Blogs
I know you all must be biting your nails, waiting for the taste results of our roast test last week. Well, I won’t make you wait any longer!
First a quick note on the process… We made 4 batches of chocolate, differentiated mostly by the roast profile, but also partially by grind time (purely due to circumstance). This was the first time we had both of our Premier Wonder Grinders going at the same time, which was quite an experience. Together, they are significantly noisier than one on its own, and they have slightly different frequencies, resulting in interesting table vibrations all night.
Read more and learn about the results here: http://rootchocolate.com/2015/02/17/roast-test-taste-test/
We’ve been enjoying all the chocolate we made in the past few months and are now jumping back on the horse to try out new beans, recipes, and tools!
Our current experiment is working with our Behmor 1600 Plus to figure out what exactly the temperature range is for a kilo of cocoa beans at each of its pre-programmed roast profiles. We’ve now tested three of the five programs and plotted the temperatures (in degrees Fahrenheit) at 10 second intervals for each of them. We’ve overlayed the three temperature takes with Chocolate Alchemy’s power output charts to show how that affects the temperature as well.
Read more here: http://rootchocolate.com/2015/02/11/behmor-roast-tests/
How do we know the quality of cocoa beans when they show up in one of those giant burlap bags? How can we tell they'll be tasty once we've put them through the intensive processes that result in a chocolate bar?
We did some research and asked some friends, but we're always learning, so don't take this post as the be all end all of cocoa bean evaluation. The best way to learn to evaluate beans is to travel to cacao-producing countries and learn from the makers and farmers themselves.
In a nutshell, here's what we've learned so far: it takes all the senses and some background research to determine high quality cocoa beans.
Read more here: http://rootchocolate.com/2015/02/02/cocoa-bean-quality/
How do we transform our experience with chocolate from a hobby to a business without losing the fun, collaborative, part-time nature of it all?
Honestly, this is a very difficult question and we don't assume that there is an answer. This question goes much deeper than the surface question of how to start a business - it asks how we want to spend our free time, how we want to spend our working hours, how much financial risk we are willing to take on, how confident we are that our chocolate is actually any good, if chocolate bars are our ultimate product, what the future of our family looks like, and how permanent we are in our current living location.
All that said, we are trying to follow the practices of The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses , in order to keep the potential business light and flexible. Some of the recommendations in the book are difficult to apply to a brick and mortal chocolate shop, since it's mostly geared toward tech startups. However, we're doing our best!
Let's take a look at the different business model options for starting a bean-to-bar chocolate business (at least to our knowledge in California):
http://rootchocolate.com/2015/01/29/chocolate-business-models/
My blog about the trials of living in California, and melted chocolate 
As we’ve mentioned, Richard and I spent MLK Jr. weekend in LA. During our trip, we had the opportunity to explore Guelaguetza and to visit our friends, Corey and David of Letterpress Chocolate.
We could smell that amazing brownie-like scent as we walked up the stairs to their apartment and as soon as they opened the door, the whirling of multiple Premier Wonder Grinders provided a pleasant white noise background. As usual, they were in the middle of making chocolate!
Read more here... http://rootchocolate.com/2015/01/26/visiting-letterpress-chocolate/
Last weekend, Richard and I took a wonderful trip down to LA. And like we usually do, we incorporated chocolate into the trip in a variety of ways. First of all, we brought chocolate to share with our friends and family. (Everyone’s favorite was the Venezuela from John Nanci’s beans !)
One of the other ways we incorporated chocolate into our trip was by visiting local phenomenon, Guelaguetza Restaurante. This is the most authentically Oaxacan spot I’ve experienced since spending a summer in Oaxaca, Mexico itself. They serve tlayudas, mole, and mezcal, among other southern Mexican delicacies.
Learn more here: http://rootchocolate.com/2015/01/22/guelaguetza-in-la/
I tasted amazing new stuff in 2014!
My favourite new-coming chocolate makers:
- Pump Street Bakery (especially: Grenada 70% and Ecuador 75%)
- It’s Chocolate (especially: Chuao and Belize). New name: Brasstown Chocolate.
- Cacao Hunters (everything!)
Other new ones that I like: Metiisto, Doble & Bignall, Erithaj, Solstice and Cacaosuyo.
New bars from existing chocolate makers that are really awesome:
- Idilio: Trinchera 74%
- Soma: La Dalia, Blend 82%, Peru Nacional, Little Big Man, Dancing in your head, Old School Nicaragua
- Tibor Szántó: Carenero Superior, Ben Tre, Ambolikapiky, Cuba
- Bar au Chocolat: Maranon
- Marou: Dak Lak
- French Broad: Matagalpa
- Ritual: Belize and Maranon
My most memorable experience was the production of the new Original Beans bars at Felchlin in July. I will never forget that. It was very exciting to create new recipes together with Felchlin and the Original Beans team. I’m so happy with the results! And I heard I’m not the only one 
May I say that these bars are my 2014’s favourites? Or will I be disqualified? Although it’s not weird to be in love with your own babies, right? 
Other chocolate highlights:
- Chocoa Trade Fair and Festival, March in Amsterdam
- Origin Chocolate Event, October in Amsterdam
What will happen in 2015? I’m looking forward to:
- The bean (or tree?) -to-bars by Alexandre!
- The start of a Chocolate Academy in The Netherlands!
- Chocoa Trade Fair, Conferences and Festival 5-9th March in Amsterdam. Be there!
- Georg Bernardini’s new chocolate book September 2015
- And maybe some gorgeous new Original Beans products?
Wish you all a delicious new chocolate year!
Georg's current book "Der Schokoladentester" (The Chocolate Tester) appeared in
2012. This book contains more than 700 pages with reviews and information about
chocolate. He won a Gourmand Award for best chocolate book in the world!
Now he is working on a new version (also in English!) that will be even better!
550 brands from 70 countries with almost 5.000 product reviews!
(I think he eats more chocolate at the moment than I do).
And many, many other informations will give a huge overview about chocolate and
chocolate market.
Support him and make reservations for the book:
https://www.startnext.de/derschokoladentester
https://twitter.com/GBernardini