Unless you’ve been sleeping, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that winespeak has become the lingua franca of the chocolate world. That is, there’s a lot of chatter about terroir—single-origin, estate-grown, varietal--and even more talk that involves words like “leather” and “smoke” and “tannin.” Sound familiar?
We’ve just come from a tasting conducted by 3Cups, an upscale coffee, tea and chocolate café in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Owner Lex Alexander wants to lure the local crowd, one chocohead at a time, away from supermarket bars by tempting them with the likes of Michel Cluziel’s silky Grand Lait (45 percent cocoa) and Valrhona’s bittersweet Palmira Fino Criollo (70 percent cocoa). “I want everyone to slow down and develop the ability to taste,” he told the mostly older female crowd at the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Somehow two half-empty plates of ambrosial morsels came to rest on the chair beside us. It was all we could do to keep from absentmindedly devouring all of it—exactly what Mr. Alexander was telling us we should not do.
For Chloe Doutre-Roussel, the talk about percentages and terroir has struck needless fear into the hearts of some chocodependents. In “The Sweet Tooth Fairy” (The New York Times Magazine, February 12, 2006, pp. 75-76), the former agronomist turned chocolate buyer and taster for Fortnum and Mason told writer Christine Muhlke, “Some say that people who like milk chocolate are not real connoisseurs, or that percentage is crucial to the quality or even the origin of the beans…When you buy wine, do you select the bottle according to the percentage of alcohol?”
That said, Doutre-Roussel, born in Mexico and educated in France, where she worked for Pierre Herme, is passionate about teaching Americans to enjoy fine chocolate from small artisanal producers. She advises novices to let a piece of chocolate dissolve slowly on the tongue, then pay attention to the flavors that develop. (Mr. Alexander also suggests exhaling through the nose after swallowing “for optimal sensual pleasure.”) Among her favorites are Valrhona Manjari, Pralus Madagascar and Steve De Vries Costa Rican Trinitario—all sold in a limited edition “Journey into Chocolate” kit from Fortnum and Mason.
Back in Chapel Hill, we couldn’t help but notice that a distinguished gentleman seated near us was happily savoring a Hersey bar. A little smile played around his lips and his eyes were half-closed in blissful communion with the “food of the gods.” Don’t get us wrong: We love Valrhona and all those artisanal bars, but he got the real point: Don’t worry about the percentages, just enjoy the chocolate.
For more about 3Cups, go to www.3cups.net/blog/. Chloe Doutre-Roussel’s book, The Chocolate Connoisseur, is available from www.amazon.com. Her website is www.chloechocolat.com.