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CHOCOLATE – THE REFERENCE STANDARDTHE CHOCOLATE TESTER 2015

The best chocolates and pralines in the world What’s behind it all and what we can gladly forego

Bioart 211Bisou Chocolate 212Black Mountain 213Blanxart 214Blondeel (Frederic Blondeel) 215Blue Bandana 216Blühendes Konfekt 217Boissier (Maison Boissier) 219Bonnat (Chocolat Bonnat) 220Booja-Booja 222Bouga Cacao 223Bovetti 225Brasstown Chocolate (aka It's Chocolate) 225Brazen Chocolate 227Bright Chocolate 228Burnt Fork Bend Chocolate 229Butlers Chocolates 230C-Amaro Gourmet Chocolate 232Cacao Atalanta 233Cacao Crudo 234Cacao di Vine 235Cacao Hunters 237Cacao Magic 238Cacaosuyo 239Cacaoyere 240Cacep Chocolate 241Cadbury 242Café-Tasse 243Caffarel 244Cailler 245Camille Bloch 246Cao Artisan Chocolates 248CariBeans Coffee & Chocolates 249Carl Lambert 250Carré Suisse 251Castagna (Guido Castagna) 252Castronovo Chocolate 254Catinari (Roberto Catinari) 255Cazenave (Chocolat Cazenave) 256Cémoi 257Chaleur B Chocolat 258Chapon (Patrice Chapon) 259Charbonnel et Walker 261Charlemagne 262Charley's Chocolate Factory 262Charm School Chocolate 264

Chchukululu 265Che 'il Mayan Chocolate 266Choco Del Sol 267Choco Reko 268Choco-Lina 269Chococo 271Chocolarder, The 272Chocolate Conspiracy, The 273Chocolate Makers 274Chocolate Orgániko 275Chocolate Shop 275Chocolate Tree, The 276Chocolove Xoxox 278Choconuva 278Chocosol 280Chocovic 281Chocovivo 281Chocxo 283Choklat 284Cicada Artisan Chocolate 285Ciomod 286Clement Chococult 287Cluizel (Manufacture Cluizel) 289Coco Bruni 291[cocoa] 292Cocoa (SuroVital) 292Cocoa Bee 294Cocoa Farm 294CocoáFair 295CoCouture 297Čokoládovna Troubelice - František Bačik 299Comptoir du Cacao 300Conscious Chocolate 301Coppeneur (Confiserie Coppeneur) 302Corallo (Claudio Corallo) 304Cote d'Or 305Cotton Tree Chocolate 307Cravve 308Curley (William Curley) 310Dagoba Chocolate 312Daida Chocolate 313Daintree Estates 314Dalloyau 316Dammenberg 317Dandelion Chocolate 318Danta Chocolate 319

3Chocolate – The Reference Standard

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Impressum 10Dedication 11The Author 12Introduction 13The Concept of the Book 17

The CocoaThe history of cocoa 18The cultivation countries 26The Heirloom Project 38Cultivation and processing in the country of origin 42About the life and work on a cocoa farm 52Ethics, Fair Trade, Organic and Sustainability 60Health Aspects 66

The ManufactureFrom cocoa to chocolate 72Manufacture of nougat 80Manufacture of confectionery 82Ingredients and Lists of Ingredients 88

The ChocolatierChocolatier, Confiseur or Pâtissier 94Bean-to-Bar and the molders 96Raw Chocolate – and Superfood 102The processing levels 106Country profiles manufacturers 110

The CriteriaExplanation of the product categories 122Rating criteria 126

The RatingTasting chocolate, nougat and confectionery 130Product and company evaluation 136

The ABC of the Chocolate ManufacturersReviews from A-Z 138

100%ChocolateCafe 142A Xoco 144Acalli Chocolate 145Adi Chocolate Fiji 145Adoré Chocolat 147

Aeschbach Chocolatier 148Agapey Chocolate Factory 149Ajala Chocolate 150Åkesson's 151Al Nassma 153Aldi 154Alexandros Chocolate 156Allsop (Damian Allsop) 157Alpia (Stollwerck) 159Alter Eco 159Alteza 160Altmann & Kühne 161Amano Chocolate 161Amatller (Chocolate Amatller) 163Ambrosia Pastry Co. 164Amedei 165Amma Chocolate 167Amrani (Antoine Amrani Chocolates) 169Anahata Cacao 169Anthon Berg 170Antica Dolceria Bonajuto 172Antidote Chocolate 174Aoki (Sadaharu Aoki) 175Ara Chocolat 176Arko 177Art of Chocolate 179Artisan du Chocolat 180Askinosie Chocolate 182Australian Homemade 185Bachhalm 186Bahen & Co. Chocolate Maker 188Balaguer (Oriol Balaguer) 190Bar au Chocolat 192Baratti e Milano 193Barbero (D. Barbero) 194Bayan Sulu 195Bel (Philippe Bel) 196Bel Amer 197Belize Chocolate Company 198Bellion (Chocolaterie Atelier Alexandre) 200Belyzium 201Berger Feinste Confiserie 203Bernachon 205Beschle (Monrosa Ltd.) 207Bessone (Silvio Bessone) 208Beussent Lachelle, Chocolat de 210

CONTENTS

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Chocolate – The Reference Standard2

Hermé (Pierre Hermé) 435Hershey's (The Hershey Company) 437Hévin (Jean Paul Hévin) 438Hoja Verde 440Holy Cacao 444Honest Chocolate 446Hotel Chocolat 447Hugo & Victor 450Hummingbird Chocolate Maker 451Hussel 452Idilio Origins 454Ika Chocolate 456Il Modicano 457Imping (Confiserie Imping) 459Indi Chocolate 460IQ Chocolate 461Itzel Chocolate 462IXCacao Maya Belizean Chocolate 463Ja! - REWE 465Jeff de Bruges 466Jelina Chocolatier 466Jer's Handmade Chocolates 467Jordi's Chocolate 468Jubilee Chocolatier 470Juchheim 470Just Good Chocolate 472Kah Kow 473Kakaw 474Kallari 475Kaoka 476Karls Schokolade 477Kee's Chocolate 478Kestener (Franck Kestener) 479ki'Xocolatl 481Kiskadee Chocolates 482Klaus (Chocolat Klaus) 483Knipschildt Chocolatier 484Kober (Sabine Kober) 485Koi Kei Bakery 486Konnerup & Co. 487Kraš 488Kudvic LLC 489Kugel (Kevin Kugel Chocolatier) 491Kuná (Fresh Costa) 492Kyya Chocolate 494La Maison du Chocolat 496

La Molina Chocolate 497La Royannette 499Läderach 500Ladurée, Les Marquis de 501Lake Champlain Chocolates 503Lanwehr Confiserie 504Lapp und Fao 506Larher (Arnaud Larher) 506Lauenstein Confiserie 507Le Caméléon 509Le Chocolate de H 510Ledent (Pierre Ledent) 512Lenôtre 512Leone Pastiglie 514Leonidas 516Levy Chocolate 516Leysieffer 517Lidl 519Lillie Belle Farms 521Lilly O' Brien's 523Lindt & Sprüngli 524Liveat Living Chocolate 526Lonohana Estate Chocolate 527Lotte Ghana 528Lovechock 530Loving Earth 531Lucifer Chocolate 532Ludomar Bombones 534Ludwig Schokolade 535Lyra Chocolate 536Madécasse 538Mademoiselle de Margaux 539Madre Chocolate 540Maestrani 541Maglio Arte Dolciaria 543Majani 544Malagos Chocolate 545Mälarchocolaterie 546Malie Kai 547Malmö Chokladfabrik 548Mana Chocolate 550Mánoa Chocolate 551Manon, le Chocolatier 553Manufaktura Czekolady 553Marc Antoine 555Marcolini (Pierre Marcolini) 556


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Darcis 321De Bondt (Cioccolato de Bondt) 322De Neuville 323Dead Dog Chocolate 324Deli Cacao 325Della Rocca 326Demarquette Fine Chocolate 327Demel 329Dengel (Confiserie Dengel) 330Dick Taylor Chocolate 331Diego's Chocolate 333Divine Chocolate 334Divine Organics 335Doble & Bignall 335Dolci Pensieri di Calabria 336Dolfin 337Domori 339Donna Elvira 341Donnelly (Richard Donnelly) 342Donovans Chocolates 344Double Sept 345Dreimeister 345Ducasse (Manufactur de chocolat Alain Ducasse) 346Duffy's Chocolate 349DV Artisan Chocolate 350Earth Loaf 352East Van Roasters 353Edelmond 355El Ceibo 356El Rey 357Elbow (Christopher Elbow) 359Emils Gustavs 360Emily' s Chocolate 361Endangered Species 362Erich Hamann 363Erithaj Chocolat 364es koyama 365Escazú Artisan Chocolates 367Fassbender Genussmanufaktur 369Favarger (Chocolats et Cacao Favarger) 370Feodora 371Ferrero 373Finca Chocolate 374Fine & Raw 375Fjordnær Geiranger Sjokolade 376

Forever Cacao 378Fran's Chocolates 379Franceschi (aka Chocolate San José) 381French Broad Chocolates 382Fresco Chocolate 383Frey (Chocolat Frey) 385Friis-Holm 386Frucht & Sinne 388Fruition Chocolate 390Gabriel Chocolate 392Gaillot Chocolate 393Galaxy 394Galler 395Gardini (aka l’Artigiano) 396Génaveh 397Genin (Jacques Genin) 397GEPA 399Gerbaud (Laurent Gerbaud) 400Ghirardelli Chocolate 402Gmeiner Confiserie 402Gnosis Chocolate 405Gobino (Guido Gobino) 406Godiva 408go*do Chocolate 409Goldkenn 410Goss Chocolate 411Gran Inka 411Green & Black's 412Grenada Chocolate Company 413Große-Bölting (Pralinen-Manufactur Große-Bölting) 415Gubor Schokoladen 416Guittard (E. Guittard) Chocolate Company 418Guylian 420Habitual Chocolate 422Hachez 423Hacienda El Castillo 425Haigh's Chocolates 426Hazel Mountain Chocolates 427Hecker (Café-Konditorei Hecker) 428Heidi Chocolat 429Heilemann (Confiserie Heilemann) 430Heinemann (Konditorei Heinemann) 430Hemp Line, The Hemp 432Henri Charpentier & Christophe Felder 433Henri Le Roux Chocolatier 434

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Rausch Privat-Confiserie 670Raw Health 671Recchiuti (Michael Recchiuti) 672Republica del Cacao 673Restless Chocolate 674Richart 676Righteously Raw 677Rimann (Fabian Rimann) 677Rio Napo 679Ritter Sport (Alfred Ritter) 680Ritual Chocolate 681Robert (Chocolat Madagascar) 682Rococo Chocolates 684Roger (Patrick Roger) 685Rogue Chocolatier 687Roussel (Christophe Roussel) 688Rovira (Enric Rovira) 690Rózsavölgyi Csokoláde 691Rrraw 693Sabadì 694Sagarana 696Saldac 696Salgado (Chocolates Salgado) 698Samaritan Xocolata 699Sampaka (Cacao Sampaka) 700Santander (Chocolate Santander) 701Santhosha Chocolate 703Sarotti (Stollwerck) 704Sawade 705Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker 707Schell Schokoladenmanufaktur 708Schmitt Chocolatier 710Schoc 711Schokov 713Schokovida 714Schönenberger (Chocolat Schönenberger) 715Schwermer 716Seed and Bean (aka Organic Seed & Bean Company) 718Shaman Organic Chocolates 719Shin - Quatrième Chocolat 719Shokomonk 721Simón Coll 722Sir Hans Sloane 722Sirene Chocolate 723Sjölinds Chocolate House 724

Slitti Cioccolato e Caffé 725Snake & Butterfly 727Solstice Chocolate 728SOMA Chocolate Maker 730Somerville Chocolate 732SpagnVola Chocolatier 733Spencer Cocoa 734Sprüngli 735SRSLY Chocolate 737Stainer 738Stella (Chocolat Stella) 739Stone Grindz Chocolate 740Storath (Confiserie Storath) 741Strita Supreme Chocolat 743Styx 744Suchard 745Summerbird 747Summerdown Pure Mint 747Sun Eaters Organics 748Suzuki (Takanobu Suzuki-La Pâtisserie Belge) 749Svenningsen 750Szántó Tibor Fine Chocolates 751T'a Sentimento Italiano 754Tabal Chocolate 755Talamanca Chocolate 756TartufLanghe 757Taza Chocolate 757Tcho 759Tea Room, The 761Tejas Chocolate 761Terroir Chocolate 763Teuscher 764Theo & Philo 766Theo Chocolate 767Theobro.ma 769Theobroma „Musée du Chocolat“ 770Theobroma Chocolat 772Thorntons 772Tiroler Edle 773TO'ak 775Tobago Cocoa Estate 777Tohi 778Tokyo Chocolate 778Toms 780Tony's Chocolonely 781


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MarieBelle 558Marou Faiseurs de Chocolat 559Marquise de Sévigné 561Mary's Chocolate 561Mast Brothers 562Maverick Chocolate Co. 564Max Brenner 566Max Chocolatier 566Mayta Chocolate 568Mazet Chocolatier 569Meadowlands Chocolate 570Mecsa Osha 571Meiji 572Melt 573Menakao 574Mendoá Chocolates 576Mesocacao/Winans Chocolates 577Metiisto Artisan Chocolate 578Meybona 579Meyer (Timo A. Meyer – Cocoa Palatina) 581Middlebury Chocolates 582Milka 584Millcreek Cacao Roasters 585Mindo Chocolate Maker 586Minimal Bean to Bar Chocolate 587Mischer (Michael Mischer) 589Moho Chocolate 590Monbana 591Monsieur Truffe 591Montezuma's 593Morel (Christophe Morel) 594Morin (Chocolaterie A. Morin) 595Morinaga Hi-Crown 597Mucho - The Chocolate Museum 599Muchomas Chocolate 600Mulu Chocolate 601Nahua Chocolate 602Naive (Chocolate Naive) 603Nelleulla 604Nestlé 606Neuhaus 607New Tree 608Nick's Chocolate 609Niederegger 610Nihant, Benoît Chocolatier 612Nobile Cioccolato 613

Nói Síríus 614Norman (Christopher Norman) 616Nova Chocolate 617Nuance Chocolate 618O' Café 619Oakland Chocolate Company, The 620Oberlaar 622Oberweis 623Ocho 624Oialla (aka Bojesen Chocolate) 625Olando (The House of Olando Chocolates) 627Olive & Sinclair Chocolate 628Olivia Chocolate 629Omanhene 630Ombar 631Omnom Chocolate 633Organic Fair 634Organic Meltdown 635Original Beans 636Original Hawaiian Chocolate 637Origines Cacao 638Orquidea 640Pacari 641Palet d'Or (Chocolaterie Palet d'Or) 643Palette de Bine 644Pamacao 645Pana Chocolate 646Parliament Chocolate 647Passero Country Chocolaterie 648Patric Chocolate 649Pernsteiner (Café Pernsteiner) 651Persoone (The Chocolate Line - Dominique Persoone) 652Peters Confiserie 654Peyrano, Cioccolato 655Pitch Dark Chocolate 657Potomac Chocolate 658Pralus (François Pralus) 659Prestat 661Prieto (Cacao Prieto) 662Pump Street Bakery 664Pure Dark 665Q Aquim 666Quai Sud 667Raaka Chocolate 668Rancho San Jacinto 669

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Award for the first issue of the Schokoladentester from the Gourmand World Cookbook Award "Best of the world" 2013 in Mai 2014 in Peking


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Torres (Jacques Torres) 782Twenty-Four Blackbirds Chocolate 783Ülker 784Urzi Cioccolato 785Vacilotto (Giulio Vacilotto) 787Valdivian Chocolate 788Valentino 789Valor (Chocolates Valor) 791Valrhona 792Van Dender 794Vanillabeans 795Vanini 796Vao Vao 798Venchi 798Vercruysse (Geert Vercruysse) 800Vestri 801Vicuña Chocolate 803Videri Chocolate Factory 804Villars 805Vintage Plantations 806Vivani 808Vosges Chocolate 810Wagner Pralinen 812Weiss (Chocolaterie Weiss) 812Wellington Chocolate Factory 813Wenschitz 815White Rabbit Cacao 817Whittaker's Chocolate 818Wiebold Confiserie 819Wild Sweets®

(By Dominique & Cindy Duby) 819Wilkie' s Chocolate 821William Dean 823Willie's Delectable Cacao 824Wittamer 826Wonder Chocolate 826Woodblock Chocolate 827Xocolat Manufaktur 829Xocolatl de David 830Yoroizuka (Toshi Yoroizuka) 832Young (Paul A. Young) 833Zaabär 835Zokoko 835Zotter 837

SummaryLists of the Best 840Overall conclusion 850

Interesting facts around cocoa and chocolateCuriosities 856Events of the chocolate industry 860Chocolate awards and quality seal 864Specialist dealers and sources of supply 866Missing brands and other Bean-to-Bar manufacturers 872Countries represented in the book 874Interesting Internet sites and museums 875Wine & Chocolate and Beer & Chocolate 878Whisky and Chocolate 888Rum and Chocolate 896

SonstigesGlossary 902Credits 909Source references 911Picture credits 911Register 912Notes 918

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klimaneutralnatureOffice.com | DE-101-643145

Unternehmen

With love to my children Clarisse and Melina,who both grew up in the midst of cocoa and chocolate.

With love to Ramona, who supported me with the implementation of this book.

This book is also dedicated to all Chocolatiers and Confectioners – they have made this work possible in the first place –

as well as all chocolate lovers.

I also dedicate this book to my friend Marcel, who died far too early.


| THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED

| IMPRINT


All information, suggestions, recipes, ratings, research, price information, etc. contained in thisbook were prepared by the author to the best of his belief and checked by him with the greatestpossible care. Nonetheless, contextual errors cannot be excluded altogether. Therefore, theinformation, etc. is provided without any obligation or guarantee on the part of the author. Liabilityof the author for personal, property and pecuniary damages is excluded.

