I was really looking forward to taste the fresh juice or “pulp” which is often described as really fruity. And boy it did, I shared it with some friends and we tasted mango, lychee, banana, grapes and more all at the same time: now you would really understand why this is the ‘food of the gods’!

Having several of fresh cacao pods in my hands it was above all about really looking how this fruit works on the inside. And now I could finally see and taste fresh all these great aromas, which so far I only tasted in a finished chocolate bar and look at all the different parts. The inner structure is just beautiful and it’s amazing to see how sophisticated this fruit grows!

See for yourself, and thank you Helena (@imkedielen)!
I’ll pick up the Claudio Corallo bars soon

Related posts:

1. Sao Tomé: Michel Cluizel vs. Neuhaus

With Whisky Import Benelux we have an excellent offering that specifically works with pairings of the Carn Mór Vintage Collection. More than just putting some whisky and chocolate together, we have been specializing and having fun in taking the idea of whisky and chocolate a step further with carefully selected one-on-one pairings. Bart from WIB is a truly passionate whisky ambassador and has an excellent nose for matching aromas. We have been working on a list of wonderful whiskies that create an exciting combination with special selected origin chocolates.

On the list are chocolate from François Pralus, Bonnat, Michel Cluizel and even a superb Pacari pairing. So far my two favorite combinations are the fruity Pralus Papouasie with a single cask Balmenach 2001 and the iconic and incredibly sour “Le 100%” with a very wholesome Caol Ila 1983. It’s just wonderful to feel how both build upon each other in new dimensions.
The whiskies have enough power to give balance to these upfront tasting origin chocolates, and blending something edible with something aromatic fluid must be a key to give a delightful experience on the palate.

Though taste is always personal, it’s encouraging to surprise people to change their mind with this level of both chocolate and whisky. So you could never believe dark chocolate can taste like this? I didn’t know whisky can be so fine either . We learned from our first tasting, and now people really where enthusiast about the idea, the combinations and the way we present them. After all, great taste is something to share anytime!

If you ‘re inspired, we’ll continue our tastings after the summer break, so stay in touch with our blog, websites, and both our Facebook Fanpages (Choqoa – WIB)!

Related posts:

1. Choqoa’s First Whisky and Chocolate Pairing
2. Report: The First Choqoa Tasting Event
3. Report: The 2nd Choqoa Tasting Event

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…

List of tasted bars

1. Pacari “Esmeraldas”
   A new fresh brand from Ecuador using Arriba Nacional beans , delivering a floral and stringent aroma, coffee, long aftertaste, with a lot of jumping sensations
2. TCHO “Nutty”
   a US brand that actually pretty much disappointed with this nutty version of their chocolate, which was very dry and overdone.
3. Michel Cluizel “Vila Gracinda”
   Michel Cluizel delivered upon his promise of wonderful fruity aroma’s from the island of Sao Tomé
4. Domori “Sur del Lago”
   Introducing the particular signature taste sensation of Domori, that pleased to many
5. François Pralus “Madagascar”
   A stunning and powerfull citric experience, very fresh and bold with a sublime character
6. Bonnat “Hacienda El Rosario”
   Impressive texture and flavor development reminding us of the famous Chokotoff candy
7. Akesson’s “Brazil – Fazenda Monte Alegre”
   A very interesting bar that offers an particular evolution from soft chocolate to a spicy ending, a pretty novel experience
8. Domori “Criollo Porcelana”
   Definitely the most pleasant sensation we shared, through wonderfully fine, balanced and pure chocolate aromas
9. François Pralus “Le 100%”
   I didn’t lie when I replied ‘No it is not a 99% percent’, haha,  but this red colored piece of Madagascar Criollo chocolate is a 100% must-do to experience pure cacao

Related posts:

1. Report: Choqoa Tasting Event 10.1
2. Report: Choqoa Tasting Event 10.2
3. Report: The 2nd Choqoa Tasting Event

His fellow coffee servants swiftly gathered around the mysterious black bag and upon seeing the contents, they surely had hard times waiting for opening that newly discovered black gold. Eventually however, the proof is in the tasting, and seeing some of Belgium’s most famous coffee cup champs rolling their eyes on munching these wonderful chocolate bars, was a pleasure all mine!

