Blogs
Exciting news today: one of my favourite chocolate bars, the Duffy's Honduras Indio Rojo 72%, won the 'Golden Bean', the chocolate '
Oscar' from the Academy of Chocolate in London!
And not only that, Duffy Sheardown also won the 'Best Newcomer Award'. So, again Duffy, CONGRATULATIONS!!
Marcel and I are very proud as well as we were the first Chocolatiers in the Netherlands having Duffy's in our shop in Amsterdam.
Hello my friends who love chocolate ,
I am exporter of cocoa beans Ecuadorian fine aroma and cocoa liquor for couverture , I get the orders you to provide any of the products we produce, send their orders to my mail dissupp @ yahoo . com , I'll be happy to serve you.
We also produce cocoa nibs and artesanal chocolates of unique flavor , I hope you will decide to try our products .
Best regards,
Ivn Andrade
Phone: 593 9 9701573
Skype: ivandradez
Hola mis amigos amantes del chocolate,
Soy exportador de cacao en grano ecuatoriano de fino aroma y licor de cacao para covertura, me pongo a las ordenes de ustedes para proveerles de cualquiera de los productos que producimos, envenme sus pedidos a mi correo dissupp@yahoo.com, que estar gustoso de poder servirles.
Tambin producimos nibs de cacao y chocolates artesanales de inigualable sabor, yo espero se decidan ustedes a probar nuestros productos.
Saludos,
Ivn Andrade
Tlf: 593 9 9701573
Skype: ivandradez
Bittersweet Cafe 4/9/2011 Sunny Saturday
I heard about Bittersweet Cafe often, and planned to visit it long time ago. I finally did today.
Bittersweet cafe's Rockridge location is on 5427 College Ave., North Oakland. I took the College Ave exit from Highway 24. It's very easy to find. It is a small caf, about 500-600 sq feet, and famous for their drinking chocolates. On a Saturday afternoon around 4:15pm, the store was crowded with people lining up for their drinks. Against the wall on one side, a row of shelves displays chocolates or chocolate-related goods from Vosges, Askinosie, Frans, Theo and Bittersweet pre-packaged chocolates and colorful Easter eggs. There are 4 tables by the front window that were all occupied at that time. A glass cabinet displaying their handmade chocolate truffles and pastries is in the back. Staffs make drinks to order behind this cabinet.
There were people reading and playing with their kids. Two girls were absorbed in their crafts. Every inches of space in the store is fully used. Drinking chocolates powder is available for purchase. Four flavors are available bittersweet, mocha, classic and milk chocolate. A 10oz packet sells for a little over $12 ($1 dollar cheaper than their online price.) Their handmade chocolate truffles are 1.95 each. If you are really serious about chocolates, you can purchase their tasting kit for about $25, which includes 3 packs of chocolates and a tasting guide. The guide recommends tasting the darkest chocolates first. I thought chocolate tasting is similar to wine tasting - taste the lightest first. I guess I am wrong.
It was time to pick my treats. I usually like 58% or higher dark chocolates. Unfortunately Bittersweet Caf chocolates do not state the % of cocoa content for their handmade chocolates so I asked. The staff looked for the information but returned to say that he did not know and the owner was not around. Forget about the %, I got three of their handmade truffles: one piece of bittersweet (their signature), one piece of orange, and one piece of espresso. I also bought a pack of bittersweet of 78% Organic Venezuela dark chocolate. And, to complete my mission here, I ordered a cup of Bittersweet hot chocolate.
Sharing a table with the two girls who were doing crafts, I sat quietly for couple of seconds admiring the rich dark brown frothy drink in a creamy white china cup. The nice strong aroma of the bittersweet hot chocolate filled me up. I took a sip. Thick and rich chocolate flavor was the first sensation, sweet, bitter, and a little acidic, then follows by a sticky coating in my mouth. It was a little disappointing.
What disappointed me was that it had too much cocoa butter, or the cocoa butter and cacao mass are not perfectly bonded. That made the aftertaste waxy. I felt a layer of fat on my palate and it undercut the smoothness the way hot chocolate is supposed to be. After I finished my drink, the empty cup was covered with an oily layer of a brownish residue. My stomach started to feel bloated.
I did not want to dislike bittersweet hot chocolate. I was looking forward to it for a long time, and I heard people raved about it. Besides, bitter sweet dark chocolate is my all times favorite. I thought I would like any form of dark chocolate. Well, they has a wide variety of hot chocolates, I will try their spicy hot chocolate next time.
The next day, I tried the handmade truffles. The shell of the dark chocolate ganache truffle encased with cocoa powder was crisp with soft and smooth filling. The truffle orange garnished with a couple of small orange nuggets on the top has nice orange flavor with real orange bits. The 78% Organic Venezuela dark chocolate has beautiful prints of flowers and leafs on the surface. It was crisp and the bitterness and sweetness was just right.
Discover the animation video of our Easter collection 2011 Patisserie Hamon Brest .
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Hello to all my chocolate loving friends thatI haven't met before,
I believe that we are blessed to live in America and to beable to have so many free choices in our lives.