© 2015 Georg Bernardini, BonnE-Mail: [email protected]: Georg Bernardini, BonnAuthor: Georg Bernardini, BonnDesign/Layout: Camedien GmbH, TroisdorfEditing: My mother Helga, ColognePicture editing product pictures: Hucky Klein, Kunstwerkstatt KönigswinterTranslated by: Brigitte Foley

Print/Production: Forster Media GmbH & Co. KG, BonnISBN 978-3-00-049142-9

Reference: Detailed bibliographical information is available via the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek(German National Library) in the Internet: www.dnb.de

The publisher reserves all rights, including those of reprinting, reproduction in any form and trans-lation into other languages. Without the written permission by the publisher it is not permitted toreproduce the book and parts thereof photomechanically or to store, systematically evaluate or dis-tribute it with use of electronic, resp. mechanical systems.

• ABC of the Chocolate Scene: The manufacturers are listed in alphabetical order with the colloquialnames and not according to the full company name resp. brand name. e.g. Chocolat Bonnat islisted under “B”, Manufacture Cluizel under “C”.All companies, resp. brands which carry the name of an active Chocolatier or Confectioner, areprincipally sorted according to the surname. E.g. Oriol Balaguer is listed under “B”, Pierre Mar-colini under “M”.Companies such as, e.g. Henri Charpentier (listed under “H”) or in the meantime also Henri LeRoux (listed under “H”) and also William Dean (listed under “W“) are not sorted according to thesurname, instead according to the full company name.

IMPRINT

A not insignificant influence on my professionalcareer was exerted by the gastronomic revolu-tion in the 1970s. My father was a trained mas-ter painter and decided – together with mymother – from one day to the next, to open arestaurant near Bonn in the tranquil place of Ro-landseck on the Rhine in 1976. In the beginning,my father cooked Mediterranean cuisine, mainlywith Sardinian and Southern French influences. Garlic was hardly known in Germanyat the time and often frowned on. Time andagain my parents had to remove graffiti in vibrant colors from the house façade and repaintit. Often three-quarters of the surface were covered with comments such as “Careful garliccooking!” In the second restaurant, at the beginning of the 1980s in Bonn, there were already major influences from the Nouvelle Cuisine. During this time, I permanently got toknow extraordinary, novel and high-quality rawmaterials and discovered a fascinating world oftastes and flavors. Sweet dishes and dessertsplayed a subordinate role in my parents’ restau-rant, as my father didn’t pay them any attention.My German mother was responsible for the desserts and contributed a lot of passion intotheir preparation as well as always letting metaste her creations. That time shaped me andmy taste lastingly and awakened the passion forculinary delicacies in me.

At some point, the time of Nouvelle Cuisine wasover but still had a lasting influence. It was a similar phenomenon with high-quality wine,cheese, balsamic vinegar or olive oil. All at oncethey were literally in everyone’s mouth for atime, until a new orientation started and one followed another culinary trend. There is, however, a common factor for all thesetemporarily occurring trends: they have left alasting impression, made a sustainable contri-bution towards food culture and, as a rule, promoted the quality level and acceptance byconsumers of high-quality and expensive foods.High-quality chocolate products underwent a

similar turnaround over the past years. In themid-1990s it wasn’t rare to see a bar of choco-late offered for 29 Pfennig. Only very few Choco-latiers perceived the cocoa bean as a finenatural product at the time and processed itcorrespondingly. Fine Chocolatiers who wereestablished on the market were a minority. Confectionery, especially truffles, had a muchhigher place value than a bar of chocolate.Through clever brand strategies, especially Bel-gian pralines enjoyed an excellent reputation inGermany as well. Exotic, creative and visionarycreations, as they are commonplace these days,simply didn’t exist – neither for chocolate nor forconfectionery. The few attempts by visionaryChocolatiers and Confectioners in Germany

remained shelf warmers in the mid-1990s.Especially in France, the Chocolatiers and Con-fectioners were able to establish themselvesslowly, with the new interpretation of chocolatebut in particular confectionery, at this time.

With the start of the new century, the world ofchocolate turned appreciably more fascinatingin Germany. Many Confectioners began to experiment. Little by little these new confectio-nery creations conquered the specialist choco-late shops. The French movie ‘Chocolat’ withJuliette Binoche and Johnny Depp gave thewhole thing a boost in 2000/2001. Nonetheless


| Introduction

THE AUTHOR

| The author


Georg Bernardini stems from an Italian familyof restaurant proprietors. Born on 9 September 1967, he started his career in 1984 as apprentice at the Konditorei(Patisserie) Müller-Langhardt in Bonn.

After a brief stopover in Munich at the KonditoreiKreutzkamm in the fall of 1987, mainly in thebaumkuchen department, he was drawn toFrance in October 1987. In Paris he worked asconfectioner assistant and bakery manager. Togather further experience, he spent six monthsas Head Pâtissier at the Restaurant Les Jardinsde l’Opéra in Toulouse, which held two Michelinstars at the time.

In November 1992 he established the CCC Confiserie Coppeneur et Compagnon GmbH together with Oliver Coppeneur, which is todayheadquartered in Bad Honnef, Germany. Thefirst products were presented to the public thefollowing year, on 18 September 1993. In the firstyears after the foundation, Georg Bernardini wasmainly responsible for production, purchasing,export and finances. In the last years of his activity at CCC he was responsible for

purchasing, sales – both domestic and overseas, marketing, design, finances and administration. Project-related he also tookover responsibility for product development. Hismajor and most important project was theestablishment of the bean to bar production.Starting with the concept, purchasing of machinery, buying the beans, creation of all recipes and design of the packaging, all the wayto marketing, everything was carried out underhis direction. As per 30 June 2010 Georg Bernardini retired as partner of the ConfiserieCoppeneur.

Thanks to his 27 years of experience in all majorsectors, Georg Bernardini has comprehensiveknowledge of the chocolate industry. In thisbook, exclusively product categories, which heproduced himself during his active period, willbe discussed and evaluated.

INTRODUCTION

As there was no guideline or handbook with comprehensive product tests and recommenda-tions for the chocolate market and the producersavailable so far, I tried to fill this gap in 2012with my first edition of “The Chocolate Tester.”Due to the great success and the high accep-tance, especially in the chocolate sector, onecan assume that I did quite a good job.

The first issue was out of stock within fourweeks, dozens of different media, radio, TV,print, blogs, etc. reported about the book. It wasdescribed as the “The Standard Work for

Chocolate” and as the “Chocolate Bible,” I wasoften titled as “The Chocolate Guru“. In May2014 “The Chocolate Tester” was honored withthe Gourmand Cook Book Award for the world’sbest chocolate book.

I have written the new issue as a result of thehuge change in the chocolate scene. If 271brands with approx. 2,700 products from 38countries were represented in the first book, thenew issue treats 550 brands with 4,000 productsfrom 70 countries.

Chocolate – The Reference Standard

| The idea behind the book and the new book title

THE IDEA BEHIND THE BOOK AND THE NEW BOOK TITLE

it took until about 2003/2004, before the modernConfectionery shop was able to establish itselfand a true chocolate boom began. Single origin,handmade, flavored and also drinking chocolates were the “Stars of Media andPeople” from then on. The more cocoa content,the better, the more daring a filling, the more at-tention it received.

Confectionery, however, was now almost ignoredby the end consumer and did not participate inthe boom. At that time, no German enterprisespecialized in the manufacture of chocolatestraight from the bean (Bean-to-Bar). At thistime, the trend towards single origin chocolatewas identified by only one German enterprise,namely Rausch, and indeed shaped it lastingly.However, this manufacturer turned away fromthe specialized trade very early on and suppliedmainly supermarkets and discounters. Themarket for flavored chocolates in Germany and

worldwide was left to foreign Chocolatiers un-conditionally and uncontested. And these didtheir work really well. 2005 was the year of themajor breakthrough. The years 2006, 2007 and2008 were the “boom” years. Whatever hit themarket was avidly imbibed and new things weredemanded faster and faster. The prices for special chocolates exploded and the diversitybecame continuously larger. It seemed thatthere was no limit to the top. Since then, newcompanies edged onto the market permanently,all of them creating numerous new products.Many new companies generated a creative ‘enrichment of the market – some were and areonly copycats without own creativity, vision or finesse and with medium or even poor productquality at excessive prices.

At the beginning of 2009 one could feel that themarket was changing again. The first kink in thechocolate trend came quite abruptly and manymanufacturers were surprised by the downturnin demand. In the course of the year, thedownturn stabilized to a tolerable level. But thencame the worldwide financial crisis and a further downturn had to be registered. An earlyclue was the raw material market. The commongrade cocoa broke records again and again on amonthly basis and was as expensive as neverbefore. At the same time, the market for finecocoa had collapsed downright, the prices forbest cocoa varieties had declined by up to 30 %.From 2010 onwards, the market recovered andthe new revolution began.

Within a few years, far more than one hundrednew Bean-to-Bar companies established themselves and at least one new one is addedweekly.

This new trend and further trends such as RawChocolate or vegan chocolate have revitalizedthe market again. Gratifying is that many countries on all continents participate in thesenew trends.

| Introduction

Chocolate – The Reference Standard14 15

Germinated young plant of the Cocoa tree

The chocolate market with its impressive diversity and the often very high quality wasnever as interesting as it is today. The chocolateboom of more than ten years ago has toneddown, but it has – similar to other trends beforethat – left something behind which will remain:a chocolate culture at the highest level and recently paired with a desire to strike out in newdirections. The curiosity and innovation machinery has reached a new level on an unprecedented scale – worldwide. All conventionswhich existed in the chocolate industry werethrown overboard and experiments are conducted come hell or high water. A giganticplayground for Chocolatiers and Confectioners,a paradise for consumers.

Cocoa blossom

17Chocolate – The Reference StandardChocolate – The Reference Standard16

| The concept of the book

THE CONCEPT OF THE BOOK

Every brand included in my book is portrayed –depending on how intensely it influences themarket, in more or less detail. Brands of par ticularly good or bad products receive more attention independent of their size and significance for the chocolate market. There will always be exceptions, I cannot and do not wish tosubject myself to a rigid rule. When introducingthe individual brands, I only deal with their history in detail when they are of special interest. Once in a while I also talk about mypersonal experiences with the companies ortheir owners, founders or employees.

Only companies which are present in retail withtheir own brand are considered in this book.This book does not concentrate on the best products but comprises all quality levels whichare available in retail. I have not excluded a single brand due to the quality of its products.Of course it would have been easier and morepleasant for me to consider only the best brandswith a transparent communications policy. However, my goal is not to sing the praises ofthe chocolate scene, but to offer the reader acomprehensive market overview – with all itspositive but also negative sides.

It is also not my intention to unsettle the readerwith the lack of a brand. This would, for example, allow the assumption that I don’t knowthe one or other brand or do not appreciate itsquality. Quite assuredly, one will miss the one orother brand in the book. The simple reason isthat I had to draw a line in the case of 550brands.

Of course, time did not permit a personal visitto all manufacturers, although I travelled toAustralia, Japan, USA, Austria, Italy, France,Switzerland, England, Belgium, the Netherlandsand to some German cities to procure the products.

The product categories

I have tested products of the following categories:1. Dark Chocolate pure2. Milk Chocolate pure3. White Chocolate pure and flavored4. Flavored Chocolates5. Filled Chocolates and Bars6. Nougat7. Confectionery

| The idea behind the book and the new book title

I am sure that the question will be raised why Ihave changed the title of the book and “aspire”to call my book “The Standard Work.” There aretwo major reasons for this:

1. The general tenor about the book was and is,that it is a Standard Work, resp. an Encyclo-pedia of Chocolate. Literature critics such ase.g. Denis Scheck or gastronomy critics likeJürgen Dollase, but also my valued readersand also the specialist retailers describe thefirst issue in this way.

2. There is no comparable work to date and Idare to doubt that there will ever be a crazierperson who will surpass this work in its current extent. It is simply impossible to test somany products or even more in an acceptabletime. One of the main problems is that the testshave to be carried out within a manageabletime so that they don’t lose topicality. Thiswork is most likely for eternity in both itsscope and exhaustiveness.

I completed the book on 31 March 2015. From 1. April 2015 I have dedicated myself to a newproject, which also comprises the manufactureof chocolate straight from Bean-to-Bar and ofconfectionery. Therefore, I will only be availableas “Chocolate Tester” for a limited period oftime after publication of this book. A third, revised version will in all likelihood not be published.

The selection of the brands and companies discussed in this book was my sole decision. Nocompany had to pay for this, and no one wasasked to send products without being paid forthem. Of course I accepted free samples to beable to keep the costs for this book in acceptablelimits. The mailing of free samples has, ofcourse, no influence on the assessment of theproducts.


| Country profiles manufacturers

COUNTRY PROFILES MANUFACTURERS

There are frequent discussions about whichcountry the best chocolate, the best nougat orthe best confectionery comes from. Such a generalization is rather superficial and one canidentify the one or other trend to only a limitedextent.

Germany

ChocolateGerman manufacturers have almost snoozedthrough the new chocolate culture and left themarket to the foreign brands almost without astruggle. The German manufacturers are quiteclearly concentrating on the mass market. Nomatter whether Alfred Ritter, Ludwig Weinrich,Ludwig Schokolade, WAWI or Meybona, all thesecompanies produce, at least in part, away fromthe bean or from the cocoa liquor, yet supply almost exclusively the retail food industry or discount markets. Ludwig Weinrich, Meybonaand Ludwig Schokolade have also specialized inthe manufacture of trademarks and their ownbrand is not widely represented on the market.For Ludwig Weinrich it may not be quite as serious as the company is well represented onthe market with two own brands, Björnsted andVivani. The company Hachez represents an exception. Although Hachez can also be foundpredominantly in the food trade, the companyhas preserved some exclusivity. Other chocolatemanufacturers are Kessko (starting from thebean), KVB (starting from the bean), Lubeca(starting from the cocoa mass) and Kondima.These companies operate exclusively as suppliers and do not trade with own brands. Inthis area one can, however, somewhat highlightthe quality of Lubeca. Since the beginning of2011 KVB has been part of the American CargillCorporation, but continues to produce in twofactories in Berlin.There is also the one or other chocolate manufacturer who manufactures his chocolatefor decor products or bulk products of inferiorquality and of course foreign companies whoalso operate factories in Germany.For a long time, the only micro-batch manufacturer in Germany was Coppeneur. Since2006 Coppeneur has been starting from thebean. In the meantime there are half a dozen

small manufacturers who start from the bean.

NougatThe major nougat boom failed to materialize sofar. Actually surprising, as this version of confectionery seems to take up top position forpopularity with German consumers. Its sales figures are always in the top third, or even rightat the top. Yet here as well, the German manufactures are lagging behind when comparedto the quality of Italian and French products. Already at the selection stage of the hazelnutsthe Italians, but also the French, are far moreselective. Nearly every German confectionerycompany uses nougat from one of the majorsuppliers. Sometimes larger confectionerieshave nougat prepared according to their own recipe but that is rather more unusual. No matterwhether you buy layered nougat from Lanwehr,Dreimeister, Imping or another confectionerycompany – it can happen that all were manufactured with nougat from the same supplier.In the meantime, Coppeneur has a product linefor which an own nougat is produced.Medium-sized confectionery companies buytheir nougat, from, among others, Lubeca,Kessko, Lemke and Kondima.

MarzipanGermany is the land of marzipan. It may alsohave tradition in other countries, or be popularby now, but a foreign company cannot match thequality of German marzipan. Here too there areexclusively suppliers who deliver to the confectionery companies and the principle ofnougat applies here as well: many confectionerycompanies work with the same manufacturer.The quality of the finished confectionery productcan still be extremely varied, as the quality of thebest marzipan can be extremely impacted by theaddition of more sugar. It also plays a role whether Californian almonds or those from theMediterranean area were processed. As a rule, the latter are more aromatic but also correspondingly expensive.Apart from that, the marzipan quality of figuresis never really good as a lot of sugar is addeddue to the required firmness. My tip: you’d bestbuy marzipan paste in the baking goods department of your supermarket. From the

113Chocolate – The Reference Standard112

however condensed milk or water with milkpowder are also used. Fresh cream is almost never used, as it reduces the shelf life considerably. In the worst case scenario, a German confectionery then looks like this:Manufacturing process one-shot: quality lossesas the consistency of the filling needs to be adapted to that of the chocolate during manufacture. Often too thick and irregular chocolate shell. Long shelf life: reduction of moisture, increaseof alcohol content, dispensing with fresh fruitsand fruit pulps. Low price: rationalization of manufacturing processes (e.g. one-shot), inexpensive chocolateas basis, inferior raw materials.Lack of creativity: limitation of creativity and selection to produce larger quantities, restriction to traditional ball shape.How can the manufacture of good confectionerybe possible under these conditions? Only veryfew products can be graded as good to verygood. The only positive thing about German confectionery is that it definitely has an ownidentity, one can recognize it immediately. It isto be hoped that one could say the same aboutits quality one day.

France

ChocolateIn France we find a totally different situationthan in Germany: very few major and very manysmall manufacturers. Valrhona is known worldwide and is particularly appreciated by thegastronomy. A. Morin, Bonnat, Pralus, Weiss orMichel Cluizel supply specialist shops at homeand in foreign countries and some maintaintheir own shops. In comparison, Bernachonsells its chocolate nearly exclusively in its ownshop in Lyon. Their common denominator is thatthey also sell their chocolate as couverture forfurther processing to confectioners, pâtissiersand gastronomes. Unfortunately only a fewmake use of this fantastic offer.Cacao Barry was one of the few major producers of the supplier industry and specialized in high quality couverture, but istoday a part of the corporate group Barry Callebaut from Switzerland. The enterprises Chocolaterie du Pecq and Chocolaterie de l‘Opera are two smaller companies, which concentrate on supplying theindustry and dispense with an own brand. Thequalities are good and the nougat products fromdu Pecq are excellent.Dark chocolate has always been very popular inFrance. But to believe that all French peoplelove dark chocolate, is a fallacy. There may bemore lovers of this but the greater majority ofconsumers enjoys the mass products availablein the supermarket, just as in other countries.The major difference is that the range of smallchocolate manufacturers and chocolatiers ismore abundant, more diverse and overall better.Nearly every town has at least one good chocolatier, in larger cities one is often spoilt for choice.

