Paris 1 – London 0 No, this is not a forecast for the Euros. Nor is it a reminder of the UK’s Eurovision song contest result. It’s a (belated) celebration of a wonderful new Paris based craft chocolate maker: PLAQ, created by Sandra and Nicolas. Not only are Sandra and Nicolas great craft chocolate makers. […]

For something so famous and ubiquitous, the story of chocolate truffles is infuriatingly vague. Their inventor, history, naming and even definition are obscure and complex. They are nonetheless amazing when properly crafted. And we are delighted to, finally, have some craft chocolate truffles from David Crichton of The Careless Collection, and Mike Longman of Chocolarder, […]

Last week’s post on a drink made out of cocoa pulp led to some GREAT reader questions (and, sorry, more demand for the wonderful Pacha de Cacao than we’d predicted, so we are out of stock! But we hope to have it back in stock early next week, and will be selling it in packs […]

Despite it almost being the start of June, and the summer equinox less than a month away, summer sunshine has still yet to arrive here in the UK. In fact the water temperature in the ponds has been dropping over the last few weeks from a high of over 15 degrees Celsius to below 12.5 […]

Here is a quick quiz to start this week’s post: Which spice has the following attributes? The Aztecs (and Spanish) added it to their drinking chocolate, It’s use was widely extended into cakes, alcohol, perfume and more by Thomas Morgan (an apothecary for Queen Elizabeth I) and then ice-cream by Thomas Jefferson, The key technological […]

If ever an adjective was unfairly associated with a spice it’s ‘PLAIN’ with vanilla (as in ”plain vanilla”). Vanilla’s history is anything but plain, what it contributes to many foods, again, is anything but plain (think milk chocolate, ice cream, cakes, and even curries) and what comprises ‘natural’ versus ‘artificial’ vanilla flavour is not at […]

This week we are DELIGHTED to introduce you to a new Mexican craft chocolate maker, Cuna de Piedra (which translates as “cradle of the stone”; a play on Mexico’s description of itself as “Cuna de Cacao”; cradle of cacao). We are also going to use this occasion to celebrate and explore Mexico’s contribution to the […]

Next week we are TWICE getting together with Rachel Khoo; foodie and chef extraordinaire, to discuss (and savour) craft chocolate. First of all, we are part of her TV programme, now airing every Monday night on the Food Network here in the UK, and on Discovery Plus, so do tune in on Mondays at 7.30pm […]

Anyone who has been to one of our virtual tastings will have been subjected to an explanation of the difference between roast chicken and chicken nuggets. We use the comparison to try and highlight the difference between mass produced chocolate and craft chocolate. It’s all about time. And ‘who’ does ‘what’ and ‘when’. And ‘what’ […]

At our craft chocolate and wine tastings, our wine partners put forward an enviably neat explanation of how a wine develops flavour, texture and taste on its journey from the vine to the bottle and through time in bottle: What happens on the vineyard: the grapes, terroir, etc. create the ‘fruity’ flavours in both red and white […]