Decadence = mail-order chocolate
Following yesterday's Art History mid-term and taping of the The Hour (why does it have to be at the same time as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report?), I slept in this morning while sarcasma fiddled with her charts. We were both surprised when the doorbell rang, but it was 100% good, because it was the mailman delivering books and chocolate. I am now the proud owner of Design in Canada for $5.99, but I am also the proud owner of all of this chocolate:
Soon after I made my last post about ChocoDirect.com, they updated their clearance section with November short-dated goods, and I knew I had to try it. Based on recommendations from the original thread where I found this place, I ordered two bars each of the Valrhona Gran Couva and the Valrhona Ampamakia. After $4.50 shipping and tax, the order came to $18 for 4 chocolate bars, so I was hoping it would be worth it. As you can see from the picture, I think it was. True to form, they shipped my chocolate quite quickly, and threw in free stuff, including 3 20g Valrhona Jivara 40% milk chocolate (September dated), and 2 45g Côte d'Or Praline Fondant bars (October dated). The free stuff is expired or expiring, but everything I ordered was short dated too, so I can't complain.
As for the tasting - the Jivara was good, but it's milk chocolate, and I don't really like milk chocolate, so meh. We're here for the Estate Grown dark chocolate. Both the Gran Couva and the Ampamakia are grown from single strains of vintage cocoa plans, and each bar is 64% cocoa, made exclusively from the production of a single estate - the Gran Couva from Trinidad, and the Ampamakia from Madagascar. They are labeled with a vintage and an Estate marking, in an attempt to treat them like wine. I can tell you that 2005 was a very good year! Both tasted great, and had many similarities, being made through the same process, but the differences were quite noticeable. sarcasma put it best, by saying that the chocolate from each region reminded her of the coffee from each region - the Trinidadian chocolate was dark and bitter (though still very smooth in the finished product) and the Madagascar chocolate was bright and fruity/floral. Eating both brought out their distinctive qualities, and I was impressed that there could be such a different flavour profile between two different bars, when all of the other ingredients are the same.
So, a very good first experience with the company, and a happy dark chocolate lover over here.
Soon after I made my last post about ChocoDirect.com, they updated their clearance section with November short-dated goods, and I knew I had to try it. Based on recommendations from the original thread where I found this place, I ordered two bars each of the Valrhona Gran Couva and the Valrhona Ampamakia. After $4.50 shipping and tax, the order came to $18 for 4 chocolate bars, so I was hoping it would be worth it. As you can see from the picture, I think it was. True to form, they shipped my chocolate quite quickly, and threw in free stuff, including 3 20g Valrhona Jivara 40% milk chocolate (September dated), and 2 45g Côte d'Or Praline Fondant bars (October dated). The free stuff is expired or expiring, but everything I ordered was short dated too, so I can't complain.
As for the tasting - the Jivara was good, but it's milk chocolate, and I don't really like milk chocolate, so meh. We're here for the Estate Grown dark chocolate. Both the Gran Couva and the Ampamakia are grown from single strains of vintage cocoa plans, and each bar is 64% cocoa, made exclusively from the production of a single estate - the Gran Couva from Trinidad, and the Ampamakia from Madagascar. They are labeled with a vintage and an Estate marking, in an attempt to treat them like wine. I can tell you that 2005 was a very good year! Both tasted great, and had many similarities, being made through the same process, but the differences were quite noticeable. sarcasma put it best, by saying that the chocolate from each region reminded her of the coffee from each region - the Trinidadian chocolate was dark and bitter (though still very smooth in the finished product) and the Madagascar chocolate was bright and fruity/floral. Eating both brought out their distinctive qualities, and I was impressed that there could be such a different flavour profile between two different bars, when all of the other ingredients are the same.
So, a very good first experience with the company, and a happy dark chocolate lover over here.