Club News
The monthly newsletter from the Tasting Club
Issue 1113
TECHNOPHOBE? Discover our brand new series of step-by-step articles to get you started on our website. See page 6
ISLAND Adventure!
If you know your Azores from your Elba, you could be well placed to scoop first prize in the ‘Name That Island’ Competition. Enter on page 15
THE GREAT
The indefatigable Griotte Deluxe shone once again in 2011
Celebrating a year of
Stunning Chocolates!
RABOT ESTATE
COCOA RACE
Don’t miss our brand new competition that runs all year long and is open to all members. Find out more on page 7
2011 has been full of excitement, but over just a little too soon, exactly like our tasting boxes! The Club’s 13th year has absolutely flown by, so, just in case you blinked and missed something, here are some of the highlights.
1113NL
What better way to kick off proceedings than with a reminder of all the new things this year? We started off in grand style with Six of the Best, a rather special, special edition that featured nothing but the champions of champions. That’s to say, the six top scoring chocolates in the Club’s history and, needless to say, they all went continued on page 8...
Great Rabot Cocoa Race
Letter from the
Editor
W
elcome to the latest issue of Club News. On the front cover this month you’ll see that we’re taking a look back over 2011 and what a busy year it has turned out to be! I must say that the highlight of the year for me was my trip to Saint Lucia during the summer and being able to experience The Hotel and Rabot Estate for myself. Goodness knows I had written about them a great deal! Having experienced cocoa growing in Ghana on many occasions now, it was extremely interesting to compare and contrast with how it all happens in the West Indies. But enough about me! I’d love to hear all about your Tasting Club highlights of the year. So do please drop me a line and you could well find yourself published here in Club News (and don’t forget that every published letter receives a free tasting selection.
“
“
But enough about me! I’d love to hear all about your Tasting Club highlights of the year. So do please drop me a line…
Elsewhere in this issue you’ll find the first of our ‘Website Walkthrough’ articles – a series designed to help absolutely anyone use our website, whatever their technical ability. So if you’ve been holding back, just turn to page 6 and we’ll get you started. You’ll also see there’s a sneak preview of the forthcoming All Milk Selection, a round up of Hotel Chocolat news and an interesting new competition that will be particularly well suited to any geography fans out there.
Until next month, happy tasting! Christmas is selling out fast – last orders on page 4!
Simon Thirlwell Club News Editor
Send your letters to The Chocolate Tasting Club, Mint House, Royston SG8 5HL, or simply email me on simon@hotelchocolat.co.uk or via our website: www.chocs.co.uk We are waiting to hear from you! Club News Editor: Simon Thirlwell; Contributors: Simon Thirlwell, Terry Waters.
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© The Chocolate Tasting Club plc 2011
Improve your chocolate knowledge
tempering
A
fter roasting and grinding,
mixing and conching, we finally get to a liquid that we all would recognise as chocolate. However, left to its own devices this liquid would set into a distinctly unsatisfactory chocolate. Why? Because during the chocolate making process, the cocoa butter contained in chocolate has become disrupted and if allowed to cool, its crystals would set in an uneven manner. This would produce a dull, blotchy looking, crumbly textured chocolate that we wouldn’t look twice at.
So, in order to get the crystals to set in uniformly small formations we use a process called tempering – by which we heat the chocolate, let it cool slightly and then heat it again to 31ºC to encourage the fine, stable crystallisation of the cocoa butter and its even dispersal through the chocolate. Then, when cooled rapidly, it will set into the chocolate with a good, clean snap, an attractive sheen and good keeping qualities.
This month’s Prize Draw
Winners
D141 Classic Selection prize draw winner is Miss C Seignior from London who wins a Classic Signature Collection. Next month’s prize is an Everything Sleekster Selection.
K74 Dark Selection prize draw winner is Mr D Cooke from Sandy who wins a Serious Dark Fix Selection. Next month’s prize is an Extreme Dark Dipping Adventure.