Rob mailed me some days later with more detailed notes, so here it is: the uncensored Caffènation review on some of the ‘Selected by Choqoa’ chocolate bars. It’s great to see how people take a personal twist on taste

François Pralus – Madagascar: 7/10 Citric, a very ‘natural’ taste, somewhat ‘beastly’ even, needs time to adapt yourself too it.
Bonnat – Trinité: 9/10 Very sweet and buttery. Gives a sensation of melted chocolate with orange and cherry. Delicious!
Bonnat – “Hacienda El Rosario” : 6.5/10 Somewhat in between, slightly too powerful on the palate en brute. Very complex though.
François Pralus – Venezuela : 5/10 Very ‘bitter’ and pretty harsh.
Michel Cluizel – Vila Gracinda : 9/10 My favourite. Starts really creamy and evolves into huge piles of tropical fruit with fresh made chocolate mousse.

A big thanks to sharing your impressions and feel free to follow the Caffènation blog. I’m looking forward to publish many more responses from people who rediscover superb chocolate with Choqoa!

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Chocolate and its plethora of surrounding topics always make a great conversation starter, so pretty soon we had a good vibe, getting us open to enter the tasting part. After 4 bars only, people were amazed already by my broad offering and the variety in tasting sensations, even ‘less appreciated aroma’s’ were adding to overall discovery experience.
Noteworthy where also organic Pacari, the recent Akesson’s and absolutely the handcrafted Amano Jembrana, which I exclusively got from the USA directly from founder Art Pollard, with a big help from Martin at SeventyPercent as well in London.
These treasures aside I also showed a bloomed bar of Willie’s (don’t know how that happened actually), and wowed them with the Michel Cluizel ‘Grand Lait 45% milk bar’ (‘Is this milk chocolate?!’), shared unroasted and roasted cacao beans I received from Pralus, and put the cherry on the cake with the Pralus 100% as the usual über chocolate experience!

You can tell it was fun if people say they would come back for another tasting session, hope to see you next time as well!

Continue reading for details on the tasted bars…

List of tasted bars

1. François Pralus “Madagascar”
   a fresh, bold and citric opener on which most agreed it had a short aftertaste
2. Michel Cluizel “Los Ancones”
   so creamy, complex and rich in taste
3. Valrhona “Guanaja”
   the nutty one, and more gritty than the Los Ancones bar
4. Bonnat “Ceylan”
   This is a very spicy and leatherish bar, dark tones and though not varying in flavour, it keeps its strong character in an unusual sustaining & lasting curve
5. François Pralus “Dominique Républiquaine”
   very different reactions on this fresh feeling bar, but raisins was at the center
6. Michel Cluizel “Vila Gracinda”
   I think still the most special sensing and tasting bar from Cluizel, very surprising opening that leads to tropical fruit sensations
7. Domori “Sur del Lago”
   I think Domori’s style is iconic like an Italian fashion brand, you may argue on taste, but it’s all in all a very special signature carried over all his bars
8. Pacari “Esmeraldas”
   Something new and organic from Ecuador, and the Arriba’s freshness was for many participants a never experienced sensation in chocolate, leaving them hungry for more.
9. Amano “Jembrana”
   Something very special from the USA, this bar reigned in lengthy subtleties topped with pepperish sensations. Although I had only received 2 bars, one participant was so crazy on I couldn’t refuse to give the second one to him
10. Akesson’s “Brazil”
    More novelties with Akesson’s Brazil creation, feeling pretty melty on the palate, and evolving surprisingly spicy over time. Also here people really liked it a lot.
11. François Pralus “Le 100%”
    My favrourite tasting bar to see how people would react, and this time thye reported both sour & salty sensations, however despite its 100% label, bitter was not a word used, again.
12. Michel Cluizel “Le 45% Grand Lait”
    To clean the 100% from the palate I offered Cluizel’s award winning milk bar, and not to my surprise people were stupefied on how a milk chocolate could taste that good, mentioning a lot of caramel flavours. Bingo again!

