The Chocolate Tasting Club News - D121 March 2010 by Chocolate Tasting Club

D121 R27 K54 S32 012962

Would You Buy Chocolate

From This Man?

If you dropped into Hotel Chocolat’s Nottingham store in the run up to Christmas, you may well have been greeted by an eager, fresh-faced rookie. Club Founder, Angus Thirlwell, went ‘back to the floor’ and spent the day working as part of the store team. Here’s what Angus had to say about his day at the sharp end…

Caught red-handed! Angus replenishing the shelves in Nottingham.

As I walked through an arctic-cold cityscape towards our store on Albert Street, I reflected that we were coming up to being four years old in Nottingham. I was keen to see for myself if we had succeeded in establishing ourselves in a city that is perhaps better known for being the home of another chocolate maker… one with no less than four shops in the city and their head office nearby! I’ll admit to feelings of mild anxiety about working the till and talking at the same time. These melted away as Camilla ran me through the training and I started to feel part of a well-organised team. continued on page 3...

Dear Club Members

elcome to your latest edition of Club News. This month’s lead story is all about a day at the sharp end for Club Founder, Angus Thirlwell. He spent the day going ‘back to the floor’ as part of the team at Hotel Chocolat Nottingham. He even met and chatted to several Club members – one of whom relates the other side of the story in this month’s Postbag on page 7. Also this month, we’ve managed to track down past Club Manager, Lynn Cunningham, and as you’ll see, she’s been keeping herself very busy indeed! And equally exciting, the first of the brand new Elements Selections have landed on doormats across the country. We’re dying to hear what you think, so do please let us have your comments.

Next month’s prize draw winners will all receive a gorgeous Extra Thick Easter Egg (see back cover). So if you only ever score once, this is the month to do it!

Elsewhere in this edition, we reveal the winner of the Murder, Mystery and Chocolate Prize Draw, who will be jetting off for a week in St Lucia, and there’s a reminder to order your Tasting Club Easter Collection if you haven’t already – despite slightly overdoing the Easter tasting last month, mine is definitely on order! Finally, Club member Joy Palfrey has applied her professional knowledge to the issue of chocolate scoring and suggested a rating scale for us on page 7. I think I’ll give it a go with this month’s box. Until next month, happy tasting!

Simon Thirlwell Editor

Send your letters to The Chocolate Tasting Club, Mint House, Royston SG8 5HL, or simply email me on simon@hotelchocolat.co.uk We are waiting to hear from you!

Continued from page one... Things started well when the first customer of the day, a doctor wearing a bobble hat, recognised me and introduced herself as a loyal Tasting Club member. Chocolate quality is great, she said, but the shapes were becoming a bit boring – where were the horses’ heads etc? Duly noted! [See this month’s postbag for the other side of this meeting…] Before I knew what was happening I was on the till with colleagues Robyn, Jess and Camilla alongside me. Which was just as well, because I made a few early mistakes – short changing two guests. And, yes, they noticed immediately! But after the wobbly start I started to really enjoy engaging with our guests, commenting on their choices and wishing everyone a Happy Christmas with a great big smile on my face. Soon I started to feel a bit euphoric, sliding out from behind the till and chatting with guests at the drop of a hat. I helped a lady looking for a gift for her boyfriend’s father. We established that he was interested in wine, so it was a cinch to make a connection with the rare cocoas of our Purist bars. She bought three and left happy – wow, I felt so good helping people!

Next, a lady who seemed to be searching the store replied that she was after Tiddly Pots. We were ploughing our way through the latest stock delivery, so a quick search located a case and she took four. I told her about our new Tiddly Reindeer and she added a couple of those. Working like this the day absolutely zipped by. ‘I love our guests’ I kept saying to myself. And I certainly was not alone in this… the whole team shared a real passion to do all we could for our guests.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed my day in Nottingham, interacting and receiving valuable feedback. In fact, my mind was racing with new ideas as I got onto the A1 to drive home on a natural high. And so, back to my original question – have we become a respected brand and a retailing force in Nottingham? From the way our guests acted, I would say ‘You bet!’ And if you’re in Nottingham, I’d definitely recommend you drop in on Kim and her team to experience the welcome for yourself!