NougatNougat has a long tradition in France and is stillvery popular. The French nougat is fundamentallydifferent from German and Italian. As a rule, thenuts are roasted very much darker and the nougatitself is often softer with small pieces added. Onprinciple, I rank French nougat as world class.


quality, this is the best marzipan product whichis available commercially. The content of sugaris regulated by law and will always be lower thanin a finished confectionery company product.The quality of the different manufacturers,whether it‘s Dr. Oetker, Zentis, Schwartau orown brands from REWE and Co., varies onlymarginally. The legal provisions regulate the minimum proportion of almonds.Also beware of the “quality seal” Edelmarzipan(premium marzipan). According to law, marzipan paste may contain maximum 35 %sugar, Edelmarzipan has to be of at least 70 %marzipan paste (exception is the ‘LübeckerEdelmarzipan’ with a proportion of 90 %). Accordingly, Edelmarzipan may have a sugarcontent of 55–60 %. With “normal” marzipanproducts, the proportion of marzipan paste maybe as low as 50 %.Medium-sized confectionery companies buytheir marzipan paste from, among others, Lubeca, Kessko, Lemke, Kondima and Moll.

ConfectioneryIn the beginning, the invention of the hollow ballwas a blessing for the German confectioners, asit was easy and clean to manufacture many

different types of confectionery. In the meantime, however, the market has been floodedwith products with their help, including many ofmediocre or poor quality and the confectioneryprice has also suffered greatly in retail. As thedesign creativity, under the guise of filling everything into a hollow ball or a little pot, hassuffered greatly, one can, unfortunately, regardthis influential trend as more of a curse for theGerman art of confectionery than anything else.To top it all, the one-shot technique arrived. Thiswas especially popular with German manufacturers but one had to partially acceptconsiderable quality restrictions. A dilemma for German manufacturers is the useof banal standard chocolate. To all excess, manymanufacturers also use the products from one and the same manufacturer – or at least comparable ones: as a rule chocolates from Barry Callebaut, Belcolade or Cargill, companies with a little more quality consciousness, resort to chocolates from Lubeca. The use of Felchlin or Valrhona chocolateis quite rare. German confectioners are todaystill of the opinion that the focus is on the fillingand the chocolate around this can be neglected.What a fatal error!German confectionery also claims a sometimesextremely long shelf life. This, of course, appliesmore to the confectionery companies, who notonly sell under their own brand in their ownshops but who also supply other specialistshops or the food retailers. With a minimum shelf life of six months in sales,this means that the products need to surviveanother few weeks or even months in storage.Overall, they are developed so that their shelflife is five to nine months. This, of course, alsohas consequences for the selection of the rawmaterials used. You will look in vain for freshfruit pulps in these fillings. Often, the fillingscontain high amounts of alcohol due to the shelflife and the amount of moisture is considerablyreduced. Frequently, flavorings are used to addflavor and are not always accompanied with realfruit in the form of fruit concentrates. Fruit concentrates are an acceptable alternative tofruit pulp, but can never reach the taste qualityof these.The basis for fillings is usually long-life cream,


Chocolate – The Reference Standard

Establishment and factory Alain Ducasse, Paris

advantage of the offer. The manufacturer Callebaut has not existed for a long time now.Since 1996 he’s been a part of the Swiss corporate group Barry Callebaut.At the end of 2014, the time of the research forthis issue, there were precisely five chocolatemanufacturers in Belgium: The only manufacturer of the oh so famous Belgiancouverture is Belcolade from the Puratos Group.However, it doesn’t process any cocoa beans,instead its productions starts with the cocoamass.Pierre Marcolini from Brussels is one of threesmall Bean-to-Bar manufacturers. Benoît Nihant from Embourg has also established himself well and the elitist circle of the Bean-to-Bar manufacturers has recently been widened by Frederic Blondeel from Brussels. Inaddition, Jean-Philippe Darcis, who also residesin Brussels, is busy with opening a small Bean-to-Bar manufactory. The last in the leagueof chocolate manufacturers is the companyCharlemagne, which, however also startsproduction from the cocoa mass.When, therefore, Belcolade is the only chocolatemanufacturer and not even produces its chocolate from the bean, what is the worldwidereputation of the fabulous Belgian chocolatebased on? Solely and exclusively on the … past.

Whether Belgian chocolate was ever the best inthe world cannot be understood anymore today.It is particularly doubtful whether the Belgiancouverture is the best in the world today, as there is not a single Belgian Bean-to-Bar manufacturer who sells couverture!I do not doubt that Belcolade is able to producegood chocolates, certainly not. But to claim,Belgium manufactures the best chocolates in the world unmasks the originator as pretty clueless.

Nougat & MarzipanBoth nougat and marzipan do not have a richtradition in Belgium. Both is bought in from suppliers. I am not aware of any company, apartfrom Pierre Marcolini, which manufacturesthese products itself.

ConfectioneryI will never understand why typical Belgian confectionery has such a high reputation. I associate it with Leonidas, Neuhaus, Guylian orGodiva: simple, sweet chocolate low in flavor,fatty, heavy and sweet fillings with little flavorand taste. I do not count these manufacturersas good confectioners, but definitely as verygood companies whose marketing performancedeserves great recognition. Building up a goodglobal image with mediocre to below-averageproducts deserves greatest respect.But there is hope yet: the new generation ofconfectioners, such as Laurent Gerbaut, PierreMarcolini, Jean-Philippe Darcis or alsoDominique Persoone have recognized that theycan produce better products with confectioneryin the French style. Particularly Pierre Marcolini,who achieves a very good quality, has alreadyachieved a certain supremacy in Belgium withclever marketing. For certain, there are other small manufacturersin the whole of Belgium, who manufacture goodor even very good qualities. Unfortunately, however, these are usually not known supra-regionally.

In summary, I would like to emphasize onceagain: There is almost no Belgian couverture, asthere is only one Belgian manufacturer of couverture.The reputation of the fantastic

MarzipanIn Alsace one can find marzipan products hereand there, and the confectioners from MichelCluizel or Valrhona produce the one or othermarzipan confectionery, but in general these aremore exotic marginal products in France.

ConfectioneryIn France, the confectionery quality is very varied. On principle, however, one can speak ofa “French style” which is the most frequently copied all over the world. Perhaps it would bemore correct to say that the French style oftenserves as inspiration. No matter whether in theUSA, Japan or Belgium – the French style ofmanufacturing confectionery is the most popular.As a rule, the confectionery mass is poured ontoa tray, smoothed flat and is then cut into pieces.This makes it possible to coat the confectionerywith a very thin layer of chocolate. The chocolatequality of the confectionery is highly rated inFrance. Especially the confectioners stand out,who are chocolatiers at the same time and can

therefore use their own chocolate. French confectionery is often based on crème frâiche,but more frequently also on long life cream. Fruit pulps are a popular choice as raw material. In France, alcohol is not used to agreat extent – and when, then to produce a reallyalcoholic variety and not to extend the shelf life.Many confectioners produce confectionery witha shelf life of only two to three weeks, as theproducts are often sold only in their own shops.Some confectioners also produce confectioneryin large quantities and then freeze it. It is thendefrosted only according to need – this approachdoes not necessarily represent a lack of quality.Just as with fruit and vegetables, which areshock frosted when fully ripe, the confectioneryretains its flavor and structure and the appearance also remains in perfect condition. Fillings in French confectionery are firmer, yetcreamy and with a pleasant melt. Sometimeshollow balls or other shapes are also used inFrance. In that case the fillings are then also alittle softer. That the mass market is huge also applies toconfectionery and many consumers thereforebuy their confectionery in the supermarket. Ultimately, France has the better confectionerybut also doesn’t have to make as many compromises. The sales price in the specialist shops alone allows the confectioners to use more expensiveraw materials.

Belgium

ChocolateDear Belgians, you have to be strong and valiantnow to read these lines. Those who can’t bearthe truth, please skip the next paragraphs …

Belgium has lost its chocolate culture almostcompletely. At the beginning of the 20th centurythere were dozens of small chocolate manufacturers. From 1925 on, the company,founded by Eugen Callebaut, which bears his surname, offered the many small manufacturers finished couvertures for furtherprocessing. As the Callebaut chocolates werelower in price and often also better than theirown chocolates, almost all manufacturers took


| Country profiles manufacturers| Country profiles manufacturers


Confectionery-Bar Alain Ducasse, Paris

Shop Pierre Marcolini in Brussels

micro-batch manufacturers, Favarge being oneof them. There are, however, two very good suppliers of fine couvertures with Carma (is partof the Barry Callebaut AG) and Felchlin . Carmahas specialized more in the manufacture ofhigh-quality milk chocolates, Felchlin on theother hand, recognized the potential of specialcocoa varieties early on and offers some wonderful chocolates. Felchlin also producesfor various brands, such as e.g. Idilio or OriginalBeans. Both can match the world’s best chocolates. There are a few other chocolate manufacturers such as, for example, Maestraniand recently Läderach has also been producingat least a part of its chocolate itself.

Nougat & MarzipanBoth are not Swiss specialties and thereforethere is no manufacturer that I am aware of.

ConfectioneryRudolf Läderach is the inventor of the hollowball – correspondingly, the Swiss confectionerytradition is comparable to that of Germany.

Italy

ChocolateItaly has a long chocolate tradition. On the onehand there are, of course, the large industrialcompanies such as Ferrero, but on the otherhand small companies such as Venchi, Majanior Caffarel have existed for a long time. Themodern style has, however, been characterizedby the young creative and innovative companiessuch as Domori, C-Amaro or Amedei, all threeproduce from the bean. Slitti also manufacturesits own chocolate, however starts from thecocoa mass. Tuscany has established itself asChocolate Valley, many innovative enterpriseshave their roots there. The Italian manufacturersall master the refining of couverture. La Molinor Stainer and many others have all developedtheir own style and occupy every imaginablemarket niche. Very traditional products comefrom Sicily and are offered in a good quality,particularly by Antica Dolceria Bonajuto.Thecurrent trend of new Bean-to-Bar manufacturersis being completely ignored by the Italians.

With the enterprise ICAM there is also a globalplayer in the supplying industry: ICAM producedthe products for the British company Green &Black‘s exclusively over many years.

Nougat & MarzipanNougat has a very long tradition in Italy, Giandujais an Italian invention, so to speak. As a rule,only Piedmontese hazelnuts are used for itsproduction. Nearly all manufacturers, who produce chocolate straight from the bean, alsoproduce Gianduja. In addition there arecompanies which produce only Gianduja and nochocolate, such as, for example D. Barbero.The nougat is usually smooth, firm and creamywith a fine melt. In comparison to German nougat it is characterized by its fine flavors.Many manufacturers also offer spreads on Gianduja basis.Marzipan however, figures hardly at all and thereis little of it on offer.

ConfectioneryAlthough there is a lot of confectionery availablein Italy, one cannot really speak of a typical Italian confectionery. In addition to numerous in-fluences from all directions, nougat is most assuredly a much used raw material. Italianconfectionery is relatively unknown outside itscountry’s borders and only plays a subordinaterole in the culinary world.

Spain

ChocolateSpain also has a long chocolate tradition. Thecompanies Amatller, Simón Coll or Chocovichave been around for a long time, Amatller hasbeen taken over by Simón Coll in the meantime.Unfortunately Simón Coll doesn’t produce verygood chocolates and there are only a few exceptions under the brand Amatller. Chocovicwas taken over only recently by Barry Callebautand is no longer active with an own brand. Thereare only very few micro-batch manufacturers.Qualitatively rather more in the mediocre field,Blanxart wastes quite some potential.Spain is famous for its drinking chocolate whichis viscous through the addition of starch. Due tothe widespread cultivation of fruits and nuts in



Belgian confectionery was mainly achieved byfour manufacturers of mass products thoughclever marketing, not through the actually existingsmall and good confectioners.

Austria

ChocolateChocolate manufacture in Austria is relativelyrare. There is the company Manner, which manufactures industrial products, but with Zotter there is only one manufacturer of specialquality. This packs a punch and can take it upwith the best chocolates in the world.

Nougat & MarzipanSince 2010 Zotter has had some nougat varietieswhich are very recommendable and so would bethe only nougat manufacturer in Austria.

ConfectionerySimilar to Germany, Austrian confectionery doesnot play a role beyond its borders. Surprising isthe good reputation of Viennese confectionerycompanies such as Demel or Altmann & Kühne,as both process artificial flavorings. The style ofthe confectionery can, without doubt, be compared to the German style but also withFrench influence.

Switzerland

ChocolateThe worldwide fame of Swiss chocolate can surely also be attributed to the invention of theconche by the Swiss Rodolphe Lindt. The Swissmilk chocolate owes its glory to Daniel Peter,who may not have invented it, but had a decisiveshare in its popularity. He was already a successful manufacturer of a chocolate made ofcocoa beans, sugar and condensed milk back in1875. For a long time, his company, which merged with the manufacturer Kohler in 1904,in 1911 with Cailler and in 1929 with Nestlé, wasthe leading manufacturer of milk chocolate.Today, it is mainly the mass products which dominate the Swiss market. In addition toNestlé, the most widely known brands are Lindt& Sprüngli, Toblerone and Suchard. Barry Callebaut is also a Swiss enterprise, is howeverincorrectly classified as a Belgian company dueto the name “Callebaut.” In Switzerland there are only a few small



Panorama Zotter Manufactory Riegersburg, Austria

Zotter Manufactory in Shanghai, China




ConfectioneryConfectionery is also not a traditional product.For a long time, certain global players such asGodiva and Leonidas determined the market, bynow, however, there is at least one good or verygood confectioner in every larger city, such as,for example, William Dean, Michael Recchiuti orFran‘s, to quote only a few. There is also the factthat European manufacturers are exportingmore and more to the USA. The French style isalso preferred as model in the USA or one unites different styles. Confectionery from the small confectionersoften has only a short shelf life as fruits or fruitpulp are often processed.

Japan

ChocolateThe Japanese chocolate scene is shaped by imported goods. Foreign chocolatiers and confectioners enjoy a high reputation in Japan,in part comparable with true stars. As chocolatieror confectioner, it is not unusual that one holdsan autograph session during the Salon du

Chocolat just before Valentine’s Day. The Japanese (both men and women) love to get thepackaging signed and the joint photo is, ofcourse a highlight for every “fan.” Among thehigh-quality Japanese Bean-to-Bar chocolates,the brand 100%ChocolateCafe from Meiji enjoysa dominating position: innovative, creative andof high quality. These products can also holdtheir own against imported goods. AnotherBean-to-Bar manufacturer is Emily‘s Chocolate,which has only been producing since the beginning of 2011 and whose products are definitely interesting. Japanese consumers arevery critical, the packaging has to be aestheticas well. But once a Japanese likes something,his total devotion is focused on it.

Nougat & MarzipanNougat is also very popular in Japan, marzipanis also known in Japan due to the long traditionof German confectioners. Nonetheless, marzipanis not really a popular product and one can findit relatively seldom. Both is probably sold inJapan purely as imported article.

Spain, these ingredients are often processed inchocolate. The current trend of new Bean-to-Bar manufacturers is being completely ignored bythe Spaniards.

Nougat & MarzipanSpanish Turrón, and to a limited extent alsomarzipan, have a long tradition due to the abundant almond production. Turrón is alsobeing influenced more and more by modernconfectioner’s art so that companies such asLudomar have developed some new creations.

ConfectioneryConfectionery is also very popular in Spain, howeverthere is no typical Spanish confectionery. Rather,elements from different countries exert their influence.Enric Rovira and Oriol Balaguer show clear influences from France, Ludomar in comparison,more from Germany. The creative people aroundRovira and Balaguer, in particular in and aroundBarcelona, have successfully introduced andestablish the modern confectionery.

England

ChocolateEngland has hardly any tradition of chocolatemanufacture. The industrial concern Cadbury, acompany founded in 1824 in Birmingham with aturnover of by now 50 billion euro, shaped theEnglish market for a very long time. However,the new chocolate boom has also had its effecton England, so we have more and more smallmicro-batch manufacturers on the island, suchas for example Willie‘s Delectable, Duffy‘s orPump Street Bakery.

Nougat & MarzipanNougat is popular but is not, or only scarcely,produced in England itself. Marzipan doesn’tmeet the taste of the British and is hardly produced at all there.

ConfectioneryTraditionally, England has barely any good confectionery. Over the last years, numerouscreative confectioners have started to produce

good to very good confectionery: William Curley,Demarquette or Paul A. Young, to name just afew. The style is very similar to the French.

USA

Chocolate Over the last years, the United States have assuredly been the most innovative, most creativeand most progressive country. In the meantime,there are more Bean-to-Bar manufacturers in the US than in Europe. The companies ScharffenBerger, Amano, Taza, Rogue Chocolate, Theo,Mast Brothers, Patric Chocolates were only thebeginning of a true revolution. A new Bean-to-Bar company is being established nearly on aweekly basis. The trend towards raw chocolatecomes mainly from the USA. The market wasshaped by Hershey‘s, which can also explain thelove of sweet milk chocolate. In the meantimethere are, however, many lovers of dark chocolate. But E. Guittard and Ghirardelli are also companiesrich in tradition which produce good chocolate,where E. Guittard should here be definitelyhighlighted.

Nougat & MarzipanNougat and marzipan are not widespread, especially marzipan has a hard time in the USA.Nougat seems to be far more popular by now. Iam not aware of any countries which producenougat or marzipan. That’s why the productswhich are sold there are most likely imported.

Store of Paul A. Young in London Chocolate store and Illy-Espresso bar 2|beans in New York

ConfectioneryConfectionery is the most important chocolateproduct in Japan. Quite clearly, the French confectionery is the most popular version. TheSalon du Chocolat is probably headed to 80 % byFrench confectioners. But some Japanese colleagues do join in. They have perfectly understood how to not just copy the French confectionery, but also to develop it further. Ipersonally like to eat Japanese confectionery,especially since the Japanese understand farbetter how to process Japanese raw materialsand ingredients in confectionery according toEuropean tradition. Many Japanese confectioners have learnt theirtrade in France or have undergone further training there. The Japanese always processvery high quality raw materials, the choice of thechocolate is also made very thoughtfully. Here,the good confectioners prefer the products fromValrhona, Domori or Michel Cluizel.

