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Now Try This: #4 (a) Franks Famous Chopped EspressoA friend and I have been experimenting with coffee beans in molded chocolate. Weve tried dark chocolate and dark milk chocolate shells; bite-sized molds and slightly larger molds ; one bean and two. So far, theyve not been flavored with anything else, just the coffee bean. And these are not confections coated with a hard sugar shell on the outside like some of the chocolate covered coffee beans or M&Ms. Nothing seemed to satisfy his desire for really intense coffee flavor; Ill admit, the chocolate having been roasted from the bean in my workshop is pretty powerful and so may have dominated the coffee inside.We came up with a solution; maybe two, that seems to solve the desire for really powerful espresso flavors in molded chocolate. Now this is off subject for Mr. WineCandy. For me its supposed to be all about spirituous jellies and ganaches inside molded from-the-bean confections. But, these coffee experiments have come out quite well and I thought I ought to share the unusual solutions.The objective here is not just to get a strong espresso flavor inside the chocolate for my friend, Keith (who has travelled the world, retired now, British Navy ; he has lots of experience savoring strong flavored foods) but also to get the crunch which is such an important part of the coffee bean /chocolate encounter. We dont want to do away with the bean, nor do we want to make it soggy or chewy inside the shell.Heres what I did to make the desired flavors and mouth feel. As you might have guessed; to get more coffee flavor, chop the beans into large pieces to more completely fill the shell. As you might not have known, cover the chopped coffee beans immediately after roasting them. And just as important to the flavor intensity, and what you really want; preserve the unique flavor of those unique coffee beans by not over-roasting them. You may have thought you wanted dark roasted beans to get the most intense espresso flavors, not so. These are oils in the coffee beans that we are dealing with, which carry the flavors. We dont want to burn off these flavor oils by over-roasting the beans.

Roasting coffee beans; easy. A small quantity, like half cup, can be roasted in 5 minutes in a hot-air popcorn popper. Presto Pop-Lite hot-air popper is the brand most often found at WalMart or the kitchen stores etc. For like, $20-$25. You can buy green coffee beans on-line, cheap; Sweet Marias or Coffee Storehouse or other sites have them. Or you could probably buy a half pound of green beans from your neighborhood coffee shop if they roast their own on site. The reason we wanted to roast our own coffee beans is that we wanted to get them sealed in the chocolate shells while flavors were still fresh. After about a day of resting the fresh coffee flavor of the beans will have out-gassed and will have been lost to the atmosphere.The important thing here is not to over-roast the beans. Heres how to roast just right. While roasting, coffee beans will first lose water content and you will hear a popping sound. Once dried out, the beans then heat up until the coffee oils begin to burn off and you hear a higher pitched snapping sound like RiceKrispies in milk. You want to stop the roast just when this crisping sound starts. Another way to tell when to turn off the heat is to look at the beans which will have been dark brown and dry on the surface then changing to a wet, actually oily surface and turning even darker when the crispy-snapping sound starts. Any given bean you use will lose its varietal flavor when roasted beyond this point. We used Colombian Huila Oporapa (from Coffee Storehouse) in our experiment and its intense flavor notes came through quite well , very strong and very espresso flavored at this roast stage. Not necessary , nor advisable to roast the beans real dark. Now, theyll have to cool.These coffee beans are about 450 degrees F. at the end of roast. I usually just pour them into a cool dish. We want to chop them up as soon as they cool enough to run through a mini-chopper and then real quick, put the chopped coffee beans in our chocolate molded shells and cover with the final layer of chocolate to seal in the flavors. We dont want to use our coffee mill to grind the beans fine, this would cause us to lose the desirable crunch of the beans. Ive got one of these little mini-choppers for small quantities of onion or parsley. It works great for chopping espresso.For this experiment we used Mexican Tabasco district, 66 % dark chocolate. If the chocolate shells have been made and chilled before we start the coffee bean roast; that would be best. I think youll find this espresso technique works very well for small scale confections. For larger quantities, a person might be able to buy hot, freshly roasted coffee beans from the coffee shop.Another method came to mind after doing the chopped espresso, this for times when you dont want crunch . I call it infused creamed espresso. Stay tuned.Mr WineCandyPS : Some people have tried the above chopped espresso and found it to be just too much coffee. Its easy enough to reduce the quantity of coffee in each bite to satisfy them.PPS: You could just as well use decaffeinated coffee beans if so desired. (Did you know that? It is the green coffee beans that are decaffeinated; the decaffeination process is not done to roasted beans.) You can order these from the above suppliers just as well.