Well that said, lets talk chocolate and chocolate festivals have you ever attended a chocolate festival? If you haven't then you are in for a real sweet treat and if you have I know that you still think about what a wonderful time you had. There are so many booths providing their chocolate wares for you to enjoy all hand made by chocolatetiers who are passionate about what they do and just want to share with you their passion. I will provide the link to where you can find the festivals in this blog.
Do you know that dark chocolate is agood and healthy food for you? Are you interested in finding hundredsrecipies about chocolate and candy making? Would you like to know about the beginning history of chocolate in America? Well all of your answers are here for you at
It takes time, it's an art, it's strategy. The business of Chocolate.
Whether it's about calling people to encourage them to enter the 'Cool Chocolate' contest or reaching people with postcards, attending Fundraisers and supporting Community efforts, 'Bringing The World of Chocolate to You' with the 4th annual Bucks County Chocolate Show is happening on April 30th in New Hope, PA. The latest news went out connecting to NY with Best Gay New York . You're already part of the passion, what better place for a meet-up!
Yes, they made of chocolate!
Chocolate history in China may trace back to Emperor Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty. In 1705, Roman Pope Clement XI dispatched envoys to China as missionary. In 1706, Emperor Kangxi interviewed the missionaries, during the interview, they presented 150 chocolates to the Emperor Kangxi. Kangxi gave it a big approval after tasting.This was the first record of chocolate in China's history.
In January 18th, 2010, The world chocolate wonderland theme park kicked off in Beijing. In the event, chocolate was no longer just for eating, some artists in China have created a pretty good alternative.
The sculptures on display were all made of chocolate, not just that, there were also fashion show with chocolate hats, clothes, and chocolate armor. You could satisfy your sweet tooth by eating chocolate out of size 10.
Hope you enjoy the pictures like I do.
Harvard Business school professor Nancy F Koehn said:
Entrepreneurs look for new possibilities and new markets, should think about 3 or 4 things:
1. Look around you, the social, culture and economic environment, what people do you know care about, what do you feel when you walk on street, what happening in term of where people are going in their lives, understand the broad stage on which consumers act.
2. Look for something, a product, a service , a combination of both you were passionate about, did it really pull your heart strings. follow your passion that would lead to your success.
3. Choice the people that you are going to work with very carefully, the people that you brainstorm with , the people you toss ideas around with, those early disciples, early team mates, those early creators would be very important to you in help you build your wings, and help you get your idea off the ground
4. Believe in yourself, a idea has to come out of ethers, from nowhere, become a something, a product, a service, a company, a market, to do that, you are going to need conviction, confidence, and a lot of believes in what you can do.
Professor Koehn has ensured my idea of starting a chocolatebusiness in China.
China is in its rapidly developing stage, as China's economic booming, new things from all over the world flood into China, western culture has greatly affected Chinese's life style. One of them is confectionery culture.
Compare with chocolate's annual consumption of 22.36lbs per capita in the #1 chocolate loving country Switzerland, and 11.64lbs per capita per year in the united states(rank in #11), China's chocolate consumption per capita is only 100 gram per year. But the coming five to 10 years will see steady growth of 10-15% of chocolate consumption in China. High-end chocolates are expected to see the fastest growth in the next few years, which is also in line with the global trend. Imaging with 1.3B population, if chocolate consumption increases to 2kg per capita per year, China would be the second largest chocolate market in the world, such a great market potential.
Chocolate market in China should be targeted at consumers between age 15 - 45. Most powerful purchases come from young urban professionals. They follow fashionable life style, buy fine quality goods and strive for high social status. They are the frequent consumers buy chocolate at least once a week, and 52.4 percent of chocolate consumed in the Chinese market was used as gifts. The most popular flavor is milk chocolate, then praline chocolate and dark chocolate. The #1 fact that encourage a purchase is the taste of the chocolates; then nice packaging or wrapping; create meaning/stories for your chocolate would be another strategy to attract more younger buyers; of cause, occasion is also a good time to sell.
If you see what I can see, please feedback.
I plan to buy one pannig machine. I am confused with the follwing aspects.
While buying a Panning machine which aspects we have to consider more? Is there any advantage if the Coating pan is of Copper? Or is steel coating pan as good as the Copper one? They say that only if there is resistance inside the pan the Dragee will become shiny, Otherwise I have to give the final coating ofGum Arabica to get the shine. Are these true?
Any advise?
Rajarajeshwari from India.
One of the interesting programs going on here involves what growers and organizations are calling "super cacao." Turns out that on most if not all cocoa farms, there always happens to be a few trees that have superior yields and greater disease resistance than all the rest.
At first, I had no idea what people were talking about-shortly thereafter, I realized that I knew the two North American landowners who were actually pioneering this effort. They began by identifying and then collecting (I'm not sure if it's one or the other or both-but either way) seeds or grafting material from the most productive, disease-resistant trees from growers around the country. They made sure the material they collected was from Nacional variety plants, not CCN-51. They then went and propagated and planted several hectares from this "super cacao" material, and have had yields far above average, way over CCN-51, which already yields 3-4x what Nacional plants can yield per hectare.
I later learned that a local NGO, Conservacion y Desarrollo, is also closely involved with this effort, working with thousands of farmers throughout Ecuador in an effort to identify and propagate seedlings from the highest yielding plants, to help farmers increase their yields.
If you wish to know more, check out some of the videos here or contact me directly.