S52 Elements
prize draw winner is Mrs C Murdoch from Twickenham who wins a Caramel & Co Giant Slab. Next month’s prize is a Mississippi Mud Pie Giant Slab.
P05 Purist Selection prize draw winner is Ms R Mardle from Wymondham who wins a Purist Collection.
selling out fast…
LAST CALL FOR THE CHRISTMAS SPECIALS!
C
hristmas is a time
for celebrating with friends and families and for giving and receiving some of life’s festive luxuries – which is exactly where the Club’s Christmas Special Editions come in! Whether you’re looking for a little something special to keep at home to open and share around, or you need some exclusive gift ideas for deserving friends and family – you’ll find it in our Christmas line up. But please hurry – Excellence for Christmas and the latest Fortified Selection have both SOLD OUT already. So if you’d like something special to pass around and enjoy at home this Christmas, or you need a stunning gift to stuff into someone’s stocking – please order now to avoid disappointment and to ensure delivery for Christmas. www.chocs.co.uk/reserve or call 08444 72 70 70
Next month’s prize is a Purist Pralines & Caramel Selection.
Don’t forget
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– score by post or online at www.chocs.co.uk and you’ll be automatically entered into this prize draw
Over the last 13 years we’ve tasted well over 2,000 chocolate recipes. Only a select few have gone on to reach iconic status. Discover the recipes that lead from the front, set new trends and redefine entire genres – six of the very best Tasting Club icons. Available to order now for the special Club price of £20.95 (including delivery) www.chocs.co.uk/ICONS
Website
Walkthrough 1
C
The what, where and how of using the Tasting Club’s website! B
There’s so much you can do at www.chocs.co.uk – but before you can do anything you must first register yourself at our website and then activate your membership. Just follow the first of our guides…
D E
How to register online 1. Visit www.chocs.co.uk 2. On the right-hand side of the page, under ‘Members’ Login’, click on ‘Register’. A 3. On the right-hand side of the page, under ‘Create your online account’, click on ‘Register’. 4. Enter your postcode and click on ‘Lookup Postcode’. B 5. Choose your address from the list shown and click on ‘Use Address’. 5a: If your postcode is not recognised there is a link on the right-hand side you can click. This will bring up a new page where you can enter your address manually. 6. Enter your Title, First and Surname. C 7. Scroll down and enter your email address twice, in the fields next to ‘Email’ and ‘Retype e-mail’. D 8. Choose a password and enter this twice, in the fields next to ‘Password’ and ‘Re-type Password’. E 9. Click on ‘Register’. F
A
6
F
How to activate membership online 1. Log in at www.chocs.co.uk with your email address and password. 2. Click on ‘Manage My Membership’ at the top of the page (underneath the Chocolate Tasting Club banner). 3. Click on ‘please click here to continue’. 4. When prompted, enter your Membership Number and Online Activation Key – both of which can be found either on your membership card or any of your Tasting Club bills. G
G
Great Rabot Cocoa Race Choose your tree in next month’s issue – then follow its progress all year
THE GREAT RABOT ESTATE COCOA RACE Coming next month! In next month’s Club News we’ll be launching our largest scale competition ever and you’ll be invited to take part in The Great Rabot Estate Cocoa Race. But don’t worry – no training (or indeed trainers!) will be required! So what’s the big idea? We’ll give you the details of five different cocoa trees (see right) on Rabot Estate in Saint Lucia – each of which has been adopted by a member of the estate staff. We’ll also reveal more about the ‘Cocoa Team’ – like who they are and what their experience is. Then, using your judgement, you must choose the tree you think will provide the most cocoa during the 2012 season. During the year you’ll get updates on the trees in Club News and the result will be announced at the end of the year. When entering you’ll be asked to say what you would most look forward to on a holiday to The Hotel on Rabot Estate in the usual ‘30 words or less’. We will then review all those with the winning answer and decide the winner based on who has the most interesting ‘holiday idea’. The winner will be off to The Hotel for 7 nights and four runners up will each receive a year’s supply of Club chocolates!