Clockwise from top left – Angus gets his training manual from Camilla; apprehensively waiting for his first customer; and with the whole team in Nottingham. 3

CLASSIC

SELECTION – D118

DARK

SELECTION – K51

SOLID

SELECTION – S29

1. Coffee & Walnut by M Meier 8.31 (29% scored it 10/10)

1. São Thomé 70% Tasting Batons 8.46 (26% scored 10/10)

1. Mellow Milk Tasting Batons 8.47 (38% scored it 10/10)

2. Brandy Butter by JC Vandenberghe 8.25 (31% scored it 10/10)

2. Amaretto Truffle by K Kalenko 8.45 (44% scored it 10/10)

2. Peanut Ingot 8.19 (26% scored it 10/10)

3. White Lady by O Coppeneur & G Bernardini 8.18 (36% scored it 10/10)

3. White Lady by O Coppeneur & G Bernardini 8.39 (32% scored it 10/10)

4. Orange Mousse by K Kalenko 8.15 (25% scored it 10/10)

4. Coffee & Walnut by M Meier 8.37 (23% scored it 10/10)

5. Amaretto Truffle by K Kalenko 8.15 (36% scored it 10/10)

5. Madirofolo Tasting Batons 8.26 (27% scored it 10/10)

6. Mellow Milk Tasting Batons 8.06 (22% scored 10/10) 7. Strawberry & Pepper by E Desmet 8.05 (24% scored it 10/10) 8. Double Nut Crisp by R Macfadyen 8.05 (22% scored it 10/10) 9. Toffee Tryst by R Macfadyen 8.02 (22% scored it 10/10) 10. Mulled Wine by G Pereira 7.89 (22% scored it 10/10) 11. Mellow Marzipan by E Desmet 7.80 (21% scored it 10/10) 12. Deep Cocoa Tasting Batons 7.74 (17% scored it 10/10) 13. Spice Star by O Nicod 7.57 (14% scored it 10/10) 14. Gingerbread Truffle by O Coppeneur & G Bernardini 7.55 (21% scored it 10/10) 15. Winter Bite by R Macfadyen 7.27 (15% scored it 10/10)

6. Orange Mousse by K Kalenko 8.16 (20% scored it 10/10) 7. Toffee Tryst by R Macfadyen 8.14 (25% scored it 10/10) 8. Strawberry & Pepper by E Desmet 8.12 (18% scored it 10/10) 9. Double Nut Crisp by R Macfadyen 8.09 (19% scored it 10/10) 10. Mulled Wine by G Pereira 7.95 (16% scored it 10/10) 11. Brandy Butter by JC Vandenberghe 7.92 (22% scored it 10/10) 12. Winter Bite by R Macfadyen 7.90 (14% scored it 10/10) 13. Spice Star by O Nicod 7.80 (14% scored it 10/10) 14. Mellow Marzipan by E Desmet 7.74 (15% scored it 10/10) 15. Gingerbread Truffle by O Coppeneur & G Bernardini 7.58 (20% scored it 10/10)

BRICKBAT Mellow Marzipan “Sorry not won round, but almost edible...” Tricia Coleman, St Neots 4

3. Christmas Pudding 7.99 (30% scored it 10/10) 4. Deep Cocoa Tasting Batons 7.97 (18% scored it 10/10) 5. Cherry Caramel 7.70 (30% scored it 10/10) 6. Snowball Munchkins 7.66 (24% scored it 10/10) 7. Winter Bite 7.46 (19% scored it 10/10) 8. Almond Amaretti 7.38 (26% scored it 10/10) 9. Cinnamon Crunch 7.10 (18% scored it 10/10)