The rest of the worldAcross the world there are more and moreBean-to-Bar manufacturers. No matter whether in Ecuador, Venezuela, Columbia orMadagascar. Over the last years, new Bean-to-Bar companies were established in many countries. Listing them all is impossible here. Many countries, which were not taken into consideration individually, have their own specialties. Nonetheless the listed countriesmust be highlighted due to the number of specialties, their prominence and popularity aswell as their market dominance.

The best chocolate in the worldIt is often said, the best chocolate comes fromthe country X, the best confectionery from country Y. These are often statements whichcannot be proven and which one should treatwith caution. Of course, such a comprehensivetasting as I have conducted can show a trend.But with chocolate and confectionery, I find ithard to highlight a single country as the world’sbest. Every country has a special character foritself and by now I like products from many different countries and from different manu-facturers. A generalization is absolutely notpossible.




Masato Asahi from Minimal Chocolate, Tokio, Japan with freshroasted Cacao-Nibs Production and Shop Bright Chocolate, Bright, Australia

The evaluation differentiates between the assessment of individual products (points system)and the overall performance of a company. Theaverage mark of all evaluated products does notnecessarily result in the overall evaluation of acompany. It takes “soft” factors, such as forexample, storage errors by the trader where themanufacturer cannot exert any major influence,or also obviously one-off quality deviations,into consideration and, where necessary, compensates them.The number of products in the range offered bya company also plays a not insignificant role,also frequency of the test possibility. In the caseof a low number of sample repeats, the assessment of the quality consistency is hardlypossible. The evaluation is then a little more reserved. The overall performance of a companyis not evaluated in points, but with the award ofzero to a maximum of six cocoa fruits.Companies with less than three evaluated chocolates or less than five evaluated types ofconfectionery do not receive, as opposed to thefirst issue, an evaluation of the overall performance.

The points system of the product evaluation

90–100 PointsA product evaluation at this level correspondsto a school mark of 1.0–1.5 (A to A-). Only

extraordinary products which distinguish themselves through special quality, creativityand uniqueness, receive such a high evaluation.

80–89 PointsA product evaluation at this level corresponds toa school mark of 1.5–2.0 (A- to B+). Especiallythe products with an evaluation between 85 and89 Points are excellent and sometimes show thepotential to jump into the top category.

70–79 PointsA product evaluation at this level corresponds toa school mark of 2.0–2.9 (B+ to B-). These products are of good quality and demonstratesound craftsmanship.

60–69 PointsA product evaluation at this level corresponds toa school mark of 3.0–3.9 (C+ to C-) and thereforethe average mediocrity. Products of this evaluation level lack sophistication and creativity.Possible are also slight deficiencies in the quality of the raw materials or processing. Ifthese products are reasonably priced, they aresuitable for fast consumption as a sweet for in-between.

50–59 PointsA product evaluation at this level corresponds toa school mark of 4.0–4.9 (D+ to D-) and indicatesfaulty products. These may be errors of craftsmanship or flavor.

Less than 50 PointsA product evaluation at this level corresponds toa school mark of 5 to 6 (E to F). These productsshow serious defects in quality, selection of theraw materials, the list of ingredients or processing. Products which contain artificial ornature-identical additives also often fall into thiscategory.

Evaluation of the overall performanceof the company

Extraordinary quality of all products. Extremelyrare to no deviations in the outstanding qualityof the products.

Excellent product quality, combined with anabove average high number of extraordinaryproducts. Very consistent, but in rare cases deviations in the quality level. Some of the companies in this evaluation show upward potential.

Very good product quality. Occasionally extra -ordinary or excellent articles but sometimes alsoonly mediocre qualities. Overall, these companiesshow a consistent performance.

Good product quality. Rarely extraordinary orexcellent qualities, but just as rarely badproducts in the range. The products lack a littlesophistication and creativity, overall theperformance is constant.

Mediocre product quality. Time and again alsogood but too often also bad products in therange. Often they are banal articles, of low inspiration, sophistication or creativity. Too oftenthe products are subject to quality fluctuations.

Frequently bad or faulty product quality. Thereis a lack of consistency, sometimes artificial ornature-identical ingredients are used. Withthese manufacturers, the difficulties alreadystart at the basis but some show the approachof a potential for manufacturing better qualitiesin part.

Out of the question and often inedible productquality, frequent use of artificial or nature-identicalingredients. The manufacturer shows little potential and aptitude for manufacturing betterproducts.

To be able to evaluate the overall performanceof a company, at least three chocolates or fivetypes of confectionery need to be tasted. A trendcan be detected to a limited extent from the evaluations of the individual products.


| Product and Company evaluation

PRODUCT AND COMPANY EVALUATION

| Product and Company evaluation


Billygoat Hennes, Mascot 1.FC Köln out of Chocolate, Salondu Chocolat Köln 2014


SHORT PORTRAIT

WAGNER PRALINENGermany (Brunsbüttel)www.wagner-pralinen.de

Processing stage: Couverture

Price category: EEE

The history of Wagner Pralinen began in the year 1891. Emil Wagner already maintained a fishery,a fish smokehouse and a delicatessen shop. His son Willy Wagner began with the production ofconfectionery in 1920. Reinhard Wagner senior went to Switzerland in 1953 to learn the art ofconfectionery production. Today, the company is managed by Reinhard and Jörg Wagner in thefourth generation. Wagner produces mainly confectionery, but for some years also flavoredchocolates.

| Wagner Pralinen | Weiss (Chocolaterie Weiss) | Wellington Chocolate Factory

Summary:The tasting was no fun and disappointment outweighs. Once more it also became clear that adepartment store is simply not a sales channel for confectionery. The premises are mostly notair-conditioned and the sensitive products suffer. The use of non-natural flavoring agents simplyhas no place in the trade of a confectioner and has a not insignificant share in the poor rating. Asso often, the confectionery lacks flavor and the chocolate is of simple quality. The fillings are oftenfatty-buttery and overall very sweet. All of that without finesse and creativity or subtlety.

WEISS (CHOCOLATERIE WEISS)France (Saint-Étienne)www.chocolat-weiss.fr

Processing stage: Bean-to-Bar

Price category: EEE

Eugène Weiss founded the Chocolaterie Weiss in 1882 in Saint Étienne. In 1907 Weiss began to producehis own chocolates straight from the bean. He was a pioneer with the production of chocolate andbegan to experiment with the different cocoa varieties at a very early stage. In 1926 he invented theCarré de chocolat, small, bite-size, individually wrapped, chocolate pieces. Eugène Weiss passed away

Product ratings

• Milk: Lait Entier 37 %Points: 67.,00Milky-creamy chocolate with pleasant melt, butsomewhat too sweet. With a subtle cocoacharacter and flavors of cream toffee, carameland honey.

• Flavored: Plaisir Sésame 35 %Points: 86.00Milk chocolate flavored with sesame. Fantasticsesame taste, surprisingly low sweetness andalso pleasant in the interaction with thesesame, with adequate cocoa character.

• Flavored: Ibaria 67 %Points: 74.75Dark chocolate flavored with aromatic candiedoranges, overall also not too sweet.

• Flavored: Noir Mendiant 64 %Points: 73.25Dark chocolateflavored withalmonds, hazelnuts,pistachios andraisins. All of thattastes good, even ifthe dark chocolatecould be a little morearomatic.

• Bar: Grand Praliné 72 %, Points: 66.50Dark chocolate filledwith nougat. Thestrong chocolate istoo dominant for thesubtle aromaticnougat.

• White: Violeta, Points: 59.05• White: Fragaria, Points: 52.88• Bar: Lemon-Ginger-Nibble, Points: 68.10• Bar: Blueberry-Nibble, Points: 52.00• Bar: Kir-Royal-Nibble, Points: 50.00

• Confectionery: Box Red Rose, Points: 59.69Varieties: Jamaica-Rum-Marzipan, Irish-Choco-Truffle, Vanilla-Truffle, Whisky-Cream-Liqueur,Prosecco-Truffle, Rum-Cream-Praliné, Mousseau Chocolat, Butter-Cream-Truffle, Almond-Butter-Truffle.

The following products were tested in the first issue:

in 1939 but the company remained in family ownership and has remained faithful to its heritage to thisday. The couvertures from the Chocolaterie Weiss are very popular with confectioners world-wide.

Summary:The quality of the products is not bad, but hardly any product makes it beyond a good mean average.Only the sesame chocolate can convince due to its fantastic sesame taste. Where, however, I doconsider the quality in 2015, compared to the quality in 2011, when I tried it for the first time, assomewhat better.

WELLINGTON CHOCOLATE FACTORYNew Zealand (Wellington)www.wcf.co.nz


Price category: EEEEE

The enterprise was already founded in 2010 by Rochelle Harrison and Gabe Davidson, the firstchocolates, however were presented to the public in 2013.Rochelle Harrison’s passion for chocolate was inspired by her 19-year activity as confectioner andpâtissier. Back in 2008 she began with research to be able to produce chocolate straight from the bean.


| Wellington Chocolate Factory | Wenschitz

Summary:The chocolates have turned out absolutely superbly and the company has mastered the leap intothe world-class of chocolate manufacturers with bravery. If the selection were a little broader andif one could sustain a certain continuity, Wellington Chocolate Factory would be the first candidatefor the accolade with six cocoa fruits. Even the current rating with five cocoa fruits and the veryconvincing individual ratings are a damned good start into the industry for a novice.

Gabe Davidson spent 13 years in Melbourne, Australia, where he founded several Cafés and a coffeeroastery. He returned to Wellington, to bring the new enterprise into being, together with RochelleHarrison. Both founders are passionately engaged in the hospitality industry and in the food industry.

WENSCHITZ

Product ratings

Confectionery Box MiniKonfektPoints: 74.70The confectionery contains flavorings and onecan taste that. Overall a sound and down-to-earth quality, which, however cannot enthuse.Individual ratings: • Knuspernougat: Points: 79.70Nougat with crispy biscuit in dark chocolate.Aromatic-crispy and not too sweet.

• Kirsche: Points: 77.50Dark fruity-tart ganache with cherry flavor indark chocolate. A little dry and crumbly, nottoo sweet.

• Marille: Points: 76.50Apricot ganache in dark chocolate. Ganache

is somewhat brittle and crumbly, fruity-acidicand with good flavor.

• Nougat hell: Points: 74.50Nougat in whole milk chocolate. Aromatic, butsomewhat too sweet.

• Nougat dark: Points: 71.50Nougat in dark Chocolate. Firm nougat, whichcould be more aromatic.

• Himbeere: Points: 68.50Ganache with raspberry in dark chocolate. Theganache is too tough for me and the flavor ofa too artificial impression.

• Dark: Pure Nacional Fortunato No. 4 68 %Points: 82.00Mild and subtly aromatic cocoa from Peru.With a very fine and clear melt. Slightly fruity-floral and subtly peaty.

Product ratings

• Dark: Peru Norandino 70 %Points: 94.40Produced with beans from the harvest of 2014.These are white Criollo cocoa beans of thevariety Piura. Mild and pleasantly tart with asomewhat slow full-bodied and fine melt. Verynicely balanced and with wonderful flavors ofapricots, honey and cashew kernels.

• Dark: Madagascar Somia (Åkesson)Plantation 70 %, Points: 92.60The beans are from the harvest of 2013. Mild-tart, with pleasant fruity acidity and with a finemelt. Very long lasting flavors, the fruitysweetness dominates in the finish. With flavorsof red berries and plums.

• Dark: Dominican Republic 70 %Points: 89.50Produced with beans from the harvest of 2013.In the beginning with a distinct (fruity) acidityand also astringent, tart to slightly bitter. Witha very fine and well balanced melt. Towardsthe middle and during the finish thesweetness increases and the flavors developvery nicely. With flavors of jam, citrus fruitsand earthy notes.

• Milk: Coconut Milk Chocolate 52 %Points: 88.50Strong vegan milk chocolate, which contains

coconut instead of milk powder and alsococonut sugar (from Java, Indonesia). With anintensive cocoa character and a good flavor ofcoconut. A somewhat softer consistency,cream, slightly sticky and with a somewhatrough mouthfeel. With flavors of cocoa,coconut, malt and caramel.

• Flavored: Salted Brittle Caramel 70 %Points: 85.40Dark chocolate flavored with sprinkled onsalted caramel sprinkles. The chocolate is ablend of various cocoa varieties and is just asexcellent as the pure chocolates. The caramelsprinkle harmonizes very well with the tartchocolate and also the salt can be tasteddistinctly.

Austria (Allhaming)www.wenschitz.at


Price category: EEE

The history of Wenschitz starts in 1890. The great grandfather of Helmut Wenschitz, KarlWienerroither, establishes a bakery in a farmhouse in Allhaming. In 1920 his son, also called Karlwith first name, continues the bakery.In 1956, Maria Wenschitz, nee Wienerroither, together with her husband Josef Wenschitz, operatestoday’s location in Allhaming as bakery.In 1990, Helmut Wenschitz, trained baker and master pâtissier opened a Cafe-Patisserie-Confectionery in Wels and started with the production of confectionery in Allhaming.That’s how far the company provides information on its Internet page, which I find rather scanty.I would also be interested to know Mr. Wenschitz’s qualification.With the mailing of the samples I also received a copy of an article from the Kronen Zeitung™(Austria’s Bild™ Zeitung, both yellow press newspapers ). This article states that Helmut Wenschitzas Austria‘s only “Maître Chocolatier” is permitted to process the finest cocoa bean in the worldfrom Peru to the finest chocolate. This happens to be the cocoa bean Fortunato No 4 from theMarañon Valley. There is absolutely no reference that Wenschitz doesn’t process the cocoa bean tochocolate but obtains the finished couvertures from Felchlin from Switzerland. On the contrary,everything is done to suggest to the reader that the company Wenschitz actually processes the rawcocoa bean to chocolate.I may react a lite sensitively on this subject but I find this behavior towards the manufacturers whoactually take the trouble to produce chocolate Bean-to-Bar, not correct. I consider this form ofcommunication as consumer deception and therefore as competitive distortion.


| Wenschitz | White Rabbit Cacao

• Bar: Sensual Seduction - Smoked WhiskeySingle Malt, Points: 76.40Dark and milk-striped chocolate, filled with awhiskey-ganache. Proper flavor, very niceconsistency, but somewhat too sweet.

• Bar: Fatal Attraction - Erdbeer Zitronenpfeffer,Points: 72.60Milk chocolate filled with fruity-acidicstrawberry ganache and with very subtleflavors of lemon pepper. Ganache producedwithout flavorings and with strawberry puree.

• Bar: Milky Lust - Cafe au laitPoints: 69.60Dark and milk chocolate, filled with a subtlearomatized coffee ganache. Soft-creamyfilling but which lacks coffee character.

• Bar: Moon Struck - Johannisbeer AcaiPoints: 68.00Too high chocolate content of a mediumquality. The ganache has a good flavor and isfruity-acidic.

• Bar: Choco Tiger - Orange ZartbitterPoints: 67.50Dark-orange-striped chocolate with a filling oforange-ganache. Flavored exclusively withflavorings, the chocolate has no fruit characterinstead a pungent flavor. Technically perfectlyproduced.

• Bar: Dancing Plum - Rum ZwetschkePoints: 66.80Dark and milk chocolate, filled with a puree ofplums and rum. Aromatizes with flavorings,pleasantly alcoholic.

• Bar: Natural Spirit - MacadamiaPoints: 65.00Filled with a too dry and flavor-flat macadamiacream. Overall also too sweet.

Summary:According to Helmut Wenschitz, the company processes couvertures from Valrhona, Felchlin andBarry Callebaut. Hereby it is noticeable that the expensive and good chocolates are not used forthe bars and the confectionery. Wenschitz prefers to use the more inexpensive couverture fromBarry Callebaut for these. The melodious names of Valrhona and Felchlin once again purely servemarketing purposes.

WHITE RABBIT CACAO

New Zealand (Bannockburn)www.whiterabbitcacao.co.nz


Price category: EEEE

In March 2009 Alison Holland and Matt Dicey started with very primitive equipment such as juicer,household coffee roaster, blow dryer and lentil grinder, with the production of Bean-to-Bar chocolates.They sold these chocolates for two summers on the Cromwell Farmers Market, before they decidedin 2011 to set up a small commercial production and sell their chocolates commercially.They converted their garage to a chocolate production and had this authorized by the Food Authority.They built the drum roaster from a chicken grill and the cocoa breaker from a storm water fittingand a vacuum cleaner.

Product ratings

• Dark: Dominican Republic 70 %Points: 84.80Subtly tart, only little acidity and with a nuanceof astringency. Fine and clear melt. Veryharmonious chocolate with flavors of ripeblackberries, honey, tropical citrus fruits andcaramel.

• Dark: Venezuela Mantuano 72 %Points: 83.20Very gentle chocolate. Slightly tart, hardly anyacidity or astringency. With a fine and fastmelt. With flavors of berries, stone fruits andsubtly spicy.

• Dark: Venezuela Ocumare 72 %Points: 80.30Strong chocolate, pleasantly tart, with distinctacidity and a hint of astringency. Fine and fastmelt. With flavors of plums, oranges andpeaches as well as slightly peaty.

• Dark: Costa Rica 70 %Points: 79.60Slightly acidic and with light astringency. Witha fine and clear melt. Flavors of raspberries,green olives and caramel.

Summary:The products have turned out well and are fun. One works with a lot of cocoa butter but at WhiteRabbit Cacao it doesn’t annoy. The young entrepreneurs have created themselves a good basis forthe future.


| Whittaker’s | Wiebold Confiserie | Wild Sweets® (By Dominique & Cindy Duby)

WHITTAKER‘S

New Zealand (Porirua)www.whittakersworldwide.com


Price category: EE

At the age of 14, J. H. Whittaker worked for a British confectioner and patissier. In 1890 he returnedto Christchurch, New Zealand, where he produced chocolate products at home and sold his goodsdoor to door on horseback and in a van. In 1896 he moved to Wellington, where he opened aproduction site for chocolate. In 1913 his sons Ronald and James became his partners and thecompany was renamed to J. H. Whittaker and Sons. The company started to supply resellers andgrew continuously. The company is still in the hands of the Whittaker family these days and ismanaged in the third generation by Andrew and Brian Whittaker.

