Cocoa Encounters

20/11/2025

Because the best gifts are delicious and educational 🍫📚

Link in Bio to choose from a tasting box with video guidance to certified tasting courses.

Tasting boxes and micro-learning courses also available on

18/11/2025

It’s Tuesday and it’s week.

U is for Urubamba - a Peruvian river, an Amazonian tributary, and my first stop in a river-themed tasting being put together for my forthcoming chocolate book club and our reading of The Amur River by Colin Thubron.
🍫📖
Thubron journeys from west to east - at the age of 80! - tracing Asia’s lesser-known “Amazon” , so my pairings will follow suit, beginning in the Upper Amazon: birthplace of both the river’s might and of course Theobroma cacao.

So I’m starting with the Urubamba, rising in the Andes southeast of Cusco, flowing toward its meeting with the Apurímac to form the Ucayali River. (I was hoping someone had picked a Ucayali bar that I could tangent). The Urubamba valley is home to our beloved Chuncho cacao.

🇸🇪Today’s bar isn’t crafted in Russia or China (that would have been too much to ask!), but in Gothenburg, Sweden where the Göta River meets the sea—another river mouth.

📖Thubron’s journey starts… dramatically (no spoilers), and I’m hoping for something equally arresting here:

🍫The aroma already promises adventure: deep forest fruits, fleeting florals—something you could keep sniffing through miles of rough terrain.

On diving in: a green, herbal opening—blackcurrant leaves—that ripens toward purple fruit, and merging into an intense fruit loaf warmth , and finally surfacing into a gentle, shimmering sweetness that lingers, ebbs and flows.

A pretty good choice for a long journey!

More rivers to come for book club 🌊🍫📚

17/11/2025

12/11/2025

Do you know your chocolate?

If you ask people what the three types of chocolate are, most people will get it wrong – they will probably say white, milk and dark

But it’s not about the colour of the chocolate, its about the purpose:

There are three types:

Confectionery, Premium and Craft

You need to know this so that you can see through the marketing and find the chocolate that meets your needs

🍫a sweet treat

🍫🍫chocolate to make us feel better about ourselves

🍫🍫🍫or great tasting chocolate that challenges us to think about who has been involved in that flavour development process from tree to bar.

I’ve just written a blog about these three types using these three bars just to help remind us how craft chocolate is so different. You can access my blog from the links in the bio

or take a look at my short online chocolate education courses and tastings. Could be the perfect gift 🎁🎄

07/11/2025

Good to finish the week with some positive feedback.

I know budgets are tight for schools and that’s not going to change any time soon so I feel very privileged to be asked into any school to talk about chocolate and where the flavours come from and so I do my best to make sure they get the best experience…and the best local chocolate of course ! 😉

Thank you.

27/10/2025

Calling all chocolate professionals and enthusiasts.

If you’ve been thinking about studying chocolate tasting with IICCT (International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting) — here’s your next chance to study in the UK.

We start Thursday 19th March 2026.

🍫 Level 1 – A prompt start to a 1.5-day course including the FDQ-accredited exam
🍫 Optional (but unmissable!) visit to meet and see the work of Duffy Sheardown
🍫 Level 2 – Continue your chocolate journey from Saturday to Monday, with exams and finish by 4:30pm

Whether you’re a looking to refine your palate and gain recognition for your chocolate tasting skills or just want to dive deeper into the world of fine chocolate, this is the perfect opportunity to learn, taste, and connect.

📩 DM for details on the venue, travel, and accommodation arrangements.

27/10/2025

24/10/2025

Craft Chocolate

This month Louth Chocolate Tasters turned our tasting pink for a cause close to our hearts 💕

We tasted craft chocolate wrapped in pink; we sought out pink hues on our flavour map (flavours heralding from Togo, El Salvador, Peru and Madagascar via our fabulous makers from the UK and Sweden); we compared the brightness of the pink fruits from different sun-drying protocols in Madagascan cacao ( skillfully crafted in Denmark) 🌞🍫; we savored pink grapefruit in a white backdrop ( a combination conceived in Canada); and we admired (before devouring!) the beautifully pink-decorated, white chocolate-covered ganache from Mayara in Beverley - thank you! 💕

Here’s our list:
1️⃣ Pump Street Togo Swiss Milk 44%
2️⃣ Nicola’ Chocolate Adventures El Salvador Milk 50%
3️⃣ Standout Urubamba Peru 70%
4️⃣ Darkroom Chocolate Madagascar 70%
5️⃣ Friis Holm Madagascar Fast Dried 64%
6️⃣ Friis Holm Madagascar Slow Dried 64%
7️⃣ Soma Pink Grapefruit & Brown Sugar Bar
8️⃣ Terroir Artesanal Lime & Fig Leaf 🍋🌿

And to support the Pink October fundraising, there’s a craft chocolate and pink wine hamper being raffled - to be drawn at their Pink Quiz this Sunday.

What a pink trip!