Cocoa Encounters (2025)

23/09/2025

🇹🇿M is for Mbingu — Swahili for heaven or heavenly sky.

Mbingu is a village in Tanzania’s Morogoro region, reached by a drive from the nearest city through Mikumi National Park — we are on an adventure even before the first taste!

This bar is just the same: a journey you can’t resist.

The aroma is strong and tantalisingly fruity. The taste starts with a series of bright, shifting fruit notes, citrus, tropical and fresh then plunges into deep chocolate brownie richness, and mellows into a wood, nut finish.

Heavenly, yes — and endlessly intriguing.

have sparked a curiosity for Tanzania I can no longer ignore. I’ve picked up Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah — and I’m ready to step into Yusuf’s journey, through communities at war and the shadow of European colonialism, in search of the beauty carried by a story with Tanzania at its heart…just like this bar ❤️🤎

20/09/2025

A special!
Booking LINK IN BIO

Join me for an online craft chocolate book club — a guided discussion of Claire Keegan’s So Late in the Day paired with a tasting of craft chocolate chosen to deepen our experience and understanding of both the book and chocolate.

ℹ️How it Works

🎟️Book your place (£10 per person) and register for the Zoom meeting.

📖Read the book — at just 47 pages, it’s a quick but powerful read.

🍫🍫🍫🍫Prepare your chocolate: Either select your own bars ( I suggest 4) that you feel connect with the book, you can use my pairings for inspiration or purchase a curated sample pack of the chocolates I’ve already paired with the story (available at checkout with UK postage included):

🍫 Old Fashioned
🍫 Madagascar 65%
🍫 Meadowsweet flowers and plain chocolate ( Solomon Islands 72%)
🍫 flavoured Ecuador 70% details to be revealed closer to the event

💻Join the event — we’ll begin by discussing the book, then taste and share our chocolate experiences together.

🎗️An opportunity to give back

We gain so much pleasure from reading — but for some, it is a gift that has never been given to them. Instead, the absence of reading skills is a significant barrier to progress in life, both in opportunities and in relationships.

Your £10 ticket fee (after event platform costs) will be donated to the Turning Pages programme, which helps people in prison learn to read and build brighter futures.

14/09/2025

Tickets booked 😋

02/09/2025

A very special guest curated last night’s Louth Chocolate Tasters Trip to Brazil

A huge thank you to Mayara from for taking us on a tasting journey through Brazil’s vibrant bean-to-bar chocolate movement with bars selected on a recent trip home to Brazil. Choices were from the lush cacao plantations of Bahia and Para (Amazon Forest) to the innovative workshops of São Paulo, highlighting the diversity, richness, and excellence of fine Brazilian cacao.

I know its not week but this is a retrospective prompted by the evening being described by one of our club members as:
Brilliant Brazilian Beverley Based chocolatier Bringing us Bean-to-Bar chocolate Beating the taste of Bournville (another discussion point 🤨) Beautifully!

The bars included acclaimed award-winners and some highly recommended that remain undiscovered gems.

Together, they showcase the artistry and passion that have placed Brazil firmly on the global fine chocolate map.

These were Mayara’s choices:
🍫 Chocolat du Jour – Pratigi 80%
🍫 Luisa Abram – Rio Juruá 70% (ICA Silver
🍫 Mission Chocolate – Cupuaçu Intenso 70% (ICA Gold)
🍫 Magian Cacao – Colheita 2024, Uruará-Pará 70%
🍫 Kaê – 71% Cacau da Bahia (ICA Silver)
🍫 Luzz Cacau – Dark Milk 52% (ICA Silver)
🍫 Aya Chocolates – White Chocolate 33% Tangerine & Lychee (AoC Silver)
🍫 Baianí Chocolates – White Chocolate with Brazilian Spices (ICA Silver)

We simply had the best night! Finished off with a test tasting of a new flavour combination under development. The feedback was, I have to say superb.

Mayara I can’t thank you enough for bringing some of the best of Brazil to Louth 🙏🙏🍫🍫🇧🇷🇧🇷

Who wants to move to Louth and join our club? 🤣🍫❤️

🇧🇷

26/08/2025

I is for Idukki, India 🇮🇳🍫

Tangenting with .kot again this this week’s tttt_i — this time with the milk version of the 70% bar, crafted with beans sourced by Ellen and Luca of .india, who work with smallholder farmers in the Idukki Hills of Kerala.

I’ve set it against Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, which I’m rereading. Woolf’s novel shows us India through the lens of empire but through tastings of bars made with Indian cacao we can taste India more directly, on its own terms: terroir, craft and the true character of cacao.

I chose the milk bar this time as it seemed fitting considering one of the shadows of this colonial period is the cultural adoption of milk chocolate— most famously through Cadbury.

This is a reclaim of milk chocolate too though.

🍫The smell reminds me of a butter croissant with blackcurrant jam. On the palate it’s luxuriously creamy, with darker, jam and dried fruit tones that surge back through and linger, long after the creamy sweetness fades. Although this is a great reinterpretation of a classic milk chocolate, this depth and lingering of deeper tones make it feel like a quiet resistance!