Product ratings

• Dark: Dark Ghana 72 %, Points: 66.50Mild-tart and slightly bitter. With a fine and slow melt. One can distinctlytaste the added vanilla and only subtly the Ghana cocoa. With flavors ofvanilla, peat and tropical wood.

• Milk: Creamy Milk 33 %, Points: 67.00Milky-creamy with very little cocoa character. Heavy, full-bodied andgreasy-sticky melt. The sweetness is simply too dominant. With flavorsof cream toffee, malt and caramel.

• Bar: Peanut Butter 33 %, Points: 73.75Milk chocolate filled with peanut butter. Good flavor of the peanut butter,but the sweet chocolate makes the whole thing somewhat too sweet. Pai-red with the fatty peanut butter this is a mighty matter.

Summary:The industrially appearing chocolates are of ordinary but not bad quality. It is a mass product andis good as a carbohydrate supplier but a gourmet product it is definitely not. It doesn’t have to bebecause such sweets, honest and with a clean ingredients list, have to be around as well.

SHORT PORTRAIT

WIEBOLD CONFISERIEGermany (Elmshorn)www.wiebold.de


Price category: E

The enterprise Wiebold was founded in 1968. Due to the sudden death of his father, Walter WieboldJunior had to take over the family enterprise at the tender age of 25. Only a few years after thetake-over of the business, the company was put to a hard test. Within only a few months, severalmajor customers and with these, a not insignificant share of turnover were lost. Wiebold made avirtue of necessity. In the meantime, the main focus was no longer on the specialized trade, insteadon the manufacture of trademarks for the wholesale trade. Therefore, one could not count on beingrescued by the specialized trade. The company then took the opposite path and approached thediscounters.

• Confectionery: Box Spark of the Gods, Points: 57.67Varieties: Marc de Champagne, Brandy, Jamaica-Rum.

• Confectionery: Box Prali-Nova, Points: 55.00Varieties: Vanilla-Liqueur, Caramel-Coffee, Marc de Champagne.

• Confectionery: Box Master Pieces Points: 53.67Varieties: Orange Whisky, Cassis, Amaretto.


Summary:All tested products show significant shortcomings. The fillings are firm, sweet, not very harmoniousand badly flavored. As Wiebold products are almost not found in retail, I will leave the issue withthis brief description.

WILD SWEETS® (BY DOMINIQUE & CINDY DUBY)

Canada (Richmond)www.dcduby.com



Dominique and Cindy Duby, the founders and owners of Wild Sweets, learned their craft in suchrenowned establishments as Lenôtre in Paris and Wittamer in Brussels – and won many gold andsilver medals at international competitions.


| Wild Sweets® (By Dominique & Cindy Duby) | Wilkie’s Chocolate

The Dubys get their inspiration from nature. Their name, Wild Sweets, reflects their approach:fusion of the exotic and the familiar. They believe that everything can work until the opposite isproven. They let themselves be guided by science and have a major interest in scientific research with theaim of developing new techniques and applying them.They regard food as a form of art and also integrate various techniques such as thermoforming,stamping or airbrushing in their work.They use equipment which is not usual for the industry such as, e.g. a vacuum drying system. Thisis based on microwaves, to convert liquids such as wine to powder and so only loose a minimum offlavor. To extract chlorophyll they use high-speed centrifuges, which allows them to producearomatic oils. The couple is also the owner of DC DUBY Hospitality Services Inc. A company located in Vancouver,which offers culinary training and world-wide consulting as well as marketing services, productdevelopment, food styling and food photography. Together they have already written several books,the first two having each won the “Best of the World” Award from Gourmand World CookbookAwards.

Product ratings

Confectionery Box House SelectionPoints: 87.86Individual ratings: • Passion Pate de Fruit & Walnut Praliné,Points: 93.10Semi-liquid passion fruit jelly on walnutnougat in dark chocolate. Fruity-acidic andaromatic jelly on a very aromatic and alsocrunchy nougat.

• Vanilla Bean Ganache & Hazelnut PralinéCream, Points: 92.60Dark and soft ganache of vanilla on a hazelnutnougat cream in dark chocolate. Very finemelting ganache, aromatic and soft-creamyon an aromatic hazelnut nougat cream.

• Passion Ganache & Hazelnut Praliné Cream,Points: 92.10Dark passion fruit ganache on a dark hazelnutnougat cream in dark chocolate. Fruity-acidic,aromatic and soft-creamy with fine melt.

• Raspberry Ganache & Hazelnut PralinéCream, Points: 89.90Dark raspberry ganache on hazelnut cream indark chocolate. Soft-creamy, tart and aromatic.

• Mango Pate de Fruit & Coconut Praliné,Points: 89.10Mango jelly on coconut nougat in dark chocolate.

Fruity-aromatic jelly on a tasty coconut nougatwith coconut flakes. Pleasant consistency andnot too sweet.

• Hazelnut Ganache & Hazelnut PralinéCream, Points: 89.00Dark hazelnut ganache in dark chocolate.Soft-creamy with pronounced hazelnut flavor.Lightly tart and tasty.

• Apricot Soft Caramel & Whipped ChocolateCream, Points: 88.00Semi-liquid apricot caramel on white chocolatemousse in dark chocolate. Good caramel andapricot flavor but somewhat too sweet whitemousse, which is, however, airy-creamy.

• Red Berry Soft Caramel & Whipped ChocolateCream, Points: 87.80Twice-filled confectionery with caramel of redberries and a white cream in dark chocolate.

Semi-liquid fruit caramel and soft-creamyganache. Somewhat too subtly fruity, but goodcaramel taste. The ganache is creamy butsomewhat taste-neutral.

• Coffee Ganache & Hazelnut Praliné Cream,Points: 87.20Dark coffee ganache on a dark hazelnut nougatcream in dark chocolate. Soft-creamy, slightlytart and pleasantly aromatic.

• Almond Black Pepper Praliné & Pate deTruffe, Points: 87.20Almond and black pepper nougat on trufflepaste in dark chocolate. Crunchy and aromaticnougat with a subtle flavor of the pepper.

• Caramel Ganache & Hazelnut PralinéCream, Points: 86.00Dark caramel ganache on a dark hazelnutnougat cream in dark chocolate. Subtlecaramel taste, mellow and with a soft-creamyconsistency.

• Coconut Sweet Curry Praliné & Pate deTruffe, Points: 84.00Coconut curry nougat on a truffle paste indark chocolate. Intensive curry flavor and asomewhat subtle coconut taste.

• Flavored: Milk Chocolate Fleur de Sel,Points: 88.10Dark milk chocolate produced with Hispaniolacocoa beans from the cooperative "La Red"from the Dominican Republic and a caramelof cane sugar. Flavored with nuts, coffee andwith sprinkled on salt. Milky-creamy and witha good cocoa character, not too sweet andslightly tart. One can taste the salt veryintensively, it is harmonious with the chocolate.Very fine and good melt. Unfortunately withoutspecification of the cocoa solids.

Summary:What the couple Duby offers is confectionery art in the highest form. All varieties are of a stunningdelicacy, the quality is absolute world class. The ideas are manifold, and the confectionery has anown identity which cannot be compared to any other manufacturer. A very exciting collection and Iam already looking forward to the next collection from Wild Sweets.

WILKIE’S CHOCOLATE

Ireland (Midleton)www.wilkieschocolate.ie



Shana Wilkie attended a few courses where hand-made confectionery was produced. That arousedher interest to find out more about chocolate.Even while she was working as a graphic designer, she spent several years with researching andtesting different cocoa beans. When her employer closed down the business in 2011, she used theopportunity to dedicate herself to a new task.

Product ratings

• Dark: Amazonas 89 %Points: 84.70Strong and tart-bitter. One can immediatelytaste the freshness of the beans. With a veryfull-bodied and soft melt. With flavors offermentation, green grass, red fruits andsome peat.

• Dark: Tumbes 75 %Points: 83.50Produced with cocoa beans from the regionTumbes in Peru. Very mild and gently roastedcocoa beans. One can immediately taste theflavors of tropical fruits, some peat accompaniedby nuances of mild spices.

• Dark: Amazonas 75 %Points: 83.20Produced with beans from the Amazon region.Relatively aggressive taste which, however,does not annoy, instead it arouses interest.The chocolate occupies the palate with force.Definitely not for wimps. Pleasantly fruity, withnuances of coffee and tobacco.

• Flavored: Amazonas 75 % with Cocoa NibsPoints: 90.90An extremely tasteful chocolate withunbelievably many sprinkled on cocoa nibs.The nibs are perfectly roasted and thechocolate, as opposed to the pure version, farless aggressive. The fruity flavors are distinctlyin the foreground.


| Wilkie’s Chocolate

At home in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, she began with the manufacture of chocolate but then returnedto her hometown, to Midleton, Cork, so that her family could support her with setting up thecompany.In 2012 the time had come, the first chocolates were marketed and the success of the productswas not long in coming.

| William Dean Chocolates

Summary:A successful debut into the world of the Bean-to-Bar chocolates. Most assuredly there are stillsome things which can improve. But for such a young enterprise a remarkable achievement. Forme, the tasting was a lot of fun, even if not everything was perfect.

WILLIAM DEAN CHOCOLATES

USA (Largo, FL)www.williamdeanchocolates.com



Full of expectation I traveled to the Chocolate Show in New York in November 2010. Full of expectation,because I had hoped that I could visit the fair booths of renowned manufacturers such Amano,Dagoba or Scharffen Berger and new stars in the chocolate sky such as Askinosie, Patric or Taza.Nothing of the kind – none of the stated companies presented themselves at the Chocolate Show.Nonetheless, I was able to find the one or other interesting manufacturer. The biggest discovery,without doubt, was William Dean Chocolates. The confectionery is colorful and elegant. The nicegentleman at the booth was extremely forthcoming with information, there was a concrete answerto every question.William Dean Chocolates was founded in 2007 by William Dean Brown, officially, however, productsales didn’t start until 2008. The company is named after the father (William) and grandfather (Dean)of the founder who originally comes from the IT sector. The founding of a confectionery comes fromhis hobby. During his IT work, he already produced handmade truffles for his employees as amotivation aid. Before his independence as confectioner, he learnt for two years with masers ofconfectionery such as, e.g. Jean-Pierre Wybauw, Stephane Glacier, Andrew Shotts, Vincent Pilonand Ewald Notter. For his products, William Dean processes mainly chocolate from the Frenchmanufacturer Valrhona, who produces a chocolate with 64 % cocoa solids especially for him.

Product ratings

Confectionery Box House SelectionPoints: 90.18Individual ratings: • Earl Grey, Points: 91.40Dark tea ganache with a lemon-vanilla jelly ontop in milk chocolate. Very good tea flavor,soft-creamy ganache, which is not too sweet.The semi-liquid jelly is very aromatic anddelicate.

• Port with Fig and Plum, Points: 91.20Light ganache with port wine figs, plums,brown sugar, honey and cinnamon in milkchocolate. Quite a potpourri, which, however,works very well. Very aromatic, soft-creamy,not too alcoholic.

• Peanut Butter Krunch, Points: 91.00Nougat of peanut butter in milk chocolate.Aromatic nougat with crunchy caramelizedpeanuts and slightly salted.

• Salted Caramel, Points: 88.70Salted, semi-liquid caramel in dark chocolate.Pleasant consistency, not too sweet and withwell-dosed Fleur de Sel.

• Passion Fruit, Points: 88.50Fruity-acidic yellow ganache of passion fruitin white chocolate. Soft-creamy, aromatic andnot too sweet.


• Pistachio, Points: 88.40Soft and aromatic pistachio marzipan encasedby dark chocolate. Juicy marzipan, not toosweet and harmonious.

• Dulce de Leche, Points: 87.10Ganache of caramelized white chocolate andvanilla in dark chocolate. Tastes very similarto the original dessert. Soft-creamy with theDulce-de-Leche taste and due to the darkchocolate also not too sweet.

• Mexican Mango, Points: 86.00Two-layer filling, dark lime ganache andmango jelly with chili salt, encased by darkchocolate. Tastes distinctly of mango, has aslight heat and is subtly salty. Soft-creamyganache.

• Coffee Caramel, Points: 83.00Semi-liquid coffee caramel in dark chocolate.Good caramel flavor and also not too sweetbut somewhat too subtle coffee flavor.

• Hazelnut, Points: 82.50Hazelnut ganache with pastry pieces encasedby milk chocolate. Good hazelnut flavor, soft-creamy and not too sweet. Unfortunately, thepastry pieces have softened due to the moisturein the ganache.

• Flavored: Fruit & FilbertsPoints: 95.10Dark chocolate flavored with caramelizedhazelnuts, very tasty raisins (Golden Raisins)and fruity cherries. Extremely tasty combinationwith fine dark Valrhona chocolate.

• Flavored: Berries & PistachioPoints: 85.30Dark chocolate flavored with pistachios,cherries and cranberries. Tastes nutty-fruityand harmonious.

| Willie’s Delectable Cacao | Willie’s Delectable Cacao

Summary:Airbrushing is one of William Dean’s hobbies and so it’s a good thing that he can integrate this intohis work as a confectioner. Visually, the confectionery is on par with the flavor class. The confectionerydeserves nothing less than the distinction “World class,” even if two varieties could not quiteconvince this time. Actually, I don’t like confectionery so much which is produced in molds. However,William Dean masters his craft so well that this doesn’t bother me with his products.

WILLIE’S DELECTABLE CACAO

England (Uffculme, Devon)www.williescacao.com



William Harcourt-Cooze compiled a small chocolate museum in Uffculme, Devon, located in theSouth-West of England. With the machines which stem from the time around 1920 he producedchocolates straight from the bean here. Willie Harcourt-Cooze consciously decided in favor of these

Product ratings

• Dark: Madagascan 71 %Points: 86.50Tart-acidic and also very slightly astringent.With a somewhat bumpy and rough melt. Withflavors of red berries and tropical citrus fruits.

• Dark: Colombian Gold 88 %Points: 81.70Strong-tart, without turning bitter and with aslight, pleasant astringency. With fine flavorsof fruits and slight spice. The melt is full-bodied and clear. With flavors of cherries,plums and spices.

• Dark: Peruvian San Martin 70 %Points: 80.10Powerfully tart and slightly astringent. Withpleasant fruit taste and subtle spiciness. Themelt is not quite as nice as it is somewhatsandy. With flavors of tropical fruits and spices.

• Dark: Venezuelan 72 %, Hacienda LasTrincheras, Points: 75.50Mild-tart, dry and with strong roasting. Themelt is rough-sandy and somewhat bumpy.With flavors of nuts (almonds, macadamia,pistachios), dried apricots and bananas.

• Dark: Indonesian 69 %Points: 60.00Tart and slightly bitter, but at the same time

also mellow. Astringent, acidic and with anintensive taste of smoked cocoa beans. Hastoo much of everything, which l don’t like inchocolate. A flavor profile is not possible dueto the strong smoked flavor.

• Flavored: Ginger LimePoints: 83.30 Slightly acidic chocolate with 70% cocoa so-lids, which, however harmonizes well with thecandied ginger and lime oil. Not too bitter andwith pleasant melt.

old, small and slow-working machines, which are supposed to guarantee a gentle processing ofthe cocoa beans. It wasn’t until 2008 that he started with the production of 100 % chocolates, in2009 followed the varieties with a lower cocoa solids. He obtains his cocoa beans directly from theplantations. Willie Harcourt-Cooze himself owns the plantation El Tesoro in Venezuela. Twelve yearsago, he already cultivated new cocoa plants there, so that he can now harvest and process thefruits.

Summary:The quality of the chocolate has improved and I like the products, bar a few exceptions. It is definitelyworth trying further varieties. A further improvement is quite realistic and likely, due to the existingpotential.


| Wittamer | Wonder Chocolate (Big Tree Farms) | Woodblock Chocolate

Belgium (Brussels)www.wittamer.com



“La Maison Wittamer” was founded by Henri Wittamer back in 1910. Wittamer is a Pâtissier-Confectioner, who, apart from confectionery, also makes other specialties such as macarons, cakesand pastries. In addition, Wittamer also produces savory items and manages a successful cateringbusiness. Today, the business is managed by the siblings Paul and Myriam Wittamer. Paul Wittameris responsible for the sweet side of the business, Myriam is responsible for the delicatessen section.Wittamer is “Fournisseur Officiel de la Cour de Belgique” and Member of the “Association RelaisDesserts.” Outside of Belgium, Wittamer is very successful in particular in Japan.

Product ratings

• Dark: 73 %, Points: 76.70Despite high cocoa solids relatively mild, but with some astringency.With a pretty slow but good melt. With flavors of tropical fruits, nuts andcoconut, slightly smoky.

• Dark: 61 %, Points: 76.50Mild, slightly tart and slightly fruity-acidic as well as somewhatastringent. Fine and full-bodied melt. With flavors of tropical fruits,grass, peat and spices.

• Flavored: Sea Salt & Sweet Nibs 73 %, Points: 78.25Dark chocolate flavored with sea salt and cocoa nibs. Very well dosedsalt and crunchy-aromatic cocoa-nibs. A harmonious chocolate.Summary:

Even if the confectionery has more of a typically French character, it is overall too banal and someof the varieties cannot be distinguished when tasted. The confectionery lacks flavor and finesse.Wittamer does not use a particularly good chocolate and the nougat is also more of an averagestandard quality. One can taste that quite clearly. It was once again very annoying that there wasno ingredients list, no weight specification and no best-before date to be found on the box.

SHORT PORTRAIT

WITTAMER

• Confectionery: House Selection, Points: 59.78Varieties: Pavé de Bruxelles Lait, Mandarin, Coeur Framboise, Coffee, Cinnamon-Nougat,unknown, Coffee-Caramel, Exquis Noir, unknown.


WONDER CHOCOLATE (BIG TREE FARMS)

Indonesia (Bali)www.bigtreefarms.com

Processing stage: Bean-to-Bar & Raw Chocolate


The enterprise was already founded in July 2003 by Ben and Blair Ripple. Today, the company ismanaged by the dynamic duo Ben Ripple and Frederick Schilling, who is partner of the company inthe meantime. Ben Ripple is an expert in sustainability and ethics, Frederick Schilling, founder ofDagoba and Amma Chocolate, the chocolate expert.

