Sharing Gratitude - for chocolate!
The chocolate expert panel in action!
A Matter of Taste workshops always spark new ideas and conversations, and our Highlighting Origins: Insight Chocolate tasting event on March 26 deliciously centered on chocolate sourcing, growing, and making; and a lively conversation on how we can engage with chocolate and cocoa in ethical and responsible ways.
Mission-oriented threads included:
Climate impacts on cacao as an agricultural crop, and what we can do to help
Regional economic impacts (and amazing flavors) made possible by respecting the cocoa farmer and ecosystem
Honoring the terroir of fine chocolate with certain processing methods and techniques
Our resident chocolatier and flavor guru Joanna Lepore Dwyer joined an expert chocolate panel with Nathan Palmer Royston, supply chain expert formerly of Theo Chocolate and Lush Handmade Cosmetics, and Obie Pressman, founder and chief chocolate maker of Insight Chocolate, in a shared chocolate journey and tasting for a packed house in our tasting room.
Going deep to understand chocolate from the tree through the many steps it takes to reach a mouth-coating burst of rich and smooth flavor, we were guided by Obie on his journey of process, proportion and precision. Taste by taste, Obie shared his experiences in chocolate-making informed by his relationships with Costa Rican agroforestry cacao farms Macaw Kakau and Dos Lagunas.
Nathan’s overviews of how traditional chocolate making and more mission-oriented participants in the cocoa industry operate and measure success reminded us all (right before Easter weekend) that it’s definitely possible to enjoy amazing chocolate that is produced and distributed ethically. Joanna and Nathan discussed their shared histories with local and global chocolate brands and what it takes to bring ethical and respectful chocolate that tastes amazing to us.
Sample after sample, comparing with references like dried cherries, roasted walnuts, and toasted coconut- and enjoying sips of A Matter of Taste umami-forward hot chocolate, participants left the evening with a new appreciation for the richness of the chocolate conversation (and their own set of tasting bars to enjoy with friends!)
As a panel, our speakers reinforced that cacao is a critical part of regenerative farming and forestry. Cocoa, like sugar, coffee and tea, has a history and colonial legacy that we all have an active role in repairing, and there are so many entrepreneurial and passionate cacao farmers and producers all over the world growing and making chocolate that we can all be proud to enjoy and share.
We were so happy to be able to use this experience at our pop-up in Pioneer Square to highlight stories of origin for the flavors we know and love, translating that richness of community to other tasty areas of life. Building on this conversation, we’re looking forward to our upcoming Language of Fragrance and Flavor event on May 9, bringing a perfumer, sommelier, chocolatier and tea blender together to compare how we communicate what our senses tell us. These events, along with our private team building events, have been amazing forums for using sensory experiences to build our readiness for new challenges and ideas.
Photos by Jennifer Diamond and Michelle Pressman