19/08/2025

H is for Hogarth… and for History 🍫✨

Hogarth means two things to me: Hogarth Chocolate Makers – the inclusion wizards from New Zealand – and William Hogarth, the 18th-century English painter, engraver, satirist, cartoonist, and writer.

William Hogarth’s portrayal of chocolate was one of indulgence: hot chocolate fuelling decadence and depravity in 18th-century London. ➡️ Swipe to see image including his plate depicting White’s Chocolate House from The Rake’s Progress series – a less glamorous chapter in chocolate’s history.

😊 The bar is a tangential twin to .kot and the Ecuador bar – this is their Hacienda Victoria Ecuador – reimagined as a dark milk bar with oats, coconut, butter, and brown sugar to evoke the iconic Anzac biscuit. I know it has featured before in the TTTT series, but this is my first taste.

Historically, Anzac biscuits were sent to Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers in WWI as care packages – much like chocolate was sent to Allied troops.

⚠️ Hungry? Don’t open this bar… it’ll be history before you know it! ❤️😊🍫

It may be a milk chocolate, but the oats and coconut temper the sweetness, creating the illusion of a hearty, wholesome snack.

So glad I finally got to try this one – and a huge thank you to for bringing it back for me! 🙌

18/08/2025

🍫🌈 Colourful, fun and with a respect for difference!

I love a good community group tasting, and this one with the East Lindsey LGBTQ Social & Support Group at Sutton was such a joy and what a great brief too!

Here was my choice for the theme:
❤️💛🤎 70% Madagascar
🌈🤎🎂 Dormouse Chocolates Birthday Bar
💕🧡🤎Duffy’s Chocolate 61% Mayan Milk & 65% Orange
❤️🧡✨ Solkiki White Ginger Beer, Raspberry & Anise, and 70% Chuncho

The result? A brilliant evening with something for everyone!

Huge thanks to the group for the warm welcome ( some pictured) — I’m already looking forward to coming back.

12/08/2025

A Gathering of Gourmet Greatness

G is for Guatemala 🇬🇹🍫

My first Guatemalan taste memory goes back to award-winning Rio Dulce bar, and today’s post is a nod to that history.

The image shows bars from my packaging archives — some vintage, some from makers no longer with 😢

I wish I had a Guatemala Asochivite to taste to make a true twin with , but I can still connect the dots: Goodnow’s relationship with Asochivite leads us to this Encuentro Guatemala bar… with an addition G here for Encuentro meaning “Gathering.”.

My experience

🍫Deep brown, spicy aroma with a citrus edge.
🍋It’s that citrus that greets you first on the palate — bright, sharp, and intriguing — before deeper dried fruits join in, accompanied by warm spice. They linger then mellow into a rich, brownie-like finish.

06/08/2025

Is farm to bar cacao better than bean to bar? It very much depends if it’s fine or fashionable!

In my latest piece, I compare two Colombian bars: one “Single Origin, Farm to Bar Cacao” from Cox & Co, the other from bean-to-bar maker Nicola’s Chocolate. 🇨🇴🍫🇨🇴🍫

I’ve put them through the TTC test – Taste, Transparency, and Craftsmanship.

🍫TRANSPARENCY: What do we know about the beans and their journey?

Cox & Co
Is the whole process controlled by the company, as suggested in their strapline?
Not quite!

It is “supplied by Casa Luker estate,” who “work closely with local farmers”. Even when attributed to their supplier, farm to bar cacao makes little sense. Luker Chocolate sources from 15,000 farmers across Colombia and processes a blend of cacao into pre-made chocolate. The bars are then presumably made by Montrose Ventures Ltd for Cox & Co.

Not the level of transparency and control required for a genuine farm to bar claim.

Nicola’s
Cacao grown by 366 women of the Agromuvaras Association in Tumaco, imported by a fine cacao specialist (Belco), and made from bean-to-bar in Nicola’s small-batch factory, which is open to the public.

🍫🍫CRAFTSMANSHIP: How are the flavours crafted?

Cox & Co
If “handcrafted” for Cox & Co means made from pre-made chocolate in a factory producing over 20,000 bars a day, then in my book, it’s manufactured — not crafted.
Added vanilla extract helps achieve a standardised flavour profile.

Nicola’s
The crafting process is communicated clearly, illustrating the care and respect involved in flavour development — both at origin and in the bean-to-bar factory.

🍫🍫🍫TASTE: What are you tasting?

Cox & Co
Unpleasant aroma, but a familiar, uncomplex taste with a pleasant mouthfeel.
A classic, well-made industrial premium.

Nicola’s
Nuanced, layered, and an interesting flavour journey with a lovely aftertaste.
Food for the curious!