Big Tree Farms has developed from an exporter of cocoa, coconut blossom nectar and pulverizedcoconut water from Bali to a supplier of a broad range of cocoa products and coconut blossomnectar. Not quite as old is the production of Raw Chocolate straight from the bean. According tothe company, Big Tree Farms is one of the first enterprises which is actually in a position to cold-presscocoa butter and cocoa powder. The company’s headquarters and production is housed in theprobably biggest commercial bamboo house, the “Bamboo Cathedral.”

Summary:All chocolates were produced with cold processed cocoa beans and cold pressed cocoa butter aswell as coconut blossom nectar. The chocolates have turned out well and for Raw Chocolateabsolutely edible. Yet I don’t see much more potential in such products for any manufacturer, noteven with Big Tree Farms.

WOODBLOCK CHOCOLATE

USA (Portland)www.woodblockchocolate.com



In June 2010, the couple Jessica and Charley Wheelock started in their kitchen with the productionof their first own chocolates straight from the bean. For almost two years they produced in theirhome kitchen and it wasn’t until March 2012 that they set up a small external production. In October2014 an own salesroom was added.


| Woodblock Chocolate | Xocolat Manufaktur

Summary:The products are of an above average quality, even if there are the occasional small dropouts aswith the Ocumare. The fineness could be somewhat better but overall I like what Woodblockproduces. I am quite sure that there will be further quality improvements with this company aswell.

XOCOLAT MANUFAKTUR

Austria (Vienna)www.xocolat.at



Vienna is known as the city of sweet delights, where, of course one can discuss how good atraditional Sachertorte or a Mozartkugel really is. Since 2001, however, Vienna has a very specialattraction: one of the best chocolate specialty shops in the world. In the arcade of the Palais Ferstelin Vienna’s inner city an extensive range of chocolate products is on offer on by now 150 squaremeters floor space. The owner, Mrs. Ramona Mahr is a pioneer in matters of chocolate. Sheidentified the potential long before the boom of fine chocolate products. By now there are severalbranches, including one each in Baden and in Linz.In February 2011 her husband Werner Meisinger opened the transparent/glass ManufakturXocolat/Xocolat Manufaktur in Vienna in the Servitengasse. Together with the Austrian chefChristian Petz he started producing confectionery. In the meantime, Christian Petz is no longer onboard, the Manufaktur, however, continues to diligently produce confectionery and many otherspecialties under new management.

Charley and Jessica got to know each other in New York while restoring antiques. While Jessicaworked for Marina Stewart, Charley did his Master’s Degree in industrial design at the Pratt Instituteand then started the enterprise Kapow Design. He designed and produced furniture and otherproducts.Before the actual pouring as finished chocolate, Charley, who is also the Chef Chocolatier at Wood-block, allows the chocolate to age.

Product ratings

• Dark: Madagascar 70 %Points: 92.80Mildly tart with slightly fruity acidity. Slow butgood melt, which is a little rough, however.With flavors of citrus fruits, red berries andslightly spicy.

• Dark: Peru Cajamarca 70 %Points: 84.70Strong in taste, slightly bitter, with controlledacidity and distinct astringency. Slow andpleasant melt. With flavors of freshfermentation, tropical citrus fruits, vanillaand Tonka beans.

• Dark: Trinidad Gran Couva 70 %Points: 78.30Mildly tart with subtle acidity and even less

astringency. Very slow melt, which is alsosomewhat rough. With flavors of grapefruit,dates, vanilla and slightly peaty.

• Dark: Venezuela Ocumare 70 %Points: 75.70One can taste a strong astringency right at thebeginning. A somewhat aggressive, slightlyfruity-acidic chocolate with good melt. Withflavors of licorice, peat and herbs.

• Flavored: Salt & Nibs 70 %Points: 78.90For Ecuador a very astringent and tartchocolate. Besides cocoa and sugar only Fleurde Sel and cocoa nibs in the ingredients list.Somewhat rough melt, with floral flavors andpleasantly salted. Contains many crunchy andaromatic cocoa nibs.

Product ratings

• Flavored: Marca Privada Robusto RumPoints: 82.70Aromatic dark rum ganache in the shape of acigar. Very pleasant consistency, even if the“cigar” is very fragile.

• Flavored: Maracuja in dunkler SchokoladePoints: 75.90Very fruity-acidic passion fruit crisp in asomewhat smoky and peaty dark chocolate.The passion fruit pieces are very aromatic, thedark chocolate with an unconventional andvery intensive flavor. This matches only to alimited extent with regard to the taste andresults in a pretty inharmonious product.

• Flavored: Feinste Haselnüsse mit CriolloOcumare, Points: 74.60Whole hazelnuts in dark Ocumare chocolate.The nuts are subtly aromatic. The smoky darkchocolate is far too intense for the subtlehazelnut flavor and both together are notparticularly harmonious and also not verytasty.

• Flavored: Marca Privada Robusto WhiskyPoints: 75.80Dark ganache of peaty whisky (LagavulinSingle Malt 16 yo was used) in the shape of acigar. For me hopelessly over-flavored. Apartfrom the whisky one can taste … nothing. Toproduce such a product doesn’t need muchartistry, because the whisky has a verypungent taste and can always be tasted in aGanache. Very nice soft-creamy consistency ofthe ganache.

• Flavored: Marca Privada Robusto NussPoints: 74.50Very sweet nougat, too subtle in flavor, in theshape of a cigar. Also contains tobacco oilwhich, however, cannot be tasted.

• Confectionery: OcumarePoints: 81.50Dark ganache of Ocumare chocolate. Subtlytart, somewhat too sweet, yet still good intaste. Soft-creamy and full-bodied consistency.


| Xocolatl de David | Xocolatl de David

• Confectionery: WaldhonigPoints: 74.90Light ganache in milk chocolate with somehoney taste. Relatively sweet, which, however,can hardly be avoided with a honey ganache.The flavor of honey is there but could be moreintense. Pleasant soft-creamy consistency.

• Confectionery: OrangePoints: 74.30Ganache with orange oil in dark chocolate.Tastes somewhat of orange, but has no fruitcharacter. The chocolate casing is much toothick, so that the dark chocolate forms thetaste focus. Soft-creamy consistency.

• Confectionery: MinzePoints: 67.50White ganache in dark chocolate. Much toosweet as it is decorated with sugar crystals allaround the outside. The mint taste is toosubtle and the white filling makes the wholething unnecessarily sweet.

• Confectionery: KürbiskernPoints: 64.50Yellow filling in white chocolate. The filling hasno character, flavor or taste of pumpkin seeds.I would have expected an olive green filling,instead it is yellow and fairly flavor-flat, sweetand with a too firm consistency.

Summary:The products can awaken my interest only to a limited extent as these do not correspond to mynotion of harmony. Again and again one can discover professional faults and one of the focal pointswhen developing the products seems to be gimmickry (Extremely peaty whisky or also tobacco oilin the products).

XOCOLATL DE DAVIDUSA (Portland, OR)www.xocolatldedavid.com



Owner and Chef Chocolatier of Xocolatl de David is David Briggs. Grown up in San Francisco Bay,he spent a part of his childhood in California, Australia and Singapore. His childhood and its culinaryinfluences were shaped by this.

At the University of Oregon in Eugene he graduated in 1999 with a degree in Exercise and HumanMovement Science. In 2002 he enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park in NewYork. After his graduation, he worked with Scott Dolich in the Park Kitchen in Portland, where hewas Sous Chef from 2007 to May 2009. Xocolatl de David started informally and unintentionally in2005. It was only in 2009 that David Briggs decided to make his former side project his regularoccupation. In addition to filled chocolates his range also includes confectionery.

Product ratings

• Flavored: Brown Butter Crunch 72 %Points: 81.00Dark chocolate of Ecuador cocoa flavored withcrunchy Crêpe Dentelle and brown butter. Verystrong cocoa note, tart and also slightly bitter.There is plenty crunchy pastry and the buttercan also be tasted distinctly

• Flavored: Piment d' Espelette 74 % Dominican Republic, Points: 80.60Dark chocolate flavored with Piment d' Espeletteand Fleur de Sel. Slightly hot, with goodpimento flavor and pleasantly salted.

• Flavored: Foie Gras 68 %Points: 73.00Dark chocolate of Bolivia cocoa flavored withfoie gras and Fleur de Sel. Strongly chocolaty,mild and pleasantly tart. The foie gras hasbeen mixed into the chocolate and can only betasted subtly. Which suffices completely.

• Flavored: Almond & Pimentòn 68 % BoliviaPoints: 72.80Dark chocolate flavored with Marcona almondsroasted in olive oil and salted. Somewhat weakin flavor, slightly smoked and quite tart.Interesting but overall there is some lack ofharmony.

• Bar: Sourdough & Olive Oil 68 %Points: 83.10Dark chocolate of Bolivia cocoa flavored withsour dough bread, olive oil and Fleur de Sel.Strongly chocolaty and richly flavored withbread. One can distinctly taste the bread andsalt, yet the olive oil is quite subtle.

• Bar: Raleigh BarPoints: 79.00Bar with pecan, nougat, bacon and caramel.The whole thing in two layers and encased bymilk chocolate. Tastes intensively of bacon,not much of nougat and pecan, somewhat ofcaramel. Is too intensively porky for me, but itdoes taste of what is written on it.

• Bar: Salted Caramel 72 % EcuadorPoints: 67.00Chocolate filled with salted caramel. Strangeconsistency of the caramel, which is salted toosubtly. The chocolate doesn’t have enoughfilling and overall the whole thing is tooinharmonious.


| Yoroizuka (Toshi Yoroizuka - Cacao Farm)

Summary:Overall, the products have turned out well. The creations are unconventional and partly very exotic.Who needs a chocolate with foie gras? Apart from the subject of animal abuse (which is definitelyout of place here), I find the taste of this chocolate very borderline.

| Young (Paul A. Young)

Product ratingsThe tested box is an experimental product. ToshiYoroizuka produce three different dark chocolateswith the same parameters and only varied theroasting times.

• Dark: 5 minPoints: 75.50Aggressive chocolate with lots of acidity, apronounced bitterness and a very intensiveastringency. Extremely fine and slow melt,which is almost perfect. With flavors of freshand subtly roasted cocoa beans. Slightly fruity-nutty and also floral.

• Dark: 10 minPoints: 82.10Similar to the 5 min, but a little less ofeverything. The sweetness comes more to thefore and the nutty-floral flavors are fine andsomewhat more pronounced.

• Dark: 15 minPoints: 83.50The 15 min is still an aggressive chocolatewith plenty of acidity and astringency, butmore modestly. Aromatically it continues toremind of fresh roasted cocoa beans andfermentation. Apart from that, the nutty-spicyflavors are well pronounced.

Summary:A very interesting experiment, which will surely help the consumer to understand how great theinfluence of roasting is on the end result of the chocolate. I would definitely like to taste furtherchocolates from Toshi Yoroizuka.

YOROIZUKA (TOSHI YOROIZUKA - CACAO FARM)

Japan (Tokyo)www.grand-patissier.info

Processing stage: Couverture & Bean-to-Bar


For eight years Toshihiko Yoroizuka had worked inEurope and learnt much about chocolate and patisserieproducts. Then he returned to Japan to open his ownshop in Ebisu, Tokyo.In 2010 he bought a small cocoa farm in Ecuador andin 2011 a patisserie and a restaurant were opened onthe peak of Mt. Ishigaki in Odawara. In the KanagawaPrefecture he also operates a farm where he cultivatesfruit and vegetables. In 2014 he exported the firstcocoa beans from his own island to produce chocolatestraight from the bean with these.

YOUNG (PAUL A. YOUNG)

England (London)www.paulayoung.co.uk



Paul A. Young is one of the stars in England and darling of the British press. The confectioner andPâtissier born in Yorkshire, who actually completed training in Hotel Catering and Management,worked in diverse restaurants of the renowned chef Marco Pierre White and was Chef Pâtissier inthe restaurant Quo Vadis in London’s Soho. He worked as product developer for Marks & Spencerand Sainsbury‘s, two major department store chains. Together with his business partner JamesCronin he opened his first shop in London in 2006, in the meantime there are four branches. Youngis often present on TV and also writes books. One of his books received the “World’s Best ChocolateBook Award.”

Product ratings

• Confectionery: KalamansiPoints: 83.20Light, subtle yellow cream ganache withkalamansi in dark chocolate. Fruity and subtlyacidic, aromatic and not too sweet. Soft-creamyconsistency.

• Confectionery: Sea Salt CaramelPoints: 82.30Semi-liquid sea salt caramel encased bydark chocolate. Well dosed salt, somewhat toosubtle flavor of caramel, but overall harmonious.

• Confectionery: Passion FruitPoints: 79.00White-yellow passion fruit ganache. Refreshing,fruity, aromatic. Somewhat rough mouthfeelyet by all means soft and creamy.


| Young (Paul A. Young) | Zaabär | Zokoko

Summary:That Paul A. Young is so highly praised and celebrated is very amazing. Entering his shop is alreadydisturbing. The unfriendly and bored looking shop assistant already turns one off before one haseven had a look around. That the confectionery is displayed openly and without any protection rightin the middle of the shop almost disgusts one. It’s no wonder then that all varieties had the sameperfume-like taste. At Paul A. Young there is definitely the one or other good confectionery, but themiddling to average outweighs. The whole peaks in an inedible and really bad cigar truffle. As I amused to at least good confectionery from him, I rate this tasting, at least in a certain scope, as agaffe. That’s why it stays with the rating of four cocoa fruits (on probation). For the open presentationof the confectionery, however, where anyone can spit or sneeze on it, there is no excuse and it shouldbe changed expressly. Both for reasons of hygiene and quality.

• Confectionery: RaspberryPoints: 76.80Dark and slightly reddish raspberry ganachein dark chocolate. Slightly fruity and alsoaromatic, with subtle acidity. Raspberry can betasted nicely. Soft-creamy consistency.

• Confectionery: Chipotle Molasses CaramelPoints: 75.70Chili caramel from molasses in dark chocolate.Soft consistency, subtly hot and little aromatic.

• Confectionery: Pumpkin PiePoints: 74.00Light pumpkin ganache in milk chocolate. Onecan taste the pumpkin and there are alsocrunchy pieces in it. Soft but also roughconsistency, which is somewhat creamy.

• Confectionery: Lemon CheesecakePoints: 71.00White lemon cheese ganache with a biscuit,encased by dark chocolate. The ganache issomewhat mighty and little aromatic. Neither

the lemon nor the cheese can be tasted dis-tinctly. The consistency is quite firm and littlecreamy. The biscuit is very dry and crumbly.

• Confectionery: Slow Roasted GarlicPoints: 70.00Dark ganache with roasted garlic encased bydark chocolate. Subtle taste of the garlic, butespecially with this confectionery one cantaste the unpleasant flavor of the chocolate onthe outside. Soft-creamy consistency.

• Confectionery: Cigar LeafPoints: 46.00Light ganache, which was produced with aninfusion of cigar leaves, encased by darkchocolate. Extremely burning and stingingtaste, where the only thing one can do is toswallow quickly and spit out the whole lot.Extravagant, curious and… of very bad taste.

Belgium (Brussels)www.zaabar.be



Zaabär was founded in 2007 by François-Jean Decarpentrie (see also Café-Tasse) in Brussels. Thename “Zaabär” is inspired by the Istanbul Bazaar and is intended to represent the company’sconcept of combining Belgian chocolate with spices from all over the world.

SHORT PORTRAIT

ZAABÄR

• White: Klassic Blanc Pistaches, Points: 77.75• White: Curry de Madras, Points: 75.75• Flavored: Chili Pepper du Texas, Points: 64.00• Flavored: Gingembre de Goa, Points: 64.00• Flavored: Klassic Lait Nougatine, Points: 63.50• Flavored: Citronelle du Sri Lanka, Points: 62.00• Flavored: Klassic Lait Noisettes, Points: 61.50• Flavored: Klassic Noir Amandes, Points: 55.00• Confectionery: Box Reglette 5 Truffes, Points: 21.00Varieties: Menthe Brisures de Violette, Cannelle Speculoos, Banane Brisures de Mimosa,Orange Sésame, Classique Cacao


Summary:Zaabär is creative, no question about that and the design has definitely turned out well. Unfortunately,the products all the less so. There are two good products, but in general, all products suffer fromthe banal chocolate and are rarely harmonious. The confectionery is absolutely unworthy of discussion. Firm fillings, flat in flavor and taste, encasedby cheap chocolate. It should also not go unmentioned that the confectionery was sold with a contentof 100 g but the package only contained 78 g. During my visit to the Zaabär store, I unfortunatelyalso noticed a lack of hygiene.

ZOKOKOAustralia (Emu Heights)www.zokoko.com



Michelle Morgan, mother of three young daughters, dreamt of an own Bean-to-Bar chocolatemanufacture since 2004. Together with her husband Dean she travelled through Central America,visited coffee farms and cooperatives and fell in love with the cocoa growing wild along the Caribbean


| Zokoko

Product ratings

• Dark: Tranquilidad 72 %Points: 90.20Cocoa from Bolivia from the Chocolatales(forest island) of the German Volker Lehmann,who also discovered the wild cocoa beans ofAlto Beni. Very mild and pleasantly tart. Witha very fine and slow melt. With flavors of driedfruits, honey and herbs.

• Dark: New Queensland 68 %Points: 84.50I received samples from the productdevelopment of the first single originchocolate produced with Australian cocoafrom North Queensland in January 2011.Pleasant flavor, subtle and pleasantly bitter,very good melt. With flavors of ripe fruits andpeat.

• Dark: Alto Beni 68 %Points: 81.50Bolivian cocoa from the Alto Beni region. Mild-tart and slightly bitter-acidic. With a very fine

and slow melt, favored by the addition of soya-lecithin. With flavors of citrus fruits and honey.

• Dark: Tokiala 66 %Points: 79.10Mild-tart, slightly acidic and with a fine melt.Even if the chocolate tastes slightly smokedtowards the end, this is not very bothersome,yet a typical deficiency of the cocoas fromPapua New Guinea. With slightly smoked,berry-fruity flavors and notes of moist forestfloor.

