Last night we had an employee chocolate tasting and coffee cupping. Ned and Debi of Cello Chocolate were good enough to come teach us about the process of crafting their chocolate bars, and to let us taste all the varieties they offer. Their chocolates all have the same ingredients, and yet there are dramatic differences between bars. Chocolate has many similarities to coffee, in that you can blend it and add flavors/ingredients to it, or you can let the distinctions of the country of origin shine. Come on in and ask us about our favorites: I think that we all had our own opinion!
Debi from Cello Chocolate with samples to share
This week’s coffee of the week is one that we cupped last night. We tried three totally disparate coffees, as we usually do with an employee cupping, to make it simple to understand. It’s a good way to introduce the concept. When you place a bright African coffee against an earthy, bold Indonesian, the contrast is easy to spot. You get an idea what acidity means, how a full-bodied bean will fill your mouth, what floral or berry notes might be. It is really quite similar to tasting chocolate.
We tried this Celebes Kalossi next to our Natural Ethiopian Sidamo, which we highlighted here. This is the Ethiopian with so much blueberry taste that some people thought we had actually added flavoring to it. The Celebes, on the other hand, was described by employees as “earthy,” “toasty,” “like toffee,” and “mellow.” It is light roasted with medium body.
You can try this Celebes on us this week by mentioning the code in burgundy above: own opinion. It would pair well with the Venezuelan or the Bolivian Cello Chocolate bar. We’ll be posting a few more pictures of our cupping and tasting on our Facebook page, here, if you would like to see more of the fun. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend!
–Holly Fike