It turns out there’s more to chocolate than I ever realised.
Like a fine wine or a premium coffee, the highest quality chocolate has subtle flavours and aromas reminiscent of the plantation where the caca0 beans were grown. Along with the cocoa mass concentration, which determines the degree of darkness, these flavour variations can be experienced in a good old fashioned tasting.
Yes, today I sat down to a formal chocolate tasting and experienced an education.
Lesson 1 — Know your cacao beans
There are three different types of cacao beans: the really good ones (criollo), the everyday ones (forastero) and a hybrid of the two (trinitario). 95% of world chocolate is made from forastero, while criollo beans (higher quality, lower yield, more susceptible to disease…) are reserved for the most special of special chocolates.
Plantation location is also becoming increasingly significant, in a similar way to grapes for premium wine and single-origin coffee. There’s a distinct trend towards single country of origin — even plantation of origin — in premium chocolate production.
Lesson 2 — The basic ingredients
Chocolate is made from a blend of cocoa mass and cocoa butter (both derived from cacao beans — for details see wikipedia!), sugar and milk. The amount of cocoa mass determines the ‘darkness’ of the chocolate — more than 50% is considered ‘dark chocolate’ — and cocoa butter contributes to the smoothness. The darker the chocolate, the better for you from a health point of view.
Lesson 3 — Mr Lindt was a genius
The smooth, melt-in-your-mouth quality we expect of chocolate today is also due largely to the invention of ‘conching’ by Rodolphe Lindt, who devised a method of mixing cocoa butter, sugar and chocolate particles that resulted in 0.2 micron particles that basically can’t be detected by our palate. Prior to this, chocolate tasted a bit gritty, owing to undissolved/mixed sugar particles.
Lesson 4 — Experience with your 5 senses
Look at the chocolate — it should be shiny and aesthetically pleasing. Listen to the chocolate — snap it close to your ear and listen for a crisp crack and look for a smooth edge. Touch the chocolate — cocoa butter melts below body temperature, so it should start to melt in your hand. Smell the chocolate — try to identify regional variations (like wine). Taste the chocolate — swirl it around your tongue to use all your taste buds… try to identify saltiness, acidity, bitterness (as well as the regional variations). Focus on what’s going on inside your mouth!
Lesson 5 — Taste from darkest to lightest
Start with the darkest, most intense chocolate and move through milk and then white. (Not what I expected.) This is because you start with the purest chocolate, uncontaminated by additives (such as sugar…).
The taste test
Our tasting this morning was conducted by a Melbourne company called Chocoholic Tours as part of the Chocolate Journey walk.
- We started with a 72% dark chocolate from NZ company Whittakers, beans from Ghana.
- Next was a 67% dark Belgian chocolate from Callebaut (the world’s largest provider of coverture chocolate). The beans were Madigascan and a blend of all three types — with hints of blueberry, licorice and coffee.
- Then came a 65% Swiss chocolate from Felchlin, a company that only uses criollo beans from 100-yr old trees in Venezuela — with hints of coffee, plumb, orange blossum and cinnamon. (my favourite!)
- Followed by the first milk chocolate, also from Felchlin, this time 38% cocoa mass.
- We had to try a mediocre chocolate of course, 32% milk chocolate entirely made from Callebaut Javan forastero beans, which we dubbed ‘Easter Egg chocolate’.
- Last one was a white chocolate (zero cocoa mass, only cocoa butter). Callebaut again, 29% cocoa butter with the rest being sugar and milk. Very good quality for a white chocolate — but can it really be considered chocolate?
Going through each chocolate, step by step, focusing on the five senses (especially the palate swirling) was amazing. I could really taste the difference between them… and it made me realise I should eat chocolate this way all the time. Not that I should regularly do a progressive tasting, but that I should stick with good quality chocolate and focus on the experience, rather than just shovel it in.
Lesson 6 — How to make hot chocolate
There was one more lesson to follow — we visited Chokolait, a wonderful little cafe in the Hub Arcade that specialises in hot chocolate. Here, we tried the most amazing hot chocolate, and found out how to make it! The key tips are:
- Use good quality chocolate (doh!). Chokolait has several different single-origin chocolates and blends available (plus additives like chilli).
- Melt the chocolate first. This is to prevent too much mixing when you add the milk.
- Add the textured/steamed milk to the molten chocolate, not the other way around, and fold gently. You don’t want to mix too much to destroy the texture.
- Ratio is approximately 1/3 chocolate to 2/3 milk.
So, there endeth the chocolate lesson. What’s your favourite chocolate experience?
