Forget small-batch; Get micro-batch expertise

For USA only (UK & Australian buyers scroll down)

“..6-Bar Chocolate Tasting Kit with 67%, 70% and 75% Single-Origin, Madagascar Dark Chocolate Bars and a full color How to Taste Fine Chocolate brochure all contained in an attractive platinum-tone tin. The perfect gift for a lifelong or burgeoning chocophile..”

Englander - The Purists Library
“.. A collection of 7 bars giving a tasting entrée to the world of single estate and single region chocolate. Includes high cocoa milks, classic darks and extreme adventure recipes..”

America - All signs of the Zodiac
“..specially designed to match up with the Zodiac sign of that special person in your life. Each box comes with three bars and a tasting sheet to let you know just why they’re specially chosen for your sign..”

Australia - Customise the 5 You Want
“..Choose one of the 5 Single Origin bars to experience a delicious flavor from an exotic location..”

Yesterday I visited the shop of chocolate maker ‘Coco of Bruntsfield’ in Edinburgh. A huge range of their own dark, milk and white bars, various cocoa percentages, plus many flavoured bars, made keeping my purchase to three items quite challenging. We left with a 99% cocoa mass, their best selling 72% dark chocolate, and a rose and black pepper dark chocolate. Piper nigrum is the latin for Black pepper, the plant is to the left, and is the dried fruit and the seed of the berry; White pepper is the seed only.

They had recommended the rose and black pepper and after two tastings of all three, the rose and black pepper in both our tasters opinion, came out ahead of what where all very good quality products

Visit the Coco of Bruntsfield Online Shop to explore the full range

Chocolate maker Alan McClure of Patric Chocolate, wrote recently about the chocolate purists ‘myth’ that chocolate made from Criollo cacao might taste better that chocolate made with other types of cacao?

“You be the judge,” he said “and I mean this literally. Buy chocolate made by companies that take chocolate seriously. Taste it and decide if you like it. Whether it says Criollo on the label or not, and whether it really is Criollo or not, you’ll either like the chocolate, or you won’t. As you get more serious about chocolate, you’ll begin to figure out with increasing precision what it is that really draws you to a chocolate–what qualities you like most in a chocolate. Who cares what the cacao is called at that point. Enjoy your chocolate, that is the whole reason for its existence.”

Three single origin and two raw chocolate bars from Ecuador where launched earlier this year. The vision of two Ecuadorian entrepreneurs, Santiago Peralta and Carla Barboto, this is the first time we have seen a small batch chocolate bar maker embrace conventional fine chocolate and raw chocolate in their range. Pacari are amongst the first to explain what differentiates raw chocolate without going overboard with statements of magical properties that has become commonplace with other raw producers. They say “Raw chocolate means that all the cacao ingredients are minimally processed and unroasted to maintain more of the cacao’s naturally occurring health properties.”

Buy Pacari Raw (US only ) here
Buy Pacari Organic (US only) here