And to whet your appetite here are the contenders: TREE
COCOA TYPE
Looked after by
Trinitario ICS 39
Cuthbert Monroque
Trinitario ICS 95
Murray Bertie
3
Old Rabot Heirloom Trinitario
Simon Monrose
4
Trinitario ICS 98
Methodist Faucher
5
Trinitario ICS 1
Matthew Alcindor (Mr Matt)
1 2
Don’t miss the entry form in the next issue of Club News – when you’ll find out the significance of the ICS numbers and you can meet the Rabot Cocoa Team too! 7
Club neWS
The monthly newsletter from the Tasting Club
Issue 1111
ARE THOSE
Jingle Bells? Christmas really is on its way – so now’s the time to discover the must-have Club Christmas Collections! Find all three on page 5
Score DRAW
Tasting Club Director reveals his scientific methods behind his chocolate scores. Will you agree? Find out on page 6
Taking the Tasting Club to America has thrown up unique challenges, like developing new packaging to cope with extreme heat
WHat’S HOt
in America?
What’s Your FAvOURITE COLOUR? Give us your help in choosing the colour for a brand new tasting selection and you could win one of the first boxes. Cast your vote on page 15
In more ways that one, The Chocolate Tasting Club is pretty hot property in the USA right now, as our update of American news shows.
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First and foremost, our plan to start our testing, quite fittingly, in New England with both Classic and Dark Introductory Selections has been a great success, although not exactly as we had forecast it would be… That’s because, when we fi rst started working with our partners in America we told them, with 13 years of experience here in the UK and Europe, that about 10% of their tasters would
1111NL_D142_News_AW.indd 1
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continued on page 8...
16/09/2011 17:28
continued from page 1
Celebrating a year of
Stunning Chocolates!
“
Having first shown its face back in 2008, the His & Hers Collection made an entertaining reappearance, in good time for some Valentine’s Day fun and games of course!
down very well with members – with the seemingly undefeatable Griotte Deluxe leading the field. Another stunning debutante was our rare cocoa Purist Selection, which dropped through the first letterboxes in March this year. This year also saw a brand new look for the Club, with a radical new style for tasting boxes, menus and Club News too. We rolled out those new designs gradually, starting in April and continuing for a few months. Because we wanted to keep waste to an absolute minimum, we mixed and matched old and new box lids and menus for a couple of months, which was an interesting look! And speaking of boxes and menus, we also introduced three new chocolate personalities in Classic and Dark tasting selections – Off the Wall, Founder’s Favourite and Blast from the Past all appeared in May’s despatches and they’ve quickly become firm favourites in every box! Rounding off what has been an incredibly busy year, we saw a whole raft of exciting launches for Christmas – including our updated and expanded recipe book, From Morning to Midnight; the ground breaking Cheese Tasting Experience and Entertaining with Chocolate, both exploring the world of tasting and flavour pairing; not forgetting our very own, limited edition Club apron of course! But the excitement wasn’t all about the new faces on the block, some Club regulars made very welcome returns too. Due to popular demand, The Fortified Collection evolved into a regular quarterly selection, which is now in its second edition. Having first shown its face back in 2008, the His & Hers Collection made an entertaining reappearance, in good
”
time for some Valentine’s Day fun and games of course! Summer Desserts was another welcome visitor after its high scoring debut in the summer of 2009 and wowed members all over again. Then there was the important matter of the Chocolate Bonds. Because we had had several requests from bondholders to upgrade their Bonds from £2,000 to £4,000 we were obliged, by the law governing such things, to offer the same opportunity to all. Once again we were truly overwhelmed by the response. First, we raised an unprecedented £3.7 million with the original issue and now we have taken the total to £4.1 million! Also in the headlines this year was Saint Lucia, first with Boucan Restaurant, which opened its doors on Rabot Estate, swiftly followed by the launch of the Hotel. The ‘cacao cuisine’ at Boucan has been an immediate success and the restaurant has quickly become a destination in its own right. The Hotel, meanwhile, has already played host to many Tasting Club members, most of whom were kind enough to send us some of their holiday snaps! Last, but by no means least, we also said hello to a lot more of our American cousins, as the Tasting Club test was rolled out. Unusually, America seems to have bucked a trend with about 35% favouring the Dark Selection, while only 10% do here in Britain. Next year there are already so many exciting things to look forward to – including the full opening of the Hotel, a trip to Ghana and, of course, lots of exciting chocolates. We look forward to sharing them with you!