Related posts:

1. Report: The 2nd Choqoa Tasting Event
2. Report: Choqoa Tasting Event 10.1
3. Report: The First Choqoa Tasting Event

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…

List of tasted bars:

• Michel Cluizel “Plantation Mangaro”
  as always a fresh citric opener
• Valrhona “Guanaja” 70%
  the bar that basically initiated the whole origin movement two decades ago, named after the place where Columbus first encountered cacao beans
• François Pralus “République Dominicaine”
  a great bar giving a whole different tasting sensation than the nutty Valrhona and citric Mangaro. A fresh ‘cooling’ experience on the palate
• Domori “Apurimac”
  Domori is like a brand you like or dislike, there is hardly a neutral zone! The oh so typical creamy conched aromas that aggressively escape from the bar are only tamed in their flavors by Domori.
• TCHO ‘Fruity’
  Enter USA, a whole new chocolate experience, with a full bodied tasting curve that is like none of the above
• Bonnat “Puerto Cabello”
  To my surprise Bonnat didn’t make the top appreciated this time! Maybe it was put in the wrong place and time, but most were less impressed by this Bonnat bar, although it’s one of his icon bars
• François Pralus “Cuba”
  A bar full of subtle flavours and the typical bolder character that comes with every Pralus
• Zotter “Labooka Peru 80%”
  I did not reveal the percentage beforehand, and even if the taste may not be about bitterness (rather smoke tobacco) , all of us guessed by the deep intensity of the overall flavour that this is a high percentage bar.
• Pacari “Los Rios” 72%
  Now here a very different chocolate sensation from Ecuador that really stood the 80% we had before. Pacari‘s organic process delivers really interesting freshness that surpasses the classic chocolate flavours
• Michel Cluizel “Los Ancones”
  From subtle flavours to more expressive complex aromas with this one. An expressive bar that show how complex a bar can be in containing a variety of aroma’s. Our professional jury evaluated and detected super tiny nibs that would help achieving this result. Something to research…
• François Pralus “Chuao”
  No need to tell a lot about the mythical Chuao to this crowd, but they were all eagerly exploring the enormous complexity of flavours every bite of this bean releases
• François Pralus “Le 100%”
  My favourite chocolate experience still, not for its taste only, but Pralus’ mastering the Criollo bean in its purity delivering an experience and sensation that goes beyond chocolate.

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1. Report: Choqoa Tasting Event 10.2
2. Report: The 2nd Choqoa Tasting Event
3. Report: The First Choqoa Tasting Event

Amedei: La Tavoletta Toscano Black 70%

No need to introduce the Italian brother and sister Tessieri that helped putting fine cacao crafting on the map like no other. The 70% Tavoletta smells fresh and flowerfull and this packaging design is timeless.
Chewing on it, it keeps its really fresh character, and almost reminds me of eating fresh raisins. An always present very light chocolate flavour gives persistent support to coffee, red fruit. It won’t let you go that fast and melts down really slowly. The taste curve keeps its pace and sustains a continuous experience, really ‘fleshy’ almost, forcing you to discover the subtleties. A lingering aftertaste only slowly leaves you waiting… for the next chunk.

Zotter: Labooko Nicaragua 80%

This rather new Austrian chocolate maker has some very interesting and unique origin offers, like this Nicaragua. The whole Zotter ‘Labooko’ series come in a unique design wrapping and a 35gr pocket fit size.
A well designed bar that smells very tobacco and leather. This Zotter bar takes a breath, starts slowly and then speeds up to a powerful release of unique flavors: liquorice, pepper, coffee that build up strong to the 80% and then go steep downhill your throat with a clear end point, a remarkable experience curve, hinting for molasses, walnut and mushroom, ending with surprising fruity goodbye.

Bonnat: Puerto Cabello 75%

I could not resist more chocolate and had to unfold another one. With a fresh delivery of some Puerto Cabello bars, I looked forward for what is said to be one of Bonnat’s best bars in his white wrap collection. Opening the bar you recognize the typical perfectly tempered bar that looks shiny and silky. The smell is a promise for something deep and rich, chocolaty, with nuts, caramel and cinnamon or clove?
Put this bar on your tongue and you will be welcomed by a very mature cacao experience, entering your palate with a polite bow. Then it starts to dance and waltz to every bud on your tongue releasing one flavor after the other back and forth: cookies, cloves, nuts in a moving mouth choreography with berries and tropical fruit. There is not a single touch of bitterness at all, and the 75% makes it a perfect balance of intensity and flavor. Damn I ate it all!