• Milk: Goddess Milk 45 %Points: 88.20Medium-dark milk chocolate with good cocoacharacter, milky-creamy and very fine as wellas full-bodied melt. With flavors of (addedvanilla), butterscotch toffee, figs and malt.

| Zotter

Coast of Costa Rica. After they saw a cocoa tree with its fruits for thefirst time, their decision was made. Since then, they looked for small,used, artisanal chocolate machines all over the world to be able to setup their own small production. While her husband Dean dedicatedhimself to the coffee, she concentrated totally on the sweet bean.Michelle Morgan studied the chocolate technology with RichardsonResearches at the University California in Davis, California. Shestarted production in the summer of 2009 in Emu Heights, at the footof the Australian Blue Mountains. Dean travelled to Bolivia in 2010 forhis coffee and several times to Papua New-Guinea. That coffee andcocoa grow in similar conditions and in many tropical countries bothcoffee and cocoa are cultivated, is a welcome synergy effect for thecouple. Michelle is a trained landscape architect, and before her self-employment as chocolate producer visited chocolate manufacturersin San Francisco, New York, Zurich, Paris and Tokyo.

Summary:Zokoko has made very good progress since my first test in 2011. All of the chocolates must bedescribed as really well turned out. Only the use of soya-lecithin and also somewhat too muchcocoa butter is a small shortcoming for me.

ZOTTERAustria (Riegersburg)www.zotter.at



Josef Zotter is a trained chef and pâtissier. Until 1987 he worked both at home and overseas. From1987 to 1999 he managed a pâtisserie with four outlets, he had to file for insolvency in 1996 forthese. From this insolvency, Josef Zotter built up a new existence in an impressive fashion. Althoughthe first hand-made chocolates were already produced in 1992, he only dedicated himself totally tothe production of chocolate products from 1999. All his products were already Fair Trade certifiedat that time.With the construction of his new chocolate production in 2007 he switched completely to organic.To top it all off, Zotter produces all his chocolates straight from the bean himself since then.The year 2011 was once again a special Zotter year. On 1st May, Josef Zotter opened his 27 hectarelarge “Essbarer Tiergarten” (Edible Zoo) with attractions such as chocolate milking machines,farmer’s golf or a petting zoo. One can enjoy species-correct food from the animal inhabitants andalso have a picnic.Zotter presses the oil for the food himself. The used oil is subsequently used for his tractor, flouris home-produced, the same with bread and pasta. Since 2014 Zotter has a branch in China, which is managed by his daughter Julia.No matter when one meets Josef Zotter, he shows new creations and talks about ideas he has inthe back of his mind. Amazing is, that these ideas are then also implemented within a reasonabletime scale. At some stage one invariable asks oneself what goes on his mind to have such creativityand willpower for the implementation.

Product ratings

• Dark: Labooko Peru 100 %Points: 91.90Tart and moderately bitter, subtly acidic andwith distinct astringency. One can tasteroasting flavors distinctly. With flavors offermentation, coconut, spices (vanilla, nutmeg)and coffee.

• Dark: Labooko Kolumbien 75 %Points: 89.10Surprisingly mild, yet still tart. Fine, full-bo-died and clear melt. With fruity flavors ofcitrus fruits, avocado, raw walnuts and spicesas well as floral notes.


| Zotter | Zotter

Summary:Over the last years, Zotter has developed from a mono-articler (hand-made chocolates) to anall-rounder at a very high level, all important product groups are covered.On principle, all products are of a very high quality. The selection of the employed raw materials isexemplary and the employees master their craft in all departments.Nevertheless, there are one or two points of criticism. For me, the products are too often too sweet.I noticed this in particular with the nougat. The second weak point are the hand-made chocolates,as one cannot always taste the eponymous ingredients. Despite this, Zotter is and will remain atthe top of the world-best chocolate manufacturers and by far the most innovative chocolatier of all.

• Milk: Labooko Nicaragua 50 %Points: 95.40Very intensive cocoa character,little sweetness, strongly tart andmilky-creamy as well as full-bo-died. With pronounced flavor ofthe cocoa. With flavors of driedfruits (raisins, plums), floral spi-ces, cream, dark caramel aswell as slightly smoky.

• Milk: Labooko Buchweizen 45 %Points: 83.50Lactose-free, as it is produced exclusively withbuckwheat powder. Aromatically not bad butsomewhat too sweet and with a too subtlecocoa character. Milky-creamy and fast melt.With flavors of toffee and cream toffee.

• White: Weiße SchokoladePoints: 94.60Very delicate flavor and good taste despiteingredients, which one probably doesn’t findin a white chocolate (fructose-glucose-syrupor also cinnamon). Very little sweetness, full-bodied and with a nice melt.

• White: Soja weissPoints: 90.30White chocolate not produced with milk powderbut with soya powder. Tastes surprisingly goodand has a pronounced flavor of soya. Perhapssomewhat too sweet, but with a pleasant meltand also full-bodied.

• White: Labooko MaracujaPoints: 95.90Extremely aromatic, fruity-acidic, milky-creamy.Without the addition of flavorings, exclusivelyproduced with dried passion fruit.

• White: Labooko ErdbeerePoints: 93.40Very aromatic and fruity-acidic red chocolate.Produced without flavorings, instead exclusivelywith dried strawberries.

• Bar: Grammerl NussenPoints: 83.40Dark milk chocolate filled with nougat andpork greaves. The caramelized greaves makethe chocolate relatively sweet but are alsoaromatic. Exotic, yet with culinary value.

• Bar: Echtes Speck-TakelPoints: 81.00Bacon, black bread schnapps, caramel nougatencased by dark chocolate. The mostdistinguishable taste is the bacon andeverything is of good quality and craftsmanship.Yet, I still don’t like it.

• Nougat: Nougsus ParanussPoints: 92.20Nougat of Brazil nuts; what a rare pleasure.An extremely tender and fine, and in itsfashion intensive flavor. With a nice melt anda pleasant consistency. I would welcome alittle less sweetness very much. I suppose onecalls this whingeing at a very high level...

• Nougat: Nougsus WalnussPoints: 76.40Walnut nougat with small pieces. Also containssoya powder, which one can also taste. The 21 %walnuts could be a bit stronger in flavor. Fine,soft and creamy melt, perhaps somewhat toosweet.

• Confectionery: BlätterkrokantPoints: 96.60Extremely aromatic nougat with perfect flaky

caramel in dark chocolate. Soft and somewhatrough consistency, the whole thing in perfectharmony.

• Confectionery: Sauerkirsch EndorphinPoints: 94.30Fantastic fruit filling. Acidic-fruity, soft-creamy,not sweet. Very natural flavor.

• Confectionery: PistazienPoints: 93.70Pistachio marzipan encased by dark chocolate.

Juicy and aromatic marzipan with goodpistachio taste. Very harmonious with the tartchocolate.

• Confectionery: Paranuss KnacksyPoints: 88.10Brazil nut nougat in dark chocolate. Verydelicate and subtle flavor of Brazil nut. Withpleasant sweetness, soft-creamy.

Spontaneous shooting from Alex Stark and Johanna Hupfer

841Chocolate – The Reference standard

Ranking lists are a bit of a tricky thing – theyturn into a target for anyone who finds hisfavorite product not at the front, instead perhapsfar towards the end. The concernedmanufacturers will also be either happy orupset. even if many rating criteria are objective(ingredients lists, raw material selection, etc.),there are still adequate subjective criteria tooffer a large point of attack. some may not beable to understand the one or other decision andunderstand a bad placing as provocation.however, I would like to distance myself clearlyfrom such a thing. None of my ratings should beunderstood as provocation or serve anothersuch goal. Nevertheless I have decided to alsoreflect my great efforts and the amount of workwhich is involved in this book in ranking lists.

I have repeatedly observed a phenomenon.Almost no manufacturer has a constant andalways identical quality. especially with freshconfectionery and such with a short shelf-life,the quality fluctuations can be considerable.With a confectionery that has a shelf-life of onlyfour weeks, it is an immense difference whetherI taste a confectionery with an age of three daysor of four weeks.

The perception of the products is also notalways the same. Time and again I have testedproducts of the same batch again or the sameproduct from a newer batch completely new.

In the rarest of cases was the result of the ratingidentical. This is not only related to the fact thatthese are natural products with correspondingfluctuations. The circumstances of the tastingwere also different in parts. Absolutely identicalconditions are not possible on principal. even achanged emotional state can call forth nuancesfor the rating during the tasting. All possibleinfluences, such as e.g. constitution, age of theproducts, sequence of the tasting, etc. will alsoinfluence the result, at least in nuances.e.g. the last tasting of the Domori-Chuao 70 %chocolate resulted in a rating of 98.05 Points. Atthe first rating, the mark was 97.20 Points andin the first issue of the Chocolate Taster it was97.60 Points. At the next tasting I had awardeda different mark again. That is just as certain asthe fact that the rating, if there were no dramaticchanges in the manufacture of the chocolate,will always move at this level.

Therefore I have decided not to specify anyranking in my List of the Best, instead to namemy Top 25 brands/manufacturers and 10preferred products for each product categoryrespectively. here, the ranking can changealmost completely at any time as the qualitydifferences are marginal. Amongst my Top 25brans/manufacturers there are two-threemanufacturers which are borderline and alsocould have received a very good rating of 5 or 6.

| Lists of the best

LIsTs of The BesT

Overall summary according to product categories:

With these lists I also do not wish to conduct a final rating, instead I am listing my favorite productsin alphabetical order. I have not stayed explicitly with the highest rating with these lists, insteadwith what I liked best personally. These lists therefore have a certain subjective stake.

843Chocolate – The Reference standard

| Lists of the best| Lists of the best

Chocolate – The Reference standard842

Pure dark chocolates

With a dark chocolate, a good ingredients list is, of course,very important for me. I like chocolates best which containexclusively cocoa and sugar. Nonetheless my top 15 containthe one or other chocolate which also contains added cocoabutter.

Pure dark chocolates

Askinosie ..........................................................................................................Cortés, honduras 70 %Domori.................................................................................................................................Chuao 70 %Domori...........................................................................................................................Porcelana 70 %Idilio................................................................................................................12imo finca Torres 72 %Minimal Bean to Bar Chocolate ...............................................................................Madagascar 85 %Patric Chocolate...........................................................................................................Rio Caribe 70 %Pump street Bakery..............................................................................ecuador 100 % Guantupi 2013Rogue Chocolatier ...............................................................................................................Balao 75 %Rogue Chocolatier ........................................................................................................Porcelana 80 %Rogue Chocolatier.......................................................................................................sambirano 70 %sirene Chocolate..............................................................................................................ecuador 73 %sirene Chocolate .......................................................................................................Madagascar 73 %soMA Chocolate Maker......................................................................................................Chuao 70 %soMA Chocolate Maker .........................................................................................Three Amigos 70 %Wellington Chocolate factory.............................................................................Peru Norandino 70 %

Pure milk chocolates:

The ingredients list is also important to me with milk chocolates. however,here I do not follow such a “correct” sequence of the ingredients list. Theend result must be correct and the sweetness must not be too dominant. Inthe meantime, there is quite a number of excellent milk chocolates whichcould also appeal to a chocoholic.

Pure milk chocolates:

Artisan du Chocolat .................................................................................Buffalo Milk Chocolate 40 %Askinosie ............................................................................................................Malted Moo Moo 55 %Black Mountain Chocolate ....................................................................................Mountain Milk 53 %Cacao Atlanta ...........................................................................................................Milk 40 - Blend 29

Pure and flavored white chocolates:

As there are still relatively few white chocolates from Bean-to-Bar chocolatemanufacturers, I am also including flavored white chocolates in this list.

Pure and flavored white chocolates:

100%ChocolateCafe ..............................................................................................28 - hokkaido WhiteAmedei................................................................................................................................Bianco (pur)Bernachon ............................................................................................................................Ivoire (pur)Čokoládovna Troubelice ...................................................................františek Bačik - Bílá 40 % (pur)Danta Chocolate................................................................................................White with Cacao NibsDomori ..............................................................................................................................BiancomentaDomori...........................................................................................................................Biancoliquiriziafruition ...................................................................................................................Toasted White 38 %original Beans..................................................................edel Weiss Dominikanische Republik 40 %Pierre Marcolini ....................................................................................................Chocolat Blanc (pur)Vestri...............................................................................................Girone dei Golosi Bianco PistacchiVivani & Björnsted..................................................................................................Weisse Vanille (pur)Zotter ........................................................................................................................Labooko erdbeereZotter........................................................................................................................Labooko MaracujaZotter ...............................................................................................................Weiße schokolade (pur)

The Chocolate Tree ..............................................................................................Dark Milk Peru 48 %DV Artisan Chocolate.......................................................................................Dark Milk Uganda 51 %french Broad Chocolates.......................................................Riverbend Malted Milk Chocolate 45 %fruition....................................................................................................................Marañón Milk 68 %hotel Chocolat..............................................................................................Peru Pichanaki 75 % MilkIdilio...............................................................................................15nto Idilio con Leche 42% orinocoLeone .........................................................................................................................Latte Alta QualitàManufacture Cluizel ................................................................................................Mangaro Lait 50 %Metiisto Artisan Chocolate ......................................................................Madagascar Dark Milk 56 %Patric Chocolate....................................................................................................signature Dark MilkZotter .............................................................................................................Labooko Nicaragua 50 %

845Chocolate – The Reference standardChocolate – The Reference standard844


Flavored dark chocolates:

flavored chocolates also contain chocolates which were flavored withcocoa nibs. The selection of flavored chocolates is very large and varied.This product type is certainly the largest and for the trade the mostimportant revenue driver.

Flavored dark chocolates:

Åkesson's ..........................................................................Madagascar Ambolikapiky Plantation 75% Trinitario Cocoa & "Wild" Voatsiperifery Pepper

Choco Del sol..........................................................................................Trinitarion 75 % Kakao-NibsChocolate santander ...........................................Dark Chocolate 100% Colombian Coffee Bits 70 %DV Artisan Chocolate..........................................................................Cinnamon and Chilli 70 % DarkIdilio .........................................................................6xto selección Amiari Merideña 72 % CacaonibsPump street Bakery..................................................................................sourdough & sea salt 66 %Rio Napo ......................................................................73% Cacao Dark Chocolat mit KaffeesplitternsoMA Chocolate Maker ......................................................................................................stratus BarWilliam Dean.................................................................................................................fruit & filbertsWilkie' s Chocolate ...........................................................................Amazonas 75 % with Cocoa Nibs

Flavored Milk Chocolates:

especially for consumers who do not like to eat dark chocolate thatmuch, flavored milk chocolates play a major role. The selection ofproducts is staggering here as well.

Flavored Milk Chocolates:

Amedei .....................................................................................................................................NoccioleChocolat Bonnat ..............................................................................Chocolat au Lait et aux NoisettesDomori .............................................................................................................................Lattesal 45 %el Ceibo .........................................................Bolivian speciality Coffee in Dark Milk Chocolate 60 %fruition................................................................................................Dark Milk with flor de sal 56 %Manufacture Cluizel.................................................................Lait Éclats Caramel Beurre salé 45 %Nobile Cioccolato................................................................................42 % Milchschokolade Zitronenscharffen Berger................................................................................Milk Nibby 41 % Milk ChocolateTheobro.ma ....................................................................................................................Theo MM 58 %Vestri ......................................................................................Girone die Golosi Latte con Uvetta 34 %

Nougat:

I have neglected nougat productssomewhat during my tastings. Theflood of Bean-to-Bar manufacturersinduced me to focus on their products.Nonetheless there are also somehigh-quality nougat products fromBean-to-Bar manufacturers.

Nougat:

D. Barbero........................................................................................Cioccolato Gianduia con NoccioleD. Barbero ............................................................................................................................NoccioloneDomori .................................................................................................................................GiandujottoDomori ....................................................................................................................La Crema Giandujafrançois Pralus .............................................................................................................Barre InfernaleGuido Castagna .................................................................................................Crema di Nocciole +55silvio Bessone.......................................................................................................................GianduiottiTheobro.ma............................................................................Theo-haselnuss-Aufstrich mit stückenVestri ..........................................................................................................................Tortino di firenzeZotter .......................................................................................................................Nougsus Paranuss

Bars:

Bars are a very rare product from Bean-to-Bar manu-facturers. That surprises somewhat as it happens to bea popular product type with consumers.

Bars:

Café Pernsteiner ............................................................................................................Criollo CrunchClement Chococult .....................................................................................Mango-MascarponecremeCoCouture...................................................................................................................Irish Coffee 55 %CoCouture.............................................................................................Japanese Cherry sencha 70 %Lillie Belle farms ...............................................................The Most Awesome Chocolate Bar eVeR!Pierre Marcolini ......................................................................................................Plaisir five o'Clockschell schokoladenmanufaktur.................................................Gefüllte schokolade haselnussgeistschell schokoladenmanufaktur......................................................Gefüllte schokolade sauerkirschschell schokoladenmanufaktur...........................................Gefüllte schokolade single Malt WhiskyVenchi ...............................................................................................Prendivoglia Nocciolato Gianduja



Confectionery:

selecting my favorites among the confectionery wasthe most difficult task for me. 120 varieties received arating of 90.00 Points or more. During my selection ofthe best 20 varieties I kept very close to the ratings. Theworst rating among the best twenty is 94.20 Points. Thefollowing 20 varieties have ratings between 93.10 and94.20 Points. exclusively confectionery in the traditionalsense was considered and no dried fruits or candiedfruits covered in chocolate.

for me, the quality of the products is primarilydecisive. But also other factors such as communication and transparency, but also honesty play a superordinate role for me. Diversification also plays a role but just like theprice, more of a subordinate one.25 brands (24 manufacturers) have received thebest mark of 6 of 6 cocoa fruits for the overallperformance from me. This includes 12 Bean-to-Bar manufacturersand 11 confectionery manufacturers, but also acouverture-manufacturers and a private labelbrand. felchlin stands representative for high-quality chocolate, Idilio for a high-quality privatelabel brand.

These are the following brands and manufactu-rers (in alphabetical order):

Bellion (Chocolaterie Atelier Bellion)The confectionery has turned out very well andthe first samples of his Bean-to-Bar chocolateare very promising. his attitude to quality, ethicsand transparency were decisive for selectinghim to the Top 25. A last demonstration is, however, still due with the market-ready chocolates.