Read the full article and you decide which bars meets your criteria for taste, transparency and craftsmanship

LINK IN BIO TO FULL ARTICLE

05/08/2025

F is for Foundry, Floral, Fine-Flavour, Finca and Friends 🍫🍫

For my bar was sourced from by my friend and transported by my friend to the land of far-far away that is my home in Lincolnshire. 🙏🙏✈️✈️

Made in a little chocolate foundry just north of Auckland, New Zealand. This bar is proudly described by the makers as “intoxicatingly moreish” so I was expecting something to trigger my floral scent receptors, something heady and delicate. 🌹💐

The flavours are crafted from cacao from the Finca Nueva Esperanza in Pichari Alta, La Convención, Cusco, Peru. We are told the cacao is VRAE-99 and is farmed by third generation cacao farmers Juan and Carmen Laura and their daughter Rosaura, one of the unique genetic varieties of cacao grown on their 2-hectare farm. 🇵🇪 .esperanza.pichari

My childhood was filled with rose and violet fondant creams in dark chocolate, which were far from delicate! But in fine chocolate, floral takes on a whole new meaning—elegant, ephemeral and impossible to force!
🍫🍫
It’s already there in the aroma, but purple and tangy, more hibiscus than rose. The aroma itself is certainly moreish.

The taste begins with a slightly more herbal feel, like hibiscus tea. Then the sense of someone peeling a mandarin mingles effortlessly into the mix. The rose for me comes towards the end as I breath in mindfully and let the aromas rise through my nose, bringing back memories of a chocolate covered Turkish Delight – my go-to treat in the years between childhood treats and discovering the good stuff!

Thank you for crafting this bar with such delicacy and respect for the cacao. Great tasting notes too. I totally agree. I’m just wondering how get more!

29/07/2025

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿As I’ve been in Scotland and met up with Charlotte Flower in the landscape that shapes her craft, I couldn’t miss the chance to try one of her bars for my Tangential Tasting Twin Tuesday. Charlotte has two bars: the Elderflower, which I’ve tasted before, and the Electric Daisy, which was new to me and we spotted electric growing by the loch on the walk to our morning swim. (Swipe left!)

🌼The Electric Daisy is another name for Sneezewort or Achillea ptarmica—and according to my trusty Culpeper’s Complete Herbal, it’s also known as Bastard Pellitory! Charlotte talks more about this in her flavour blogspot too (QR code in the pack).

I love Culpeper’s description of its virtues: “It has a hot biting taste, and in salads is used to correct the coldness of other herbs. The root held in the mouth helps the toothache, by evacuating the rheum; the powder of the herb snuffed up the nose causes sneezing and cleanses the head of tough slimy humours.”

😶‍🌫️I’m now tempted to refer to my menopausal brain fog as “slimy humours”! But that’s a different tangent!

We tasted the flowers together and experienced the hidden power of these delicate, daisy-like blooms. It’s their unexpected “Sichuan pepper” effect that Charlotte wanted to capture in her chocolate and she has paired these flowrrs with a gentle Ecuadorian milk chocolate from Original Beans, providing a soft, creamy backdrop.

🍫The aroma already hints at something unusual, with a whisper of spice behind the sweetness. As the chocolate melts, mellow hazelnut and central chocolate notes emerge, calm and comforting, before the electricity strikes up. It’s not immediate or overpowering, but slowly, your lips begin to tingle. A gentle numbing creeps in. That’s when you realise: this unassuming flower carries a quiet, electric power.

So here’s to inspiring a few tangential tastings with my electrifying edible flowers in Ecuadorian chocolate.

And as ever, thank you for introducing me to nature’s quiet artistry through your chocolate.

28/07/2025

Tonight, Louth Chocolate Tasters will enjoy a curated selection of craft chocolate and bonbons brought back from this weekend’s visit to Scotland. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

What I returned with wasn’t only chocolate, but a deeper appreciation for the skill, integrity, and care in sourcing and crafting that defines the work of three exceptional Scottish makers. I will be sharing that along with the chocolate!

Sincere thanks to Ali , Matt and Charlotte for so generously welcoming us into your work spaces and sharing your knowledge, experience and passion for chocolate, flavour and the landscapes and people associated with them.

Your individual approach and dedication to the craft is so inspiring — and evident in every piece and I can’t wait to tell everyone.

There’s more to come on the trip but here is the line-up for tonight’s tasting:

🍫Explore Chocolate - Caramelised White Chocolate 38% Colombia
🍫Charlotte Flower - Elderflower White – 38% Colombia
🍫Charlotte Flower - Crab Apple Milk 55% (Bare Bones Honduras)
🍫Charlotte Flower - Sweet Cicily Dark 68% (Bare Bones Dominica Republic Salted)
🍫Chocolate Tree - Guatemala Lachua Milk 50%
🍫Chocolate Tree - Chuncho Peru 70%
🍫Chocolate Tree - Chocolate Covered Candied Orange Peel (Choba Choba Peru Dark)
🍫Iain Burnett Passion Fruit Velvet Truffle Sao Tome Dark (Couverture maker not disclosed)
🍫Explore Chocolate - Auchentoshan (Lowland) Truffle 85% Colombia Dark Chocolate
🍫 Explore Chocolate Spiced Caramel 55% Milk Chocolate

Cocoa Encounters

23/09/2025

20/09/2025

14/09/2025

02/09/2025

26/08/2025

19/08/2025

18/08/2025

12/08/2025

06/08/2025

05/08/2025

29/07/2025

28/07/2025

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