When I got to Blickenstaff's I found out that not only was I going to get free chocolate, but from one of the finest chocolate makers in the world! Amano, one of the most new and prestigious companies in the chocolate world came right to me to have a tasting!!!
Amano is a bean-to-bar chocolate company. That means they buy some of the world's purest cocoa beans, bring them back to their headquarters in OREM, UTAH! and then make the chocolates themselves (from scratch)! They create the chocolate out of only 4-5 ingredients (varies on bar). I was so suprised to turn the chocolate bar over and be able to see that they're only made out of very simple, common ingredients. No weird chemicals or anything! One of the bars contains: coacoa bean, sugar, cocoa butter, and vanilla. Though it's only made of a few ingredients, the thing that really makes them stand out is the beans they utilize. One of the locations they get their beans from is Cuyagua, Venezuela. They purchase newly harvested beans from farmers there. Beans that can apparently create the world's best chocolate bar. (According to some of the prestigious international awards they've won)
Here's the crazy part:
THE CHOCOLATE TASTING PROCESS
I guess I have been eating chocolate wrong my whole life! We were educated by the presenter (There are only 4 people who work for Amano, and this guy is the only one who presents chocolate tastings)
1. Break off a small piece of the chocolate bar
2. Rub it between your fingers until it is warm (about 5 seconds)
3. Taking your time, inhale the scent of the warmed chocolate through each nostril
4. Place on your tongue and hold to the top of your palate for a few seconds.
5. Release the chocolate in your mouth and let it melt over all the different places in your mouth (apparently where you place the chocolate in your mouth brings out different undertones.) Try the tip of your tongue, the back of it, each side, etc.
6. Enjoy!
I literally thought this guy was crazy! I mean, inhaling the scent through each nostril??! Why can't you just eat it like a regular candy bar? And then he was telling us about all the flavors that were supposed to naturally come out in the flavors of the cocoa bean, like mountain blueberry, which turns into citrus, and then this and that and almond, and then an earthy flavor. But, really, how can cocoa beans naturally taste like blueberry?!
As skeptical as I was, I did taste the undertones in the chocolate.....and it was pretty cool! Some were fruity, some very bitter or smokey. It was the craziest thing! Still, I wasn't convinced Amano could be one of the world's chocolate wonders. Maybe I just don't have refined enough taste buds to tell the difference between "World's Best" and really good chocolate. I just didn't know what to think about it compared to my favorites. That is, until we split a cadbury and it tasted awful! Conclusion: If they can make a cadbury bar taste like a lump of lard, then Amano MUST be amazing!
The wildest of them all was the one that won awards proclaiming it as the best chocolate bar of the year (in the world). It's the Amano Cuyagua bar. (try it...you'll like it!) But...it was not my favorite bar, tasty as it was. It was the Ocumare that demanded all my attention. (Because it's their only milk chocolate bar. It tastes like chocolate with caramel, but there is no caramel added to it...it's the undertone in the beans!):
And so! I experienced my first professional chocolate tasting! ♥
You can learn more about Amano Chocolates at their website:
https://www.amanochocolate.com/
They even have an interesting section on caffeine levels in chocolate, and how to determine how much caffeine is in your chocolate bar (based on ingredients) :)
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