Clockwise from top left – Fortified became a quarterly selection; regular Tasting Club boxes got strikingly smart new looks; the Tasting Club continued to taste success in the USA; meanwhile, The Hotel opened in Saint Lucia and has wowed many members already; Christmas saw the launch of the renowned Club Collections, the Cheese Tasting Experience, exclusive aprons and more; a second helping of Summer Desserts; and your scores kept coming in! 9
scores
Classic 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Dark 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Selection – D141
Café Latte by M Meier 8.44 (35% scored it 10/10) Clementine Cup by O Coppeneur 8.39 (33% scored it 10/10) Salted Caramel Milk Tasting Batons 8.26 (26% scored it 10/10) Caramel Anis by G Pereira 8.24 (30% scored it 10/10) Whisky Top by JC Vandenberghe 8.22 (30% scored it 10/10) Cranberry Truffle by O Nicod 8.21 (29% scored it 10/10) Macadamia Picnic by JC Vandenberghe 8.16 (23% scored it 10/10) Ruby Port Truffle by M Meier 8.14 (26% scored it 10/10) Spiced Rum by R Macfadyen 8.14 (33% scored it 10/10) Lemon & Almond Mousse by K Kalenko 8.08 (20% scored it 10/10)
Selection – K74
Spiced Rum by R Macfadyen 8.62 (34% scored it 10/10) Whisky Top by JC Vandenberghe 8.61 (38% scored it 10/10) 70% Dark Tasting Batons, Ivory Coast 8.43 (34% scored it 10/10) Café Latte by M Meier 8.41 (36% scored it 10/10) Ruby Port Truffle by M Meier 8.37 (35% scored it 10/10) Russian Cocktail by R Macfadyen 8.32 (31% scored it 10/10) Cranberry Truffle by O Nicod 8.31 (26% scored it 10/10) Clementine Cup by O Coppeneur 8.19 (27% scored it 10/10) Apple Pie by E Desmet 8.10 (26% scored it 10/10) Praline Sandwich by E Desmet 8.09 (25% scored it 10/10)
Elements 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
10
Spiced Rum
Selection – S52
Zesty Crunch 8.70 (35% scored it 10/10) Salted Caramel Milk Tasting Batons 8.51 (29% scored it 10/10) Macadamia Picnic by JC Vandenberghe 8.35 (42% scored it 10/10) Praline Sandwich by E Desmet 8.32 (35% scored it 10/10) 52% Milk Chocolate 8.05 (19% scored it 10/10) Clementine Cup by O Coppeneur 8.05 (26% scored it 10/10) Lemon & Almond Mousse by K Kalenko 7.81 (13% scored it 10/10) Cranberry Truffle by O Nicod 7.77 (19% scored it 10/10) 70% Dark Tasting Batons, Ivory Coast 7.32 (16% scored it 10/10) Mocha Matters by R Macfadyen 7.02 (19% scored it 10/10)
Purist 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Café Latte
Zesty Crunch
Selection – P05
Bolivian Brazil Nuts 8.73 (36% scored it 10/10) Coffee Salted Caramel 8.18 (27% scored it 10/10) 67% Dark Chocolate, Ivory Coast 7.73 (18% scored it 10/10) Time for Thyme 7.73 (9% scored it 10/10) Jumbo Raisins 7.46 (9% scored it 10/10) 65% Dark Island Growers, Saint Lucia 6.91 (18% scored it 10/10)
Bolivian Brazil Nuts
feedback
Have Your Say! Bouquet Salted Caramel Tasting Batons – Classic Another taste I’ve discovered through being part of the Club. Loved these – creamy, good caramel notes and that sharp occasional salt granule. Beverley Watson, Daventry
Bouquet Macadamia Picnic – Classic Perfect look, perfect texture, perfect taste. An undeniable 10 out of 10.
