JUNE 2014www.teaandcoffee.net

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The new trend launched by someeclectic chocolate manufacturersin France and Belgium in the past

few years combines the approach “frombean to bar” with the exclusive use of single-origin and estate chocolates. Thethird Gourmet Chocolate Festival was held within the big Trade FairEuropean/Intersuc in Paris, France inMarch 2014. The invited country wasMadagascar, a small producer of rare andpremium cocoa varieties, which are allgrown in the North Western part of thecountry, the Sambirano Valley and closeto little island of Nosy Be.

Several chocolate manufacturersoperate in Madagascar, from the oldest

family-founded local manufacturer,Chocolats Robert, to the newer localcompany, Menacao. Swedish Akesson’sand French François Pralus are twoother companies that currently operatechocolate factories in Madagascar. Anumber of other chocolate makers bringthe cocoa beans to Europe or NorthAmerica and then process them in theirown manufacturing facilities.

The cocoa tree was introduced toMadagascar from Central America byFrench settlers in the early 19th century.It has prospered in the Sambirano Valleyregion for almost two centuries and pro-duced a series of local hybrids, allbelonging to the Criollo cocoa family,

which is renowned for its delicate acidi-ty. With a low yield–less than 5 percentof global production–and slow growth,the Criollo cocoas are treasured bychocolate lovers all over the world.

Thirty different chocolates made withcocoa beans from Madagascar, eitherlocally or in Europe, were been registeredfor the championship. The winners were aBelgian chocolate, made by PierreMarcolini; a French chocolate, made byJacques Genin; and a locally manufac-tured Madagascar chocolate, made by theSwedish Akesson’s.

The Chocolate and Tea Pairing sessiontook place in the George Cannon TeaHouse in downtown Paris, where each ofthe three chocolates was first assessed forthe complexity and strength of its flavor,before suggesting potentially suitable teas.The selected teas were then tasted with thechocolates to ensure that there was mutu-al flavor enhancement: intensifying boththe cup’s and the chocolate’s specific tasteand texture qualities.

This experience underlined the com-plexity of both product groups. The exer-cise was finalized by following the sugges-tions made by Olivier Scala, an interna-tional tea taster and tea expert, who select-ed the following terroir tea cups to pairwith specific chocolates:

• Marcolini chocolate (72 percentcocoa content) with a Darjeeling blacktea, a first flush from Malhalderram teagarden, the Jungpana Tea Estate; • Genin chocolate (80 percent cocoacontent) with a famous Chinese black tea,a Keemun from Anhui, Huangshan;• Akesson’s chocolate (75 percentCriollo cocoa content) with a NorthFujian Wulong tea, a Wuyi Shan Rou Gui.

The pairing opportunities with tea andchocolate seem to be limitless. Furthertaste experimentations are planned for thenext few months.

Barbara Dufrêne is the former SecretaryGeneral of the European Tea Committee andeditor of La Nouvelle Presse du Thé. She maybe reached at: b-dufrene@orange.fr.

36 TEA & COFFEE TRADE JOURNAL | www.teaandcoffee.net

tea pairing

A Decadent Pairing: Tea and ChocolateCombining foods and foods and beverages that may notseem as though they would “go together” but do in fact complement each other, is nothing new. Wine andcheese, sea salt and caramel, both are perfect examples.Now a new couple has emerged—tea and chocolate.Pairing terroir teas with single-origin chocolates createsa refined gourmet experience. By Barbara Dufrêne