BOUQUET Mellow Milk Tasting Batons “Mellow by name and mellow by nature – this grade of chocolate had me so laid-back I nearly fell asleep!” Deborah Stamp, St Ives BRICKBAT Mulled Wine “Found the ganache, but where’s the spice? In fact, where’s the wine?” Mark Prentice, Belfast BOUQUET Gingerbread Truffle “The perfect mixture of flavours. Really, the only word I can think of is perfect. Give me a life supply of these!” Matt Wavish, Plymouth

The BATOnS’

Big Day

For many members they’re one of the first things to be nibbled – whilst perusing the menu – but batons rarely steal the limelight from their filled chocolate cousins… However, every once in a while they seem to hit the collective nail on the head and that’s exactly what happened with this month’s tasting results. In the Dark Tasting Box, members were given a choice between two of Africa’s cocoa growing islands, São Thomé off the west coast and Madagascar off the east coast. São Thomé’s cocoa tends to specialise in West Africa’s characteristic no-nonsense flavours, while Madagascar’s is almost as robust, but with more refined notes of fruit and spice.

BOUQUET São Thomé Dark Tasting Batons “Intense, rich, dark, real chocolate.” VJ Marrian-Hooper, Perth This time around it was São Thomé that came out on top, quite literally, by securing number one position, with Madagascar not too far behind in fifth place. In the Classic and Solid Chocolate Boxes, meanwhile, tasters were given two milk chocolates at opposite ends of the spectrum – a mellow, milky blend and a deep, cocoa-filled blend. Solid Chocolate tasters wasted no time in pronouncing the Mellow Milk Batons the winner, with 38% giving them top marks. Again, the Deep Cocoa Batons weren’t far behind in fourth place. Classic Tasters were the exception this month, with their choice for top dog going to the warming Coffee & Walnut. However, they

weren’t too far out of step, as the Mellow Milk Batons finished a respectable sixth. It may be a while until our batons have an equally good outing, but you never can tell – sometimes they just capture the collective mood perfectly.

BOUQUET White Lady “This should be renamed First Lady – an absolute classic!” Becca Rostron, Northumberland

NEWS from Sweden

A suitably snowy scene of the Tasting Club’s swedish home – where the first Tasting Boxes have now been despatched, despite the weather!

Christmas Collection

scores

Thank you to everyone who took time out over the holidays to send us their Christmas Collection scores and comments. As you can see, Amaretto Amarena was the clear star of the show, with Champagne star and our cute Christmas shapes not far behind. Here are the top 10 chocolates that impressed you most.

CLASSIC COLLECTION

DARK

COLLECTION

1. Amaretto Amarena by E Desmet 8.53 (36% scored it 10/10)

1. Amaretto Amarena by E Desmet 8.77 (36% scored it 10/10)

2. Caramel Reindeer by 8.50 (32% scored it 10/10)

2. Champagne Star by M Meier 8.48 (31% scored it 10/10)

3. Champagne Star by M Meier 8.44 (30% scored it 10/10)

3. Piedmont Paradise by R Macfadyen 8.47 (25% scored it 10/10)

4. Fudged Caramel by R Macfadyen 8.38 (22% scored it 10/10) 5. Winter Berry Soufflé by O Coppeneur & G Bernardini 8.38 (34% scored it 10/10) 6. Butterscotch Cheesecake by E Desmet 8.37 (28% scored it 10/10) 7. Crème Caramel by K Kalenko 8.32 (29% scored it 10/10) 8. Piedmont Paradise by R Macfadyen 8.30 (27% scored it 10/10)

4. Winter Berry Soufflé by O Coppeneur & G Bernardini 8.45 (31% scored it 10/10) 5. Kissing Mistletoe 8.39 (25% scored it 10/10) 6. Nibbly Reindeer 8.35 (24% scored it 10/10) 7. Robin Redbreast 8.34 (24% scored it 10/10) 8. Brandy & Raisin by K Kalenko 8.28 (28% scored it 10/10)

