Finding Fine Chocolate
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Finding Fine Chocolate is about slowing down, relaxing, and focusing on your sense of taste to discover the diverse aromas, flavors, and textures found in craft chocolate. Also finding beautiful experiences palate training & tasting fine, craft, and artisan chocolate
Finding Fine Chocolate
3w ago
Fresco Artisan Chocolate Madagascar bars (well traveled due to joining me on a few adventures).
Comparing two chocolate bars side by side is one of my favorite ways to keep my palate sharp and my mind thinking as I taste while asking myself questions.
Why do I like this bar?
What do the flavors remind me of?
What is my favorite aspect of this bar?
Is there anything such as astringency, bitterness, sweetness or any defect that brings the experience out of balance?
How would I describe the texture and melt?
Tonight I have two Fresco Madagascar bars which ..read more
Finding Fine Chocolate
1M ago
Fresco Chocolate Öko Caribe Dominican Republic Recipe 212
A favorite morning ritual of mine.
Warm water and fine craft chocolate.
I can taste the notes more on a blank palate.
And who doesn’t love to wake up to chocolate?
This morning I’m exploring “why” with a bar crafted by one of my favorite master chocolate makers Fresco Chocolate. The Öko Caribe Dominican Republic recipe 212, light roast, subtle conche.
Why do I like this chocolate bar? It is bright and a bit of tart like bing cherries yet deep and dark and earthy tobacco like all at the same ..read more
Finding Fine Chocolate
1M ago
The seaweed lends a softer, more complex salt note than most chocolate bars however I do find it rests longer on the palate after the finish.
Also, although this is an Ecuador bar I don’t taste the typical Ecuador “funk”. I’m keeping in mind I’m drinking it black with tea and a splash of almond milk and I’m terribly tired today. Sleep eludes me, it’s a good thing I’ve got chocolate.
Bean and Goose. Made in Ireland. Bean to Bar.  ..read more
Finding Fine Chocolate
1M ago
Kō Hana Kokoleka vs Don Rafael by Cacao Prieto
I love a good comparison tasting. Usually I’m comparing chocolate but this time I have two beautiful rums in front of my palate.
The Kō Hana is all Hawaiian made with honey and cocoa Manoa Chocolate makes a chocolate bar made with this rum. Iind they are seriously fantastic together and try to keep some of both on hand
Tasting the Kō Hana reminds me of a honey based cocktail scented with cacao notes. Easy to sip. Beautiful sweet floral notes that remind me of cacao baba. Paired with the chocolate b ..read more
Finding Fine Chocolate
2M ago
That grey film that covers chocolate is called bloom and it is stil Ok to eat the chocolate. Depending on how the chocolate was “mistreated” by exposure to warm temperatures or too humid environments, the bloom is either sugar or cocoa butter coming to the surface of the chocolate.
If a chocolate is bloomed I’ll still eat it even though the texture and possibly the flavor delivery is different than intended by the chocolate maker. Most often when I have a bar that has bloom I’ll melt it into sipping chocolate where all blooming challenges disappear ..read more
Finding Fine Chocolate
2M ago
When traveling I always try to seek out local bean to bar chocolate shops. It gives me a chance to meet the people behind the chocolate as well as explore new neighborhoods and bring home chocolate I wouldn’t typically come across.
While in New Orleans last fall I found Piety and Desire, a charming shop in New Orleans with a vintage vibe. They featured a nice selection of sipping chocolate as well as bars and bon bons. Owner Christopher Nobles was in the shop when we visited so I had a chance to pepper him with questions and gain i ..read more
Finding Fine Chocolate
3M ago
Fresco Chocolate with black tea.
When a bar calls to you and it happens to be in your chocolate stash, listen to that little voice and just go with it. I think it was the deep blood orange peel notes against the luscious melt of this dark chocolate that called out to me today for my afternoon tea and chocolate.
Rob and Amy at Fresco Chocolate are truly Masters at the craft of making chocolate. The chocolate of masters stands out. Always interesting and well made, no matter what origin or inclusion.
Always keep at least a few bars from those you consider a mast ..read more
Finding Fine Chocolate
1y ago
The first thing I noticed about this milk chocolate bar was the super creamy texture and almost slippery mouthfeel. The browned butter must have a big impact on those elements.
Even though this is a milk chocolate bar, the chocolate has notes of deep dark roasted cacao until you reach a rich fig inclusion piece, then the sweet honey notes of the fig are front and center. The hazelnuts are crisp, flavorful and hidden deep in the chocolate bar.
The finish on my last bite was all about the fig with the chocolate notes in the background.
This bar was shared with m ..read more
Finding Fine Chocolate
1y ago
DesBarres 72% Tanzania with Black Pepper and Cardamom
The light fruity Tanzania origin chocolate shines through with notes of pear, tropical fruits, and red berries, especially in the beginning of the melt. Those notes don't get lost in the black pepper and cardamom which seem to compete with each other. The competition is who is going to show up RIGHT NOW. Sometimes I taste the black pepper, sometimes the cardamom is stronger. This back and forth play lasts long into the finish.
The texture and mouthfeel barely reveal the spices ground a ..read more
Finding Fine Chocolate
1y ago
Island Style by Puna Chocolate Company
Macadamia Nuts and Toasted Coconut 70% Chocolate Bar
Made on Hawaii with Hawaiian cacao. Generous amounts of macadamia nuts and large flakes of coconut are pressed onto the back of the 70% chocolate bar.
The aroma is filled with macadamia and coconut.
When I carefully break off a piece of chocolate with no inclusions I find a bright, fruity, chocolate with notes of tropical fruit and some earthy notes toward the end of the melt.
Tasting the bar as it was intended, with the inclusions, the bright chocolate against ..read more