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Chocolate

Returning again: the annual chocolate recreational group. We will arrange both 'tutorial' sessions designed to introduce people to fine chocolate bars and bonbons, and 'competition' sessions where chocolate bars are 'tasted off' to pronounce a winner! Please bring the best chocolates you can find locally. I will bring plenty more - possibly with some surprises - and as usual there will be plenty of chocolate to take at the end of it all. The 'tutorial' sessions will end with a 'guess that chocolate' competition: your chance to apply what you've learned to see if you can identify which chocolate is which! Winners in both that and in the 'competition' (i.e. who brought the winning chocolate) will each get a 'special' bar, and first choice of the available 'remains' at the end.

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Timetable

Day Time Location
Tue, 03.05.2016 21:00 - 22:00 Sala Panorama
Wed, 04.05.2016 21:00 - 22:00 Sala Panorama
Thu, 05.05.2016 21:00 - 22:00 Sala Panorama
Fri, 06.05.2016 21:00 - 22:30 Sala Panorama
Sun, 01.05.2016 23:30 - 00:30 Sala Panorama
Mon, 02.05.2016 21:00 - 22:00 Sala TV (room beside bar area)
Tue, 03.05.2016 18:00 - 19:00 Bar area (colocated with tea tasting)
Thu, 05.05.2016 18:00 - 19:00 Bar area
Sat, 07.05.2016 14:00 - 15:00 Sala Panorama

Chocolate is back at CapoCaccia! We will have a late start this year as I (Alex Rast) won't be arriving 'till the Sunday evening of the first week. So a tight schedule this year but we'll have plenty of things to try.

I will be doing 2 'streams' this year: the 'tutorial' stream and the 'competition' stream. The 'tutorial' stream is aimed at CapoCaccia chocolate newcomers; I'll introduce the types of fine chocolate, how to identify it, what all the funny labelling actually means and, of course, all lavishly illustrated with samples. Tutorials will mostly focus on bars, but if there's interest, and samples permitting, we may be able to do a limited confections session as well which would introduce you to filled, boxed chocolates, the sort of thing that sells for €35/500 g and up. By the time the tutorials are over you should be able to understand and recognise fine chocolate, and most importantly perhaps, be empowered to look for it in your home city.

The second stream will be the 'competition' stream. This will be aimed at the more experienced chocolate-tasters, but don't be too intimidated if you're coming into it 'fresh': it's always good to get a different opinion unclouded by previous background. In this format you bring your chocolates (and I wil bring several) and we will judge them against each other in a 3-part competition. Part 1 will be quick eliminations - just getting rid of anything so rubbish no one really likes it. Part 2 will be a focussed judging that will aim to evaluate the chocolate semi-objectively, and then Part 3 will be a final where we will all get around the chocolates that have survived, try them all, discuss, and pronounce winners. Everything will have detailed forms which guide you through the process so that it's not a matter of guesswork. If you are a novice chocolate-taster I strongly advise not attending Part 1 and going to the first tutorial instead. Part 2 will be suitable for all levels of experience.

There will be a limited-places, special confections judging competition as well. Because of numbers of samples limitations, we will be accepting only the first four subscribers to this competition for each of 2 rounds (we will not have the Part 1 'elimination' round in this one) but if you want to try some of the finest boxed chocolates in the world this is your opportunity. Please add your name below or send me an email to alex.rast.technical@gmail.com if you want to be involved.

Those bringing winning chocolates will receive a special bar as a bonus prize. All remaining samples will, of course, be available for distribution at the end of the competition.

At the end of the final we will also have a 'guess that chocolate' competition: perhaps the hardest of all: you will be asked to identify each of several chocolates (which will have been tried before) based upon a blind tasting. Winner here will receive another special bonus.

Timing of rounds is aggressive owing to the small window. As I project it, it goes like this: Bar judgings for rounds 1, 2, and 3 on Monday 2 May, Wednesday 4 May, and Friday 6 May after dinner. Tutorial sessions on Tuesday 3 May and Thursday 5 May following dinner again.

The confections competition will be held during the afternoon breaks on (projected) 3 May and 5 May. Note that these times are subject to possible change to accommodate peoples' availabilities. We may also juggle the evening rounds depending on subscription and other things going on.

Finally, late on Sunday evening and in the afternoon of Saturday, 7 May there will be 2 'bonus' rounds. Nothing formal here, just tasting some interesting chocolates and discussing. If there is sufficient subscription the confections final judging may be moved to the Saturday slot. Be prepared for all sorts of chocolate surprises on both days!

Results:

The bar chocolates competition involved the following chocolates:

Dark

Marabou 70% dark chocolate                                                                                                                                                                                                         Venchi 70% organic chocolate                                                                                                                                                                                                    Venchi 80% dark chocolate                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Rozsavolgyi Porcelana                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Rozsavolgyi Chuno                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Duffy's 72% Ocumare                                                                                                                                                                                                              Chocolate Tree Peru

Milk

Cacaosuyo 50% Piura                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Duffy's 55% Ocumare                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Pump Street Bakery 60% Ecuador Guantupi                                                                                                                                                                                  Baratti e Milano Finissimo Cioccolato Latte

In the elimination round the Venchi 80%, Rozsavolgyi Chuno, Duffy's 72% Ocumare, and Chocolate Tree Peru survived in the darks, while the Duffy's 55% Ocumare and Pump Street Ecuador survived in the milks.

In the second round, with more considered judging, the panel passed through to the finals the Venchi 80%, Duffy's 72% Ocumare, and Chocolate Tree Peru from dark bars and both milk bars - albeit with the Duffy's 55% Ocumare at a significantly lower score.

And so we get to the Final Round where the results were:

Dark:

Winner: Duffy's 72% Ocumare

Second: Chocolate Tree Peru

Milk:

Winner: Pump Street Bakery 60% Ecuador Guantupi

A clean sweep for British chocolate manufacturers! Does that say something? An argument for Brexit? Debates welcome.

 

Confections:

As in previous years there was an exclusive subscription-only confections competition. A total of 7 chocolates were tried; after fierce competition the winners were:

Winner (unanimous!) Matthieu de Gottal Speyside Whiskey Chocolate

Second Place: Bonbon Lavender Mint White Chocolate

The 'bonus bars' went unclaimed since my entries won everything. People who were there - you know what sort of stuff to buy now!

Icon Elimination form for DARK bars (file missing!) Icon Elimination form for MILK bars (file missing!) Icon Main judging form for DARK bars (file missing!) Icon Main judging form for MILK bars (file missing!) Icon Main judging form for FILLED chocolates (file missing!) Icon Finals form for both DARK and MILK bars (file missing!) Icon Finals form for FILLED chocolates (file missing!)

 

Icon Elmination form (new) (file missing!)

Leader

Alexander Rast

Members

Marion betizeau
Germain Haessig
Michael Hopkins
Marina Ignatov
Giacomo Indiveri
Shih-Chii Liu
Sergio Martin del Campo
Christian Mayr
Florian Mirus
Melika Payvand
Alexander Rast
Claire Rind
Yulia Sandamirskaya
Arman Savran
Jaak Simm
Valentina Vasco
Nikolaos Vasileiadis
Borys Wrobel
Qi Xu