9. Pistachio Praline by K Kalenko 8.29 (29% scored it 10/10)

9. Crispy Pecan Square by K Kalenko 8.25 (19% scored it 10/10)

10. Crispy Pecan Square by K Kalenko 8.19 (22% scores it 10/10)

10. Fudged Caramel by R Macfadyen 8.23 (19% scored it 10/10)

BOUQUET Caramel Reindeer “Whoa!!! Rein in this delectable flavour!” Sheena Romahn, Sheffield BRICKBAT Pistachio Praline “Like eating Play Dough!” Terry Webster, Exeter BOUQUET Piedmont Paradise “This was the first chocolate I tasted. Excellent but had an adverse effect on the others, as it would be very difficult to equal, never mind better!” Vivienne Walton, Lancaster BOUQUET Amaretto Amarena “The most promising chocolate turned out to be the best one! Do you know the way to Amaretto...?” Jill Yeates, Lewes BOUQUET Champagne Star “A VERY special chocolate with the most unique and gorgeous taste. My husband is something of a chocolate connoisseur and he was blown away by this!” Kelly Crook, Billingham BRICKBAT Robin Redbreast “Good white chocolate ruined by lemon!” Russell Hawes, Slough

in the POSTBAG… We kick off this month’s postbag with a letter from Catherine Preston who describes a day of unusual synchronicity. The morning that her second Tasting Box arrived, she had an appointment with her doctor for an acupuncture session. He advised no alcohol for the rest of the day and Catherine jokingly asked if chocolate was allowed… No problem, he replied, what’s your favourite sort? Well, I replied, when desperate I’ll eat pretty much any kind. Ah, he said with the air of someone about to impart a secret, but have you heard of Hotel Chocolat? Yes! I exclaimed, I received my second Tasting Selection this morning.

We also heard from Kathryn Houghton this month, who happened to bump into Angus while doing a mad dash for last minute gifts in Hotel Chocolat Nottingham.

Like two conspirators, we agreed that Hotel Chocolat chocolate is utterly gorgeous. I’m not sure yet if the acupuncture was a success but, as I enjoyed the divine taste of the Coconut Puddles when I got home, I reflected that you come across fellow chocoholics in the most unusual circumstances!

It’s not everyday you go shopping and get the chance to meet Angus and have your say…. about mould designs, flavours and the Tasting Club. Angus was supposed to be a regular employee for the day, but was talking to lots of satisfied customers about their experiences. It’s great to see he goes back to the shop floor and talks to his staff and customers. I don’t think he got much chance to stack shelves and work the tills with all the people who recognised him from the Club News!

Ed – that’s not what Angus told us (see front page)!

Don’t forget that every letter we publish receives THREE free Tasting Boxes!

And finally, Ali Rolls dropped us a line to tell us about her Christmas spent preparing a dazzling array of dishes for her extended family… All seemed to be quietly appreciated, but it was only when I produced the Tasting Club Christmas box that everyone went wild and started complimenting me on what a great meal it had been. Thanks for helping me to round things off in such spectacular style! 7

Where’s Lynn now…? It’s hard to believe it was only last summer that we waved goodbye to Lynn Cunningham, who had managed the Tasting Club for many years. Lynn’s exciting new role was taking her overseas to help establish the Hotel Chocolat brand internationally. So where is she now? You’ll be glad to hear, as we come out of a bitterly cold winter, that Lynn has been sunning herself in Bahrain.

ell, that’s if she has had any spare time while helping to set up the first of Hotel Chocolat’s international franchises – from overseeing store designs and shop fitting, to training new staff. Oh, and Lynn is also keeping us up to date

on all the latest happenings on her blog. Lately, she has been wrestling with the tricky problem of translating Hotel Chocolat names, like Chocolate Gemstones, CarryMe-Home,The Purist Library, into Arabic… Here’s a snippet of what happened.