Curley (William Curley)The quality of the confectionery is simply world-class and also decisive for the selectionto the Top 25, even if there is some lack of innovations.

Demarquetteselection of raw materials, communication,transparency and ethical idea. All of this reflectsin the excellent quality of the confectionery. Aselection for the Top 25 was easy and almost amatter of course.

DomoriPioneer, quality leader and visionary. Theselection to the Top 25 was and is indisputable.

Elbow (Christopher Elbow)The long-term always very high world-level quality of the confectionery was decisive for theselection to the Top 25. A disgrace that Christopher elbow wasn’t already representedin the first issue.

Es Koyamaevery confectionery has a story which gives theenjoyment of the products a new dimension. Thequality of the confectionery is probably the bestthat is currently available on the market.

Fruitionone of the few newcomers who have immediately made it to the Top 25. The chocolates are, just like the confectionery, simply sensational. for a newcomer, fruitionhas a pretty impressive selection of products.

oVeRALL sUMMARy MANUfACTUReRs:

Confectionery:

Christopher elbow..............................................................................................................fleur de selDemarquette ..................................................................................................................Imperial ChinaDemarquette.....................................................................................................................Passion fruitDemarquette .....................................................................................................................Royal Merinaes Koyama .................................................................................................................No 1 2 Colombieses Koyama ..........................................................No 4 Praliné aux fruits de la Passion et au Matchafruition.............................................................................................Brown Butter Bourbon CaramelsLa Maison du Chocolat ............................................................................................................BacchusLa Maison du Chocolat....................................................................................................Rigoletto NoirLe chocolat de h ..............................................................................................No. 3 ohagi au sésameMax Chocolatier .................................................................................................................elvesia 74 %Nobile Cioccolato .........................No 3 Mit Grüner fee aus dem Val de Travers und Arabica-KaffeePatrick Roger .................................................................................................................................DehliPatrick Roger .........................................................................................................................MaracanaPatrick Roger ........................................................................................................................ValparaisoPatrick Roger............................................................................................................Trinidad & TobagoPierre hermé ...........................................................................................................................MogadorWilliam Curley ..........................................................................................orange & Balsamic VinegarZotter ..............................................................................................................................BlätterkrokantZotter ................................................................................................................ sauerkirschendorphin



Hévin (Jean Paul Hévin)Is one of the Top 25, of course, even if weaknesses in the quality can be seen occasionally. But he has characterized thefrench Confectionery sustainably and his products still offer lots of pleasure.

Idilio (Felchlin)The owners of Idilio have a particular knackwhen selecting the cocoa beans which are simply processed to world-class chocolate byfelchlin. felchlin distinctly sets itself apart qualitatively from all other private label manufacturers.

La Maison du ChocolatAn institution and co-responsible for the modern-classic confectionery. Always of a veryhigh quality level. even if there is a slight lack ofprogressivity and innovations.

Le Chocolat de HThe modern interpretation of confectionery. similar to es Koyama, each individual confectionery has a background. This is howmodern confectionery tastes, this is how modern confectionery looks.

Marcolini (Pierre Marcolini)Very versatile and with a very convincing qualitywith everything he produces. Willing to learnand open for criticism. surely a role model formany young creatives.

Morin (Chocolaterie A. Morin)has conducted an unbelievable developmentover the last years. hungry for knowledge, willing to learn and with the courage to strikeout in new directions. It is not understandablewhy he receives so little attention in the chocolate world.

Nobile CioccolatoThe confectionery is simply outstanding. Nobiledoesn’t put itself in the foreground, instead itssuppliers of the always excellent ingredients.exemplary.

Original Beans (Felchlin)Not all cocoa beans are outstanding but thecommitment of the owners of original Beans isexemplary and the processing by felchlin supe-rior.

Patric Chocolateeven if Patric founders a little with the flavoredchocolates, he can handle cocoa beans and is therefore entitled to be among the Top 25..

Pump Street BakeryThe start of the Bean-to-Bar production was soimpressive that I cannot do anything other thanselect the company for the Top 25. The cocobeans of the tested chocolates were of very different origin, the results always outstanding.

Recchiuti (Michael Recchiuti)one of the pioneers of modern confectionery inthe UsA and through the continuously high levelan established part in the chocolate world.

Roger (Patrick Roger)Represents the modern french confectionerslike no other frenchman. With a grandiose rawmaterial selection and their prefect processingto confectionery.

Rogue ChocolatierAn exceptional talent. each chocolate has thelevel of world-class and after an initial findingphase in the first years, he has morphed into theAmerica quality leader.

SOMA Chocolate MakerNot only impresses with very good chocolatesbut also with superb confectionery. The wholeconcept of soMA is harmonious. AT the sametime soMA also manages Cafés and producesfurther patisserie products.

Wild Sweets® (By Dominique & Cindy Duby)DC Duby = science which is implemented in theconfectionery. At Wild sweets there is not justthe production, instead there is research anddevelopment, always on the lookout for newways of being creative. The Bean-to-Bar manufacture was therefore almost a matter for course.

William DeanThe quality is of a very high level and very similarto the quality which I tested back in 2011. I do miss

the development and innovations a little. A somewhat marginal rating with 6 of 6 cocoa fruits,even if the quality of the confects really, really appealed to me.

Zottereven if time and again there are products whichI don‘t like, the placement among the Top 25 isso much matter of course as it is for only veryfew brands and companies, similar to Domorialmost indisputable.

As one can see, there are very few Bean-to-Barmanufacturers among the Top 25. This can beexplained with the fact that until recently therewere few Bean-to-Bar manufacturers and thenewcomers have a limited range at their command and also have to prove their skilllong-term. In the case of the confectioners, however, it islogical that these are represented in such agreat number among the Top 25. They had a fewdecades more time to develop themselves andreach this quality level.


The range of products is so large by now that itis almost impossible to maintain an overview.The quality level has increased and the many new Bean-to-Bar manufacturersenormously stimulate the chocolate industry. Itis particularly pleasing that this trend, resp. thisrevolution is a world-wide phenomenon and notjust regional or one limited to a few countries.Even if there are a few new Bean-to-Barmanufacturers which the market doesn’t need,in the end, the market will weed out thesuperfluous companies and copycats by itself.

For eight months, cocoa and chocolateconstituted the center of my life even beyond theusual measure. During this time I had chocolateproducts permanently at home and almost daily– often several times a day – our postman or onethe many parcel services delivered newproducts. During this time I practically travelledonce around the world to do research andprocure products.Many people supported me with my project. Iwould like to highlight Mark Christian from C-Spot© (www.c-spot.com). He accepteddozens of consignments for me in New York,which I picked up mid-November in exchangefor 40 kg chocolate products which I hadcollected for him in Europe. In addition, I spentmany hours discussing all sorts of subjectsaround cocoa and chocolate with him. Thisfruited in many ideas and also informationwhich I had not been aware of at that stage.

Of course, the book would have justified manyother trips but writing a book consists primarilyof the writing itself and in my case also oftastings. Research is necessary, shouldhowever, be concluded by and large whenwriting. Nonetheless, hundreds of e-mails andinnumerous telephone calls were necessary forthe research work – and without the Internetthis book would have been close to impossible.Unfortunately, I have to mention here that manycompanies have a miserable communication.Even today I am still waiting for answers fromdozens of companies.

All told, I bought far more than 200 kilograms ofchocolate products, or received it as samples, in

the period between August 2014 and March2015. Together with the products I had tasted formy first book, I tried 6,000 products from 550manufacturers in 70 countries. Of these 4,000products have been considered in the book. Ihave not tasted all of the products presented inthe book again. Many ratings date from mytastings for the first book but also from tastingswhich I conducted after publishing of the firstbook and before starting to write this book. Onaverage, I tasted 10 products per day. Thetastings were split into two or three per day: oneeach in the morning, afternoon and occasionallyin the evenings. This means that I ate about 150grams of chocolate per day, a feat which would hardly be possible for anyone undernormal circumstances. By virtue of my more than twenty years’ experience, this was acontinuation of my daily work for me, as I hadconducted it before as co-owner of theConfiserie Coppeneur. At that time this had beenmore the rule to taste so many chocolateproducts in a single day. During this period ofabout seven months, I added about 1,000kilocalories daily to my normal nutrition. Myscales reacted correspondingly, as I had alsoalmost stopped my sporting activities duringthis time. I promptly paid the penalty for this inthe form of four kilograms extra hip, leg andfacial fat…

My personal summary…

In the following I would like to address the dif-ferent keywords and subjects in a casual order.

Industrially manufactured mass products from major branded companiesDue to the enormous demand, I have decided totest not only brands suitable for the specializedtrade in the new issue but also many supermar-ket and discount brands. Looked at it in retrospect, this makes sense because one canrepresent the differences much better.

In the rarest of cases could a product awakenmy interest. The greater majority of these products is simply inedible and I consider the“consumption” of these products as bodily

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OVERALL SUMMARY

quality. Chocolate is supposed to be and alsostay a luxury food for me. Fundamentally, I cantake pleasure in experimenting with low-processed cocoa beans. But please spare us thestatements, which have not really been proven scientifically, that such products are supposedly so much healthier than “normal”chocolate products. What is being offered in the meantime is partially hair-raising. The traceability of the origin of the raw materials is often scanty. Many producers are too close-lipped and raise skepticism.Heathy and nutritious raw materials in superfood products could be a sensible supplement, but basically, they also need to taste good. But please, spare us the act of trying to sell these products as health products.

The eternal question: Bean-to-Bar manufacturer or not…My empathy for the suggestion of being a Bean-to-Bar manufacture is exhausted. Today,I consider this as consumer deception and distortion of competition. Why doesn’t a company stand behind what it is? I do not believe that it would sell one product less if itwould change its marketing strategy and repre-sent itself as professional company which either

cooperates closely with a Bean-to-Bar manufacturer, has its own chocolate producedaccording to a desired recipe or purchases standard chocolate and flavors this superbly. Conspicuously many manufacturers refuse alook behind the scenes. For certain also because one wouldn’t have seen any machinesfor manufacturing chocolate there. To be sure,there is also the one or other who does not wishto show the type and manner of his production.I find that sad and incomprehensible, becauseall of us are only human after all and I do notbelieve that a single one of them employs atechnique unknown in the industry. It certainlydoesn’t contribute to inspiring confidence.

The secret about the purchase of the raw materials Many manufacturers make a secret of wherethey purchase their raw materials. With someraw materials I can understand this, after all,one doesn’t wish to disclose one’s good sources.For me, however, it is totally incomprehensiblewhy still so many confectioners (these are the colleagues who do not produce their chocolate themselves) do not disclose wherethey purchase their chocolate or couverture.That is so ridiculous that I have lost all interestin the company by that stage. There can’t be asecret tip here as each competitor knows thepossible source of supply for chocolate and couverture for processing. And when it is a first-class chocolate, there is a huge potentialfor marketing. A confectioner who confesses to using a chocolate from a very good manufacturer principally enjoys much greater confidence with

injury. Nearly all of them process far too muchsugar, fat and additives, including very often artificial flavorings.

Chocolates and Nougat:Among chocolates and nougat one will also always find products which are edible. Theseare, however, rare in the retail food and discounttrade.Surprisingly, the discounters, at least when itcomes to the ingredients list, offer “clean” products which are also partially edible. However, what the brand manufacturers such as“Alpia”, “Milka”, “Cadbury”, “Hershey’s” or “Sarotti” think when selling such abysmal products, is incomprehensible for me. Yet, thebehavior of the consumers is also frightening.That the consumer buys this type of product bythe millions is not only surprising but it alsofrightens me. That many people then also saythat they like it leaves me with a feeling of incredulousness and helplessness.

Confectionery and filled Bars:Actually each written word about confectioneryfrom industrial manufacturers is superfluous.Basically, all confectionery boxes offered in theretail food trade and discount shops, especiallythose which contain butter or cream ganacheand marzipan as filling, are inedible. As soon asa confectionery box exceeds a shelf life of sixmonths, it may be thrown in the rubbish binstraight away instead of subjecting one’s bodyto this refuse. There may always be exceptionsbut generally speaking, I would not touch suchproducts.

Ethics, Fair Trade and SustainabilityConspicuous with the many new Bean-to-Barmanufacturers are the repeatedly emphasized(advertising) statements that one acts ethicallycorrect, fair and sustainably. What is surprisingabout this is that almost none of them are certified and often, apart from empty phrases,there is no proof or evidence that it is correctwhat they say and write. I am not a fan of certifications but with some companies I missthe credibility. Trust needs to be earned andwhen a company doesn’t even provide a correct

Legal Notice on its Internet site and the founders and owners are anonymous, that iseverything but confidence inspiring.

Another phenomenon is that time and again, theindustry is pilloried with regard to child laborand slavery. Far be it from me to come to the defense of the industry or any particular com-pany. I also do not wish to enter into this subjectfurther at this point, except that I clearly distance myself from tolerating, let alone promoting child or slave labor.

What makes me thoughtful, however, is that thealways pilloried suppliers such as Cargill orBarry Callebaut are in the focus but never theircustomers. Innumerous hotels, restaurants, caterers, confectioners and bakers buy couverture and chocolate from suppliers, knowing full well the accusations with which theindustry is confronted on a daily basis. All thesecustomers have many alternatives and the option of buying somewhere else but don’t dothis for economic reasons. Why are these processors never mentioned or, like the industry, pilloried?

Raw Chocolate and SuperfoodOften sensationalism and not always under-standable or controllable statements. Thisranks first for me for these two new product categories. Only few products really appealed tome. If I wish to live a healthy life, I will not eatunhealthy food such as fast food, will not smoke,won’t buy meat from factory farming and willbuy selected products, such as eggs, in organic

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Specialist retailers and other sources of supplySpecialist chocolate retailers don’t live an easylife. It is incredibly difficult to manage such ashop, as there is the infamous summer slumpfrom about May to the end of September.Unfortunately, I have also experienced time andagain incompetent personnel, bad warehousingand a questionable range in the specialist trade.From a specialist dealer I expect not only thathe offers better qualities than the supermarket,but also that he pays attention to the ingredientsof his products. For example, a product withartificial flavorings should not be found in thespecialist trade. Confectionery should definitelybe bought fresh in a specialist shop. Not oncecould a confectionery sales package from thesupermarket or department store convince.Indeed, many department stores claim thestatus of a specialist retailer for themselves, butI do not happen to share this opinion at all. Notone confectionery department in any of the

department stores that I visited, had the correcttemperature, competent personnel was not tobe found. A single praiseworthy exception is theKaDeWe in Berlin, yet even there, the rangecaused yawning boredom in me.Only separate sales islands with fresh foodcounters and service personnel in selecteddepartment store branches can do justice to the level of a specialty shop. But these are often also managed by the manufacturersthemselves. Yet even in the specialist trade, oneoccasionally meets untrained temps.Therefore my recommendation: Go to the expertretailers which can also give you advice. I have

had only positive experiences with orders via theInternet. This proves that ordering from expertretailers with own shops works really well.

Acknowledgements

II wish to thank all readers for their interest inmy book and my opinions. I hope I was able toconvey a lot of information, provide ideas for thenext purchase and made reading it a pleasure. I would be happy to receive your suggestions,questions, criticisms or also praise. You cancontact me at the following e-mail address:

[email protected]

Your Chocolate TesterGeorg Bernardini

me. In reverse, with a manufacturer who will absolutely not disclose his source of purchase,one must imply that he does not wish to confessto the quality he uses. Perhaps it’s also embarrassing for him ……. There are, however, also companies that process different qualities. The alarm bells startringing in my head and caution is due becausethis practice may indicate that the companywants to distinguish itself with the purchase ofsmall quantities of good raw materials and usesthe kudos for its other products as well.

Natural and artificial ingredientsOne of my researches for the first issue led me to a specialty chocolate shop in Bonn,accompanied by an acquaintance. There was noother customer in the shop, so that the assistantworking there all by herself had a detailedconversation with us. That her favorite chocolatewas a Milka, did surprise us somewhat – not tosay shocked us. After all, she stood in the midstof such fine chocolates as Domori, Zotter andMichel Cluizel. After I had pointed out to her thatsome of the offered products contained vanillin,which isn’t natural, she promptly answeredwith: “So what?”

It really does frustrate somewhat thatconsumers don’t care when apparently high-quality products contain artificial ingredients. Somany manufacturers make a big effort tomanufacture products on a natural basis. Theone or other will probably give some thought tothis if he gets such feedback for his work andtoil....

Of course there are also consumers who payattention to natural raw materials, but they areobviously in the minority.

FlavoringsIt is not reprehensible on principle, whenmanufacturers use natural flavorings. Here,however, I do differentiate between a naturalflavoring which comes from the eponymous fruitand a flavoring which comes from other(natural) sources. Nevertheless, I personallyreject flavorings. For me, it is not a pleasure toeat a product which tastes of a fruit but doesn’thave any fruit character. If a product containsfruits (pulp, concentrate, freeze-dried, dried,etc.) and flavorings to support the actual flavor, such a product cannot rouse myattention. Because the use of flavor-flat rawmaterials actually shows me the restrictedskills of the manufacturer and his willingness tocompromise during production of the article.There may be cases where a product, even withthe very best, fresh raw materials, simplydoesn’t work in and with chocolate. Then themanufacturer must own up to this and steerclear of it. I am aware that my attitude is quiteextreme but I have made a clear decision formyself on this point.

Organic quality and sustainabilityI am not a strict organic fanatic, especially notwith cocoa. There is just too much good cocoaavailable which happens to be “clean” but isn’tcertified. Principally I would prefer a certifiedone if I had the choice. What bothers me is thatsome manufacturers, especially the majorglobal players, use organic products to polish uptheir image or also to get a slice of the cake ofthe organic market. The small, lone fighterswere allowed to make organic products sociallyacceptable for decades, were visionary, yes inpart even fanatic and have achieved acceptanceof organic products among the population withtheir commitment and often years of personaldedication. Hardly a major player contributed tothis performance. With their omnipresentmarket power they now harvest the fruits oflabor by jumping on the band-wagon andoffering organic products, in part even at adiscount price.

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