The Verdict

I’m not taking into account the wonderful Bonnat here. As for the experience itself, the Amedei and Zotter were a perfect opposites attrack! Amedei slow and straight, the Nicaragua like a tsunami.
Depending on your music preference, I’d say Amedei is that great piece of Classical music, where the Zotter Nicaragua rather plays the contrabass solo on a standards jazz record. Look at the packaging differences, it says it all! Though all three are awesome bars, I felt pretty jazzy today, so for me Zotter ‘Lobooka’ Nicaragua wins on points from Amedei ‘La Tavoletta’!

Related posts:

1. Tasting Battle: Amedei Chuao, Porcelana vs. Valrhona & Marcolini
2. The London Collection feat. world’s best Amedei
3. Battle of Bonnat: ‘Manufaktum’ Madagascar 100% vs. Cacao Real del Xoconuzco

Last year in January, I went to one of my first food related events other than only chocolate. “The Flemish Primitives” in Bruges, Belgium, was an ambitious setting, crafted around the theme of foodpairing, staging the world’s best cooks. On stage we were thrown into serial ecstasies by chefs like Serge Vieira (France), Ben Roche (Moto, Chicago), Heston Blumenthal (The Fat Duck) and many other leading chefs and scientists.
Being an obsessive amateur of fine origin cacao bars only, it was with hindsight the first time I gained a level of respect for a chocolatier when I lived the experience driven sensations Dominique Persoone set on stage. And after a not less than mind blowing, though inspiring day, I’ll never forget the last presentation of an overwhelming series: Albert Adrià from El Bulli gave us pure visual poetry through food.

I have the unique opportunity to go back this year, to see an even more impressive list of the greatest chefs on earth. And I’m sure the experience will be of an inspiring added value to all of the Choqoa projects in 2010 as well!

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Yes, you’ve probably read that Chocolat Bonnat opened my mind and started my deep passion for origin cacao more than a decade ago, but long before that I was already hooked onto dark chocolate, it being the only ‘candy’ I allowed myself. The repeat question actually made me wonder again lately… what is really the very first remembrance of chocolate that I can bring to my mind?

The answer didn’t took me more than 10 seconds. I guess I was at the age of 5, or 6. It was at my grandmother’s place, where in the lower right space from the cupboard was always laying a big 500 gram bloc of chocolate, wrapped in dark blue paper with a bright yellow border. It had bold white letters ‘BLOC’, and I remembered vividly that at every visit it offered me a piece of bittersweet pleasure. It was the typical so called ‘bittersweet’ chocolate from that era, astringent in flavour by nature and sweetened with sugar to soften the taste.

I tried to find it back online, but it was – again- my ‘chocolate aunt’ from France that was able to pass me the real brandname of that chocolate: Martougin! I googled around and shivered when I saw back that unforgettable blue-yellow wrapping, to discover that this was in fact a very respectable chocolate factory, made in Antwerp (Belgium) with a pretty nice heritage, but more on that later, maybe.

For me it’s a wonderful trigger to my youth, and proves again that chocolate really does something to childhood memories. And it will for sure do so many more things in the future…

So, what is really the very first remembrance of chocolate that you can bring to your mind?

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Pralus recently took some time at The Salon du Chocolat in Paris to offer us a brief video interview, joining my previous talks with Clay Gorden ‘The Chocophile’, Frederick Schilling from AMMA and Stéphane Bonnat. It took me some time to add the subtitling, but now at least all of you can enjoy his passion.

François takes his own angle on the same questions I’ve been asking all of the above cacao icons. He really hunts for high quality plantations, passionate people and aroma development. It’s very inspiring to see how different all of them respond and share their proper focus on building wonderfull chocolate stories.

Enjoy the short video interview with François Pralus (though I was a bit distracted), the last in the video interview series I shot at The Salon in Paris. I hope it makes you discover and appreciate his chocolate in a new way as well!

Related posts:

1. Video: Interview with Clay Gordon “The Chocophile” at Salon du Chocolat
2. Video: Childhood Memories with Stéphane Bonnat at Salon du Chocolat
3. Video: Frederick Schilling & AMMA Chocolates at Salon du Chocolat