Lynn throws open the doors of the brand new Hotel Chocolat Bahrain

What’s in a name…? I found the products in the Valentine’s catalogue and painted a picture in words for Imane [our translator] to give her an insight into the appeal of the product. Then Imane tried it out in Arabic and told me what it meant for her. Much laughter later, we were both nodding vigorously and shouting,‘That’s it! That’s it!’ A small crowd soon formed around us, offering us (not terribly helpful) advice and suggestions. Puddles never stood a chance! They started off as ‘wet patches’, progressed to ‘mud’ and finally we abandoned the concept because puddles just don’t equate to much fun over here! They ended up as ‘drops’ sadly. But I can tell you that The Signature Collection has become ‘The Distinguished Set’, the Hero Collection is ‘For Musketeers’ and Vintage Buttons are ‘Antique Designs’.

The first of the new stores is now open, so if your appetite has been firmly whetted, you can follow Lynn’s adventures for yourself on her blog at www.packingmyflipflops.blogspot.com we’re sure she’d love to hear from Tasting Club members! 8

So who did

DUnnIT…?

If you enjoyed Murder, Mystery & Chocolate over Christmas, then by now you’ll know exactly who dunnit – it was all of them and it was none of them! As it turns out, each one of the six chocolatiers had good reason to want the tasting evening postponed. So they all added a little something to upset the Duc de Praline – needless to say the combination of all six doses did the poor soul no good whatsoever that fateful evening… We do hope you enjoyed tasting the chocolates and solving the mystery – and who knows, we may well have cause to call on the famous chocolate detective Sherlock Truffle again…

sherlock Truffle

Prize Draw Winner!

Each Murder, Mystery & Chocolate box contained a special prize draw entry card for the winning sleuth – with a trip to St Lucia up for grabs, including: ■ 7 nights full board for two people ■ Flights and transfers ■ And £500 spending money And the winner is… Mrs G. Middleton from Nottingham.

Congratulations mrs middleton! Many thanks for making the perfect end to our Christmas Day celebrations. We thoroughly enjoyed the Murder, Mystery Game and fortunately my friends and family now know I’m a great fan! Keep up the good work. Mrs J Faller, York

Wow… what fun we had… Our eldest son (who is usually so quiet) got it absolutely correct. He answered while we were all summarising – ‘all of them or none of them’. We were completely dumbfounded. It was amazing he was SO correct! Annie Rayner, Prestatyn

On Christmas evening, nine of my family happily played the Murder, Mystery Game. The younger ones found it very amusing, the older ones treated it far too seriously, with much discussion. With loud whoops and much laughter we discovered one of our youngest and her auntie had won. We all agreed it had been great fun, ending a very happy Christmas Day. Thank you. Mrs TD Groves, Clifton 9

Time to get

cracking!

With this year’s Tasting Club Easter Collection well and truly unveiled in last month’s issue, it’s now time to get cracking!

here’s a real adventure in store for you – with our renowned, extra thick shells to crack into; a stunning collection of exciting, freshly made Easter chocolates to discover; and finally, there’s the added bonus of an exclusive Spring Collection of six gorgeous pralines. This year there are three versions to choose from and there’s even The Mix for those who just can’t choose! The Classic – thick 40% cocoa milk chocolate shells with a balanced selection of milk, dark and white Easter chocolates and a separate Spring Collection of six chocolates. The Dark – thick 70% cocoa dark chocolate shells with a dark selection of 10

Easter chocolates and a separate Spring Collection of six chocolates. The Mix – one 40% milk and one 70% dark chocolate shell with a balanced selection of milk, dark and white Easter chocolates and a separate Spring Collection of six chocolates. Of course, these eggs are specially designed for the more demanding tastes of Club Members. However, you can allow any deserving friends and family to have them by ordering extras! The Tasting Club Easter Collection is now available to order – you can find more details and order online at www.chocs.co.uk/ easter2010 or call 08444 933 933.