Verity Mills, Mountain Ash
Brickbat Macadamia Picnic – Classic Whoever did that to the wonderful macadamia nut should be taken out and shot. Sludgy, gritty filling overpowered by sickly sweet chocolate...
Elizabeth Draper, London
Brickbat Time for Thyme – Purist This is the first time I have ever disliked a chocolate, I tried each one to give myself a chance to change my mind (like with kids eating sprouts!) but nope...
Rachel Mardle, Wymondham
Bouquet 52% Milk Chocolate – Elements The chocolate we’ve been waiting for, without knowing it! Victoria Wilderspin, Jersey
Bouquet Caramel Anis – Dark This surprised me! Not normally a great fan of caramel but this certainly changed my mind – it’s simply delicious! E Ferguson, Hamilton
Fortified Comments... Speyside Whisky Gorgeously warming. There are plenty more whiskies to try, so just keep going. Rosemary Arthur, Wakefield Port Cooler I love port, I love Portugal, I love Xmas and this chocolate reminded me of all three. Karen George, Preston General Wonderful selection, just right for the cooler evenings coming, leave you with a lovely warm feeling. Marion Bartlett, Gosport Cognac Caress Good combination! Strong! Reminded me of Christmas pudding with my homemade brandy butter! Michelle Bedoe, Bristol Champagne Truffle A perfect champagne truffle – it almost sparkles. Sylvia Crouch, Canterbury General Looking forward to the next box, have had to start marking down a bit or you will have to raise the marking to 12. Mary Hatton, Burton-on-Trent
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Take a peek at...
THE ALL MILK SELECTION We’ve always known that a majority of Club members prefer milk chocolate, which is precisely why the Classic Selection is our most popular.
H
owever, following a members’ survey not so long ago, it became clear that many Classic members would love a box devoted to milk chocolate. Just as it became clear back in the earlier days of the Club that there were quite a few members who would love an all dark selection. That culminated in the launch of the Dark Selection in the spring of 2006 and this time we’re launching the All Milk Selection. Each All Milk Selection will be based on the corresponding Classic Selection, with one exception – we’ll be concentrating on the mellow, milk chocolate recipes by featuring three each of the most mellow,
most milky of them all (rather than the usual two each), as well as four milk chocolate batons.
T
hank you for helping us to choose the colour for this new selection, you can see the winning shade above. And there’s a special little something on the way to one participating member, Mrs U Wood – for not only choosing lilac, the winning colour, but also for including some timely advice for our designer –
“Not too wishy-washy please”.
Existing members will be able to give the All Milk Selection a try without interfering with regular tasting box deliveries – by trying the Introductory Selection for just £9.95 (including delivery) Please go to www.chocs.co.uk/MILK or call 08444 72 70 70 to order yours!
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updates
Results
One lucky winner is in for a very entertaining Christmas!
