TeaChat

So. i was wondering if there are any serious chocolate eaters here into good quality single origin/estate chocolates or blended bars even. i was also wondering if anyone has suggestions for tea that is suitable to be drank with dark chocolate (i sometimes consume a bit of dark choc with my matcha cos i can't think of a better wagashi substitute but thickly bitter + thickly bitter is prob not a good idea).

finally, if anyone knows of a chocolate forum like this one, that would be unbelievably helpful this forum is super!

I like good dark chocolates, but I'm afraid i'm not that serious about it.

I like dark chocolate too but not craving for it. Chocolate to me is seasonal food. When I feel like eating em, will have it for few days and if not won't even touch them for months.

PS: When I need some chocolate without eating chocolate, I watch this:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2NkGHkqDZk

I like chocolates but I´m nowhere near the level with them that I am with tea...I go for the more expensive dark chocolates that I can find at the supermarkets and drug stores.

I wish I knew where to get single origin chocolates...I had some single origin Oaxaca chocolate and coffee in a mocha in Mexico that was amazing!

Next time I go I´m going to try and bring back some Oaxaca chocolate

entropyembrace wrote:...Next time I go I´m going to try and bring back some Oaxaca chocolate

Oaxaca chocolate OTTI! Yeay!

I MISS CHOCOLATE!!! We don't have much here other than Dove bars, Snickers, and Kit-Kat. That's not really chocolate.

I have been enjoying dark chocolate more and more, but picking up some random 70% bar at the grocery is as far as I've delved.

Is there really a reason to search harder than this? Any adivce on what the "next step" for better chocolate would be would be appreciated. What's the advantage of single origin/estate chocolates?

If anyone has had some particular chocolate that stood out for them, let us know!

A relevant post by Tim.

I thought this NY Times article was pretty interesting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/dining/08choc.html

teaskeptic wrote:I have been enjoying dark chocolate more and more, but picking up some random 70% bar at the grocery is as far as I've delved.

Is there really a reason to search harder than this? Any adivce on what the "next step" for better chocolate would be would be appreciated. What's the advantage of single origin/estate chocolates?

If anyone has had some particular chocolate that stood out for them, let us know!

A relevant post by Tim.

absolutely! i did a mini-tasting for my friends where i purchased a bunch of supermarket chocs and compared it to the best supermarket choc i could find here in my neighbourhood (which turned out to be valrhona's line of grandcru chocs) and they were rather amazed by the difference

the complexity in flavour and the treatment of the chocolate is at a significantly higher standard when it comes to the major chocolate houses. for supermarket brands my personal fav is lindt's 70% bar...a nice solid go-to blended choc bar. But for serious eats, i usually order my chocs from chocosphere.com

here's a mini excel table i drew up comparing it to tea
this is my own opinion though...the mapping of tea categories to chocolate categories is surely not perfect

chocolate flavours can be very very subtle indeed, quite like tea!

funny I was looking at chocosphere but thinking the site didn´t really look very professional...

but you´ve had good experiences with them?
any other sites that are good for ordering better chocolate online in North America?

I really would prefer a Canadian source but I don´t really know how to look very effectively for chocolate sources. I know that unlike tea there are customs duties for chocolate.

yeah i usually order chocs with a friend. there's just no easier way to get stuff from amedei or michael cluizel (unless maybe if one is in new york).

btw, i just noticed today that Lindt changed their recipe for their 70% Excellence bar! The change is not at all to my taste...they made it less chocolaty and much more 'generic'. Basically if i'm not wrong, they increased the ratio of cocoa butter to solids (so its less chocolaty but also less bitter) and added an emulsifier to make it smoother but now with the same kind of weird plasticky taste i associate with lesser brands.

the_economist wrote:yeah i usually order chocs with a friend. there's just no easier way to get stuff from amedei or michael cluizel (unless maybe if one is in new york).

btw, i just noticed today that Lindt changed their recipe for their 70% Excellence bar! The change is not at all to my taste...they made it less chocolaty and much more 'generic'. Basically if i'm not wrong, they increased the ratio of cocoa butter to solids (so its less chocolaty but also less bitter) and added an emulsifier to make it smoother but now with the same kind of weird plasticky taste i associate with lesser brands.

I´ve been moving away from Lindt because they have quite a bit of stuff other than cacao in their bars...

I´ve been going for Côte d´Or´s 86% cacao bar...it tastes more pure than Lindt.

Actually I´ve found there´s a chocolate shop right next to my University which doesn´t have online store but has single origin chocolates and uses michael cluizel chocolate for their truffles and such...will definitely be checking it out next week!

entropyembrace wrote: I really would prefer a Canadian source but I don´t really know how to look very effectively for chocolate sources.?

I just found this: http://www.chocodirect.com. Looks like a nice variety to start with.

entropyembrace wrote:
I´ve been moving away from Lindt because they have quite a bit of stuff other than cacao in their bars...

I´ve been going for Côte d´Or´s 86% cacao bar...it tastes more pure than Lindt.

Actually I´ve found there´s a chocolate shop right next to my University which doesn´t have online store but has single origin chocolates and uses michael cluizel chocolate for their truffles and such...will definitely be checking it out next week!

i'm going to buy a couple of the old lindt bars to stock them lol...their old recipe had only cocoa beans, cocoabutter, vanilla beans and sugar. that's the way i like my choc it seems they don't know how to use lecthins properly...its way overwhelming and the cocoabutter is used far too much in the new recipe.

ive been meaning to try green and blacks and Cote dOr actually! will report when i do. need to find a good supermarket stocked replacement chocolate for daily munching.

some of the cluizel bars are personal favourites of mine! it'll be amazing if u can find them near campus!