I was honored to visit the operation of chocolate maker Carlos Eichenberger last week in Guatemala City. Me, just a mere student here for one year but he was nice and patient enough to take the time and show a complete stranger into his home and show me the complete process from bean to bar. Carlos buys the already fermented cacao and then starts with roasting and goes all the way to wrapping each bar himself. Everything about his process was precise and maniacally exact. If there was so much as a blemish in a finished bar, it was stashed in the reject pile for re-melting and re-doing. Isnt this what you want from a chocolate maker? Perfection.I admit I was a dark-chocolate snob but every ingredient is such a high quality that every chocolate he makes is exceptional. I take back all the bad things I ever said about white chocolate. I think my favorite is the 60% and 70% Cacao Las Acacias. The texture is extremely creamy and smooth and lasts for a long time in your mouth, if you dont chew, that is. I almost want to say that the chocolate is playful. There is a slight fruity-ness but not enough to pin down a specific fruit, for me anyway. There may have been a hint of coffee and somewhat of a smokyness, but it wasnt overpowering at all. I paired some of the 60% Las Acacias with a Guatemalan black tea called Te Chirrepeco and that was one exquisite dessert. If youre in Guatemala and want to take full advantage of true Guatemalan cacao, then you must have Danta chocolate.

Today I joined 40 other chocolatiers - bayside with seagulls - thinking: this is a perfect day for chocolate lovers in San Fran to collect at the waterfront wharf and celebrate chocolate. Look out! 5,000 of them turned up! I was next to Chocolatique from LA, Jade from SF, Amano from Utah, William Dean from Florida, and nearly 20 wine and liqueur makers, 20 artists....and thousands of enthusiasts sampling the wares. My observatons: chocolate is still recession-proof! People were buying, chocolate was selling. New products: it's all about the bean: chocolate-enriobed beans, chocolate-covered nibs, raw, roasted....lots and lots of beans. Also, spicy chocolate is still in - chipotle chili, wasabi, ginger top the list. Caramel and toffee...decidedly old-fashioned flavors... lit up the eyes of many SF foodies when they appeared on our menus. Even so, most attendees were looking for daring spices and innovation. Who will win the best in show? What did the bloggers have to say about the event? Was there a definitive chocolate photo of the day?? More will be revealed at www.tastetv.com.

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The apprentice season is about to start in the UK, quite similar to the US but with Alan Sugar instead of Donald Trump. This year, one of the tasks which will be aired in a couple of weeks (and no we won't tell you who won), involved chocolate and we were asked to help one of the teams.Great, we thought, as this was one of our favourite tv program.Unfortunatelty it was made clear to us that any mention of cocoa content or origin was far too esoteric for the average TV main stream viewers. They would go only as far as milk/dark/white/cheap/premium. Needless to say it was somewhat frustrating and made me wonder: were the producers just a bit limited? or is the average prime time TV viewer so dull?Still it was a lot of fun to do but it could have been a little more... aspirational and inspirational.