It’s all relative –

or is it? S

pecial thanks this month must go to Joy Palfery who has given the tricky subject of chocolate scoring her full attention. By her own admission, Joy was mulling over the possibilities while she should have been working, but she was applying her professional brain to the issue. And, as a business psychologist and chocolate taster, we think she is uniquely placed to offer some insights.

A key part of her work is to devise recruitment assessments that are fair and standardised – so that any two assessors will rate a candidate’s performance in the same way. So, you see, there are many parallels with chocolate tasting. And as Joy says,“One of the ways is to produce a ‘behaviourallyanchored rating scale’. So I have come up with one for chocolate tasters.

score

descriptor

Behaviour – I would…

Eeuchh!

spit it out and get up from a comfy armchair in order to evict any remaining ones from my fridge

Ugh

shudder and look for something to take away the taste

Not really

pull a face whilst finishing it even if no one else is around

Ho hum

eat them if they’re lying in front of me, but it wouldn’t be worth moving from my chair to get one

Mmm

keep munching abstractedly whilst reading

Yep

look up from my reading to pay attention to the choc description

Yum

put down my task and cross the house for another

Yummeee

deceive my spouse & children in order to eat the 2nd one of these myself

Oh yess

make a detour to Hotel Chocolat next time I’m in town to buy more

Gimme gimme

spend more time and money than is sensible to get hold of more of these

ELEMENTS IS HERE! thIs mOnth sees the first of the brand new Elements Selections arriving – and if you have just received one you might well have had a peek inside already! We’re very excited about this new selection and we’d love to hear what you have to say about it – so why not let us know what you think via the paper or online scorecard? Alternatively, you can always contact us via email simon@hotelchocolat.co.uk or by writing to The Chocolate Tasting Club, Mint House, Royston, SG8 5HL.

If you’re a Classic or Dark taster and you’d like to see what Elements is all about, then why not give it a try? You can order a special one-off Elements selection by calling 08444 933 933 quoting box reference S32. Your existing delivery schedule will be unaffected.

“I’m sure this can be refined and redefined,” Joy says. So, what do you think? We’d love to hear your views! 11

spot

THIS MONTH’S PRIZE DRAW WINNERS

the Pod

Classic Selection prize draw winner is

Mr A Bishop of Dover who wins a Sleekster Love Selection.

Thank you all for the unprecedented number of entries to our Spot the Pod Competition – this has been our most popular competition to date.

Next month’s prize is a Your Eggsellency Extra Thick Easter Egg – brimming with ganache-filled truffle eggs!

So, without further ado, the pod missing was in square 5E, as you can see from the original image below. It was clearly a tough competition as only four members guessed the exact location! And from among those a prize draw winner has been chosen – congratulations to Barbara Wensworth, who wins a gorgeous Hand Piped Sleekster Selection.

Dark Selection prize draw winner is Mrs C L Peck of Ely who wins a Chilli & Orange Giant Slab.

Next month’s prize is a Serious Dark Fix Extra Thick Easter Egg – filled with excitingly dark Easter chocolates! A

Solid Chocolate prize draw winner is

Mr D Tillett who wins a Triple Chocolate Wham Bam Giant Slab.

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Next month’s prize is The Eggsibitionist Extra Thick Easter Egg – bursting with gorgeous, hand-finished mini-eggs!

9 10 11 12

Don’t forget – you can score by post or online at www.chocs.co.uk Write to us at: The Chocolate Tasting Club, Mint House, Royston, SG8 5HL Email: simon@hotelchocolat.co.uk or via our website: www.chocs.co.uk Club News: Editor: Simon Thirlwell; Contributors: Simon Thirlwell, Lynn Cunningham, Terry Waters. © The Chocolate Tasting Club Limited 2010