Competition Results THE Fortified The Big Tasting Selection – Autumn
Giveaway
We recently ran the Great Big Tasting Giveaway competition, with four fantastic prizes for the lucky winner: 1. Entertaining with Chocolate 2. The Cheese Tasting Adventure 3. A bottle of Hotel Chocolat Port for Chocolate 4. Our exclusive Morning to Midnight Recipe Book
This has been the most popular Tasting Club competition to date, with well over 2,000 entries. But there can only be one winner, picked at random from the many correct entries, so – CONGRATULATIONS TO MR MARK COOKE OF ABINGDON. We asked which of the following is a type of COCOA, CHEESE, COFFEE, PORT, or a CHOCOLATE RECIPE. a) Kopi Luwak is type of... COFFEE b) Porcelana is type of... COCOA c) Oxford Isis is type of... CHEESE d) Colheita is type of... PORT e) B udino di Cioccolata is type of... CHOCOLATE RECIPE
T
he first of the new quarterly Fortified Selection was inspired by autumn and featured some of the Club’s all-time favourite liqueurs – from comforting amaretto and warming Saint Lucian golden rum, to mellow Marsala fortified wine, bison grass vodka and much more. As you’ll see from the results below two Club favourites, Speyside whisky and amaretto, finished first and second, while the classic liqueur Cointreau completed the top three. But every recipe clearly went down well, as all 14 scored well over 8. 1. Speyside Whisky by R Macfadyen 8.82 (44% scored 10/10)
2. Amaretto Crunch by K Kalenko 8.81 (40% scored 10/10)
3. Cointreau Bombe by O Nicod 8.80 (39% scored 10/10)
4. Cognac Caress by K Kalenko 8.78 (41% scored 10/10)
1st Speyside Whisky
5. Calvados Caramel by R Macfadyen 8.69 (33% scored 10/10)
6. Champagne Truffle by O Nicod 8.66 (34% scored 10/10)
7. White Port Cooler by G Pereira 8.53 (28% scored 10/10)
2nd Amaretto Crunch
8. Poire William by O Nicod 8.52 (34% scored 10/10)
9. Metaxa Mania by G Pereira 8.52 (31% scored 10/10)
10. Bison Grass Truffle by K Kalenko 8.32 (28% scored 10/10)
3rd Cointreau Bombe
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and finally
REFRESHED, reborn and raring to go! W
hile there has been a whole host of brand new Hotel Chocolat stores opening (see below), we mustn’t forget those trusty old stores that many of us have grown to know and love – especially as quite a few have just re-opened after a spot of rejuvenation. So, step forward Bluewater, Birmingham, Gateshead, Brighton, Manchester, Milton Keynes and London Moorgate – all of whom are now sporting sparkling new looks. So if you’re within striking distance, why not drop by and see what’s new for yourself?
Don’t forget to brandish your membership card if you drop into the new look Hotel Chocolat stores
And don’t forget that Tasting Club members receive a preferential 5% discount on their Hotel Chocolat purchases, in-store and online. Just remember to take your membership card along!
Hello
SCOTLAND! At long last Hotel Chocolat’s first Scottish store has opened and quite fittingly you’ll find it in the beautiful capital city. We’d love to say that the long wait has been a patient one, but it has actually been pretty vocal! Tasting Club members haven’t been shy in been writing to demand that Hotel Chocolat open up in Scotland and it’s not unknown for desperate Scots to take the train south for vital supplies. The good news is that the days of those chocolate raiding parties is now over, for those within reach of Edinburgh anyway!
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If you’re one of the first to visit Hotel Chocolat’s first Scottish store, why not drop us a line to tell us what it’s like?
And in the run up to the Christmas season there has been a clutch of new openings across the UK – including London Euston Station, Westfield Stratford City, Newbury, London Canary Wharf and Taunton So wherever you are, you may well find that gorgeous chocolate is now closer than you think.
competition
Competition
NAME THAT ISLAND! Cocoa thrives on many tropical islands from the East and West African coasts, to the Far East, South America and the West Indies. But the question is – can you tell us the names of the 4 1⁄2 islands pictured below? a.
c.
b.
d.
e.
We’ll collect those entries with five correct answers and the first picked at random will win a Hotel Chocolat Signature Collection.
✁
Tear or cut along dotted line
HOW TO ENTER – write the name of the island in the corresponding space below then complete your name and membership number. A. B. C. D. E. PLEASE PRINT
Name Member No. SEND your entry form to CTC Tasting Competition, Mint House, Royston SG8 5HL or EMAIL your answers to simon@hotelchocolat.co.uk All entries must be received by 31st January 2012 15
There’s still time for Christmas delivery – but hurry!
Wherever you are with your Christmas preparations, we can still guarantee that your Christmas order will arrive in time Last order dates for Christmas UK Standard – Tues 20th Dec at 2.30pm UK Gold Delivery – Thurs 22nd Dec at 4pm UK Saturday Delivery – Fri 23rd Dec at 4pm (for delivery on Christmas Eve) hotelchocolat.co.uk Tel: 08444 93 13 13