I am pleased to announce that my chocolate company, Sweet Paradise Chocolatier will be opening this summer at the Kings Shops at the Waikoloa Beach Resort. My manufacturing kitchen will also move to Waimea, also on the Big Island. The Kailua location will remain and expand to a dessert cafe in addition to chocolates. Despite the economy I am looking forward to this move and direction into the resort world.The little shop is only 300 sf and will also serve gelato and a unique variety of frozen sorbet that comes in the shell and rinds of the fruit-pineapple, coconut, lemon, orange. In addition to our signature tropical confections we will carry bars from around the world and of course locally grown island chocolates.We are printing our chocolate box inserts in Japanese and English for the benefit of the many Japanese tourists we get. Waikoloa is home to The Hilton and Marriott Resorts, the Hilton Grand Vacation Clubs and about a thousand upscale condos and single family homes. The Black Sands neighborhoods boast some of the priciest real estate in Hawaii. Waikoloa is about 25 miles north of Kona on the Kohala Coast. Also within 10 miles are the 4 Seasons Hualalai Resort, the famed Mauna Kea Hotel, Hapuna Beach Prince Resort, The Mauna Lani and Fairmont Orchid Hotels and Spas. The Kings and Queens Shops in Waikoloa is the only shopping on the Kohala Coast and features many upscale retailers like Tiffany, Coach, Tommy Bahama as well as fine art galleries and fine dining like Roys, and Merrimans. We hope to see some of you chocolate lovers in the future with the Chocolate Lovers Travel Club.

I've been in Guatemala for about 2 1/2 months now and today I had my first taste of good chocolate. It was quite by accident. I stopped by the University and I spotted a corner bakery where I could enjoy a coffee and make a few phone calls. On my way out I saw wrapped in cellophane with bright yellow ribbons, bars of chocolate. It read "Chocol 'ha: Chocolate Oscuro, 62% Cacao". Mmmmm! I immediately bought it, it was a good deal for 18Q (about $2.50 or so). It was delicious! I really should have bought the another; there were only two.I wasn't expecting it to be very good so I ate the first bite quickly and then the burst of flavor automatically slowed my chewing. I let it sit in my mouth for a while so I could explore the flavors and texture. It was creamy but a little hard; there was a bit of bloom on the corners of the bar. There was no graininess at all, a very uniform, creamy texture. The flavors were not too complex but they were there. It was more full-bodied that I would expected; I immediately inhaled a coffee flavor and just a hint of tobacco. After a few seconds it started to remind me of the forest -- maybe a mossy flavor? Or was it the scent of fresh, wet dirt? Whatever it was, I really liked it. It was quite an earthy piece of chocolate; not too bold but what I might call 'stately'.I called the phone number listed on the little label and the woman and I spoke for almost 30 minutes. She told me how her husband quit his job to start making chocolate, and they have a small set-up in what used to be their children's playroom. She was so pleasant and invited me to lunch and to come and see their small operation. She said that they didn't have a website just yet, but they were working on it. It was a good day!

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Chocolate! The Best of the Best Organic, Fair Trade Chocolates Find out why organic and fair trade certification really matter when it comes to chocolate, and how our editors ranked the best of these treats.Feb. 26, 2009By Katherine Loeck and Aubrey Vaughn

