao, working together with plantations, and launching this particular collection.

The perfect tasting of an innocent child

By on October 13, 2008 in On Chocolate & Cacao

When I returned home this weekend from a family trip, my 8 year old nephew wanted to watch a video before bringing him back to his mom. I inserted the company presentation from Belcolade that I just received from a friend who works at Puratos/Belcolade as a Communication Manager.

My nephew was instantly absorbed by the world of chocolate and he started mouthwatering for a bite, and so I offered him a piece of a Michel Cluizel “1er Cru de Plantation Mangaro” that laid on the table. I actually did this on purpose to see how a little child would react on something so different from the supermarket quality chocolate people are used to buy. Just like the previously reviewed  Hussel Bejofo Madagascar, the 1er Cru Mangaro is cultivated in the rich valley of the Sambirano river, where Cluizel’s plantation flourishes on the land of a former mango tree forest.

Micel Cluizel. 1er Cru de Plantation - Mangaro

He was particularly delighted by the taste and I asked him eventually in an innocent way to describe me what exactly he tasted. To my fun and surprise he closed his eyes and said that only when you close your eyes you taste the aromas so much better. Where did he pick that up?! I insisted and asked him what aromas exactly he could discover in this Michel Cluizel bar… he rolled with his eyes and closed them back and soon after regaling his small chunk, promptly said to taste strawberry, closed his eyes again and a little later also reported oranges! I couldn’t resist laughing out of admiration…
This 8 years young expert evaluated the taste of chocolate with fruity descriptions! This in itself was already amazing, but also how close did he came: The Cluizel Mangaro effectively has tones of citrus and orange in particular, and though strawberry maybe too sweet a description, the bar is being classified with a fruity character and hints of raspberries.

I was astonished by the fact that even a child described this chocolate in a very original way, immediately discovering the rich variations in fruitiness, and hence that he evaluated the bar far away from anything bitter that is usually a prejudice when it comes to ‘dark’ chocolate. I guess I’ll have to hire my nephew whenever I may eventually start a cacao business :-)

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!