Can you tell the difference between a Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia and one from France? What about the difference between Venezuelan and Ethiopian coffee beans? These differences occur because of where and how the grapes or coffee grow, and the same is true for cocoa. This month we have a selection of single origin chocolates, allowing subscribers to explore the influence of terroir
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We love supporting Australian chocolate and so we were very excited to have Charley’s chocolate from North Queensland. They use cocoa from three different plantations, and it is fascinating to taste the differences. The King Ranch plantation gives a fruity chocolate, while the Mt Edna has a nuttier flavour.
From Vietnam we had chocolates from three different regions, made by Belvie. Ben Tre in the flat Mekong Delta region has a hint of bitterness along with berry flavours, quite different to the sweet caramel flavours of the Tien Giang bar. For our lovers of flavoured chocolate we also included the Belvie Good Morning Vietnam bar, made with coffee and cocoa both grown in the Lam Dong region and a great way to start the day!
Our third single origin bar came from J. Cocoa in the UK. We included a milk or a dark bar, each made with Trinitario beans from a different part of Nicaragua. These bars are a great example of single origin chocolate because James is committed to using the minimum number of ingredients possible.
Finally, from Chocolarder we had the Ashaninka bar from Peru, or a gorse flower infused milk chocolate made with beans from Nicaragua. The Ashaninka bar is a pure dark chocolate that allows the tropical fruit flavours of the cocoa to come through. However, in the milk chocolate the gorse flower brings out a great coconut flavour.
As a bonus for our subscribers we also included the Ooray chocolate from Cailo. Cocoa from Panama is inflused with Davidson’s Plum (also known as Ooray), which adds a tangy, citric zing to the smooth dark chocolate. This is a bar that is featured in a guided tasting with Mark of Cailo chocolates in the Slow Melt podcast. As the only Australian chocolate maker listed it is definitely worth a listen!