<Not only is organic, fair trade chocolate better for everyone - from planting the cacao trees to popping a morsel into your mouth - the flavor trumps that of conventional chocolate every time.Sweet, bitter, spicy, smooth these are just a few of the dozens of ways to describe chocolate.But if you want really great chocolate, chocolate that makes you feel as good about buying it as it makes your tastebuds feel about meeting it, there are more decisions involved than simply what flavor makes your mouth water. To make the best decisions (and discover the best quality), consider a few questions such as: Where is it grown, how it is grown, and by whom? Does the farmer earn a living wage? Are pesticides used on the cacao trees?These are tough, but important questions. The good news is weve made answering them easier for you.Most of the chocolate on grocery store shelves isnt anything like pure, real unadulterated chocolate. Filled with high fructose corn syrup (and, therefore, possibly mercury), grown with pesticides, and sometimes including wax and other decidedly unappetizing ingredients, common chocolate pales in comparison to that made with real food ingredients. If Big Name chocolate is the only chocolate youve tried, Im sorry to inform you that youve not really had chocolate. Not the kind thats worth its weight in silver (or even gold) or that Aztec emperor Moctezuma would offer to Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes. And certainly not the kind that merits its own diety, the Myan god of cacao farmers, Ekchuah.So how do you find such chocolate and find answers to all those questions? Fortunately, there a couple of qualified certification logos you can look for that quickly and easily separate the bean from the husk: Fair Trade and Certified Organic. What is Fair Trade chocolate, and why is it important? According to Reonne Haslett, co-owner of Earths Sweet Pleasures chocolate company, Fair Trade means that farmers receive a guaranteed fair price and good labor conditions, including safe working conditions and fair living wages. Plus, middlemen are eliminated, which allows farmers to strengthen their organizations and be competitive in the global economy.Also, the farmers decide democratically how to use their revenues, investing in social and business development projects like scholarship programs, quality improvement training and organic certification. As for the crops themselves, the Fair Trade certification system prohibits using genetically modified organisms (GMOs), promotes integrated farm management systems that improve soil fertility, and limits the use of harmful agrochemicals in favor of environmentally sustainable farming methods that protect farmers health and preserve ecosystems. When it comes to chocolate, what does Certified Organic really mean? Jessica Holten-Casper, in charge of sales and also daughter of founders Jacques and Pam Holten at Sjaaks Organic Chocolates, explains that organic cocoa is grown using sustainable methods, which means not using chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides whereas conventionally grown cocoa is one if the highest pesticide-using crops. By choosing organic chocolate, consumers help prevent the use of massive amounts of chemicals, which is good for both the consumer and the farm workers who would otherwise be exposed to these toxins. Plus, the environment is spared contamination from the chemicals. The USDA National Organic Program regulations also prohibit the use of artificial flavors, artificial colors, preservatives and GMOs. Who makes Certified Organic, Fair Trade chocolate, and who does it best? Though youve already got a great head start on recognizing great chocolate, we know you want to get right to the best chocolate you can find. So, we managed to summon our collective determination, dedication and will to do the dirty work, so you dont have to. After many, many tastings and much debate, here are our favorite brands and flavors.1. Lake Champlain Chocolates. Hands down, this was our all-around favorite. While the Lemon Ginger Dark, straight-up 70 percent Dark, and Cayenne and Cinnamon were all delectable, the fabulous little squares of Sea Salt & Almond Milk chocolate disappeared at an astonishing speed, and inspired the only (known) instance of lust-induced chocolate thievery from the sample table.2. Newmans Own. Yumm. Good thing they sent a lot, lest we resorted to arm wrestling over Dark Chocolate Caramel Cups. Those creamy delights were seconded closely by the perfect pairing of chocolate and peanut butter in their Peanut Butter Cups.3. And the going gets tough: Theres a three-way tie between Earths Sweet Pleasures, Ithaca Fine Chocolates and Divine Chocolate, in which the favorite flavors are the Gourmet Fudge Bar, Exquisite Swiss Milk, and the White Chocolate and Mint Dark Chocolate, respectively. Try them all, you wont regret it.4. Rapunzel Chocolate. If milk chocolate is your favorite, Rapunzel is the way to go. Creamy, perfectly sweet, but not too, this chocolate was universally enjoyed.Thank you to all of companies that sent generous samples for our taste test we pretty much liked them all, really. Unfortunately, theres only room for so many in a Top 5, and weve already gone over by one. If you really love chocolate and are interested in sampling the short list above and then some, you cant go wrong with any of these (in no particular order):Sweet Earth Chocolates, the Vegan Ultimate Turtle, Dark Chocolate Coconut or the Peppermint CupTheo Chocolate, the Ginger chocolate, Scotch chocolate, and absolutely try the Burnt Sugar Truffle.Dagoba Chocolate* Sjaaks Organic ChocolatesCocoa VinoShaman ChocolatesSweet RiotUliManaYou can find out more about each of these companies, their health, environment and production policies at their websites. Youre bound to be impressed.