The Creator: Herman Van Dender is a well established name in the Belgian pastry and chocolate world. Herman took over his dad’s chocolate atelier in 1988 and has done numerous internships and specific trainings all over the world. By now, Vandender is a official supplier to the Belgium Royal Court and is one of the…
Category: Venezuela
Review: Cédric De Taeye – Venezuela Ocumare 76% – 2016 Harvest (****)
Cédric De Taeye was featured on this site before with his wonderful Madagascar bar. Based in Ellezelles – Belgium, Cédric creates a very interesting array of origin chocolates, both in milk or dark versions. He is passionate about flavors and is always keen on showing you the amazing notes real chocolate can bring. With…
Review: Valle Canoabo – Hacienda San Cayetano 60% & 70%
The Creator: Kris, I would like you to try some chocolates. When I heared these words from Zoi Papalexandratou (Zoto.be) – my attention was instantly grabbed. Zoi works at the heart of the cocoa production. Zoto offers guidance to both chocolate makers and cocoa farmers and visits cocoa producing regions on a regular basis. During…
Review: Ara Chocolat – Guasare 72% – 48 h & 72 h fermentation
The Creator: Making chocolate is an art. Artisan small batch chocolate makers create the lucious dark bars we all love so much from scratch. They start with roasting cocoa beans, crack them into nibs and winnow the lose shell. Next, the nibs are ground them into a cocoa mass. Finally, by conching this mass, the…
Review: Tibor Szántó – Venezuela Porcelana 70% (****)
The Creator Tibor Szántó is a Hungarian chocolate maker who started from a fine wine background. As a professional wine educator, Tibor visited Italy and discovered the art of chocolate making. When returning home, he was surprised no such chocolatiers existed in his home land. It soon became clear that chocolate making turned from interest…
Review: Willie’s Cacao – Venezuelan Gold – Las Trincheras 72% (****)
Today we go back to the real Willie Wonka of the Artisan Bean-to-Bar scene – Willie Harcourt-Cooze creates his magic with odd, vintage machines and has the wonderful madness of a truly passionate chocolate maker in his eyes. In his ongoing mission to learn the Brits – and the rest of the world while he’s at…
Review: Soma Chocolate – Dancing In Your Head 70% (****)
Blend…. a word which is rare on this blog. Ever since I started reviewing quality chocolate, I focused on Single Origin bars. Using cacao for a single country, region or even plantation. Today we experience a bar created with cacao from 4 distinct regions, all over the world. Venezuela (El Vigia), known for its refined…
Review: Idilio Origins – Chuao 72% (****1/2)
Chuao… if there is a single word that grasps the attention of real chocolate lovers, there you have it. Chuao, a little village in Venezuela. The origin region producing the finest Criollo cacao around. The crème the la crème! Many chocolatiers create a bar with cacao from this region. Today we have a Swiss bar…
Review: Rogue Chocolatier – Rio Caribe 70% (***1/2)
Another grey and dull sunday morning. After several days of sunny weather, my mood needs to be lifted up. What better way than to check this bar by Roque Chocolatier I received from a fellow chocolate enthusiast? Rogue is a small-batch artisan chocolate maker from Three Rivers, Massachusetts – USA. If you are into…
Review: JD Gross – Petit Chocolate – Edelcacao in 4 Variationen (**)
J.D. Gross. A name that draws a lot of traffic to this site and one of the first chocolate makers I tried after discovering Origin Chocolate. Why? Because it is easily available in every Lidl store in the world and it is cheap! Produced by Rausch, a German chocolate company, this brand is sold all…