Cocoa Encounters

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!

16/10/2025

We are warming up for our Bonfine Cocoa Local Special at and finalising our pairings which so far include craft chocolate from , and

No giveaways on the pairings yet but there’s a clue for one in our choice of rum - Ron Carúpano 18 Años Edición Limitada. Any guesses on the pairing here?

Along with our pairings there’s a cosy autumnal twist on our classic chocolate martini...more to come on this soon.

See you there!

, , # blackmuscat

14/10/2025

The UK Chocolate Week event at Fidelio at the weekend was such a great opportunity to catch up with people and stock up on some amazing chocolate.

I wish I’d had more time to stay for the tastings, but I still managed to meet, taste, and talk a great deal!

It’s a huge effort from everyone involved — and so appreciated by the chocolate community.

Thank you!
🙏🙏🙏🙏
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫

10/10/2025

We’ve just wrapped up our IICCT in Louth this week!

A huge thank you to our Class of October ’25 for bringing so much experience, passion, and curiosity — from Brazil, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Turkey, and of course, the UK.

Even when the course content is the same, each group feels so different because of the people around the table. We may all be tasting the same chocolate and doing the same sensory exercises, but our lived experiences, cultures, and physiology shape how we perceive flavour — and sharing and comparing those perspectives is where the real learning happens.

A teacher is only as good as their students…and you were amazing😉!!

I hope you felt warmly welcomed here in Louth. We might be a little off the beaten track, but that’s part of the charm — once you get here it’s a chance to slow down, focus on your sensory learning, and deepen your relationship with chocolate.

A special thank you to Marc Torrano for assisting me this time — I look forward to working with you again soon!

📅 Our next course dates - 19–23 March 2026 - are now available for booking. I look forward to welcoming more chocolate professionals and enthusiasts to Louth! 🍫

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.