E V Gregory 
had no idea chocolate involved so much. I can say for a fact that Belguim chocolates do taste a lot different than my Hersey kisses. LOL Thanks for sharing “the true facts.”
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Yes, I think there’s chocolate and then there’s CHOCOLATE! I’m going to try to stick to the moderately good stuff.
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I could eat my weight in Lindt white chocolate truffels or Godiva white chocolate anything! This delicious post has me searching the pantry for a piece I might have missed.
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And did you find any? I quite like white chocolate, but much prefer dark. However, we have a Cadbury block here called Top Deck, which is a mix of white and milk — I’ve always been a fan of that!
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No, I came up empty. But that Cadbury Top Deck sounds delicious! I wonder if they have that in the US?
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My favorite chocolate experience is when I’m eating it. 😉
Fascinating post, Ellen! I love to learn more about the things that bring me such enjoyment. Thanks for sharing this!
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I consider it my solemn duty to keep us all informed when it comes to chocolate.
You should try the 5-senses tasting method… amazing how much I enjoyed it!
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Hmmm so shovelling chocolate mindlessly into my mouth while watching tv might mean i am not getting the full experience?
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I’m hardly one to talk, really. But try swirling it around on your tongue and sucking and see what happens…
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Sadly I’ve made the decision to cut back on my sugar significantly, so chocolate is pretty much out for me, which makes reading this post one of my favourite chocolate experiences lately!
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Oh well, at least I could provide vicarious enjoyment. However, the very dark chocolates (70% plus) don’t have much sugar in them, so perhaps you could get around it that way 😉
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WELL – this is a mouth-watering post! Don’t know if I should thank you for that – setting off The Cravings…but, I think that if I go for the really dark, like 85%, there can’t be too much sugar in that, and I’ve heard it’s healthy. Something about making you calm, bringing down the blood pressure or some such thing. I’ll go look for some now…
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85% is really dark and bitter. We can get an 85% Lindt block here, but I prefer 70%. If we could get 65% easily, that would be my ideal. Over in Europe, you can get just about any % you want – chocolate really is much better over there!
And yes, don’t they say dark chocolate has health benefits because of anti oxidants? Bring it on!!
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I don’t eat much chocolate, but when I do, I eat Dos Equis…I mean ice cream 😉
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Not much chocolate? For shame! But chocolate icecream is awesome too.
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Yeah, I usually avoid buying sweets–mainly because once I have them, it’s really hard not to absorb them all in a single sitting. But every once in a while, I allow myself to wallow in a little delicious decadence.
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I have a chocolate demon on my shoulder every time I’m in the supermarket… Especially if the Lindt is on special!
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I hope you manage to avoid making Faustian bargains with chocolate demons. They can be quite ruthless, with their marshmallow horns and all 😉
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Oh I sold my soul for chocolate years ago…
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Great post! I love chocolate ~ preferably dark or semi-sweet.
I just watched a special last week on tv all about chocolate. It’s amazing how they process the cacao beans.
Mostly, the workers are cutting the pods out of the tree, opening them up by hand and spreading the beans all over the ground so they can ferment in the sun. ..and that’s just the beginning!
After watching all that chocolate goes through from tree to the store ~ I will appreciate every bite just a bit more.
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It’s a real eye-opener isn’t it? Makes you realise the importance of Fair Trade.
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As if I needed another reason to travel to Melbourne…
😉
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Actually, much as I’d love to see you in Melbourne, I’d recommend Europe for the best chocolate experience!
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I didn’t know about the different qualities of chocolate–just thought it was how it was processed. I know the Mayans and Aztecs used the cacao bean as money to barter with. My favorite, since I’m no connoisseur, is a Cadbury bar–the texture is so creamy and just the right sweetness for me–even better than Lindt. Of course truffles are a great option but expensive. Sadly, I have chocolate in very spare amounts these days because it is a trigger for migraines which I want to avoid at all costs. Some days I just give in, get the migraine pills ready and indulge.
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Oh dear, I am so thankful I don’t get migraines…. How troublesome. And how I love the concept of using cacao beans to barter with! I think I’ve heard that before, but had forgotten.
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I love chocolate, but I’ve never done as anything as elegant as a chocolate tasting. And really, my palate’s happy to taste ANY type of chocolate, from Halloween candy to Lindt truffles to [insert fancy chocolate here]. Not snobbish about chocolate at all. 😀
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me neither as a rule. I’m so addicted! currently enjoying some 70% organic dark with peppermint fondant filling 🙂
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