The world of craft chocolate is an artisan movement centralized on a back-to-the-basics approach to chocolate making. Chocolate made by craft chocolatiers is simple, usually including just cocoa liquor and sugar. Coffee went through a similar renaissance starting in the late 1980s and 90s focused on ethical and quality concerns.
Read MoreWorld Coffee Profile Index
Yemen- chocolate, wine, nutty
Ethiopia- pomegranate, lemon blossom, clover, honey, chocolate, banana, blackberry, apricot, cinnamon, black tea, fir, blueberry, syrup, wine, floral, mango, strawberry, cane sugar, grapefruit, plum, grape, lime
Uganda- chocolate, creamy, vanilla, hazelnut, smokey
Kenya- citrus, lemon, orange, grapefruit, floral
While coffee buyers have always been around in a mostly mercantile manner focusing on managing the import/export balance, the last 10 years have seen a more skilled and quality-driven middle-man emerge. With so many different concerns to focus on ranging from environmental sustainability to socio-economic justice and then not to mention the individual characteristics and political requirements of each origin, navigating these worlds to build economic bridges to a modern first-world is truly a full time job.
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If you are a fan of Third Wave, then you have come across the three different post-harvest processing methods for coffee. Here’s a guide to what they mean and how different processing methods can affect flavor.
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Thoughts and Tastes from Castronovo Chocolate in Stuart, FL
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Digging deeper into coffee and cocoa, the specialty markets and how their cost structures attribute to their price tags. Transparency is the heart and the root as well as complete dedication to the beans and where they come from!
Read MoreIf you can afford to eat healthy in the United States of America then you probably make significantly more money than the minimum wage. Corporations have dictated the flow of nutrients to the masses depending on the price tag they can afford through the guise of convenience, lobbying campaigns, control of farming, and the food supply chain. In this post I highlight an interview with Raj Patel by Lucky Peach on how to start changing the system.
Read MoreLabeling has been an important piece to the success of American Craft Chocolate but those who blindly follow good packaging loose sight of delicious chocolate. Mast Brothers have recently come under strong attack for mislabeling from the origins of there brand. Here are multiple links on the issue. Main point- don't let good looks fool you! Keep asking questions and informing yourself.
Read MoreGlobalized agriculture markets carry within them great price volatility due to many extraneous variables like seasonality, water conditions, and pest-management to name a few. Here I want to begin the conversation on how a globalized market can work with the farmers to provide them with prices high enough to sustain them through the off-season or drought years. Check out this interview: http://coffeelands.crs.org/2015/11/conversations-in-prm-part-3-jorge-cuevas-a-shared-cost-approach-to-price-insurance/
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In the late 1990s Vietnam suddenly popped onto the map as the second largest coffee producing country in the world surpassing Columbia and falling second only to Brazil.
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Direct Trade is a highly variable system devised by each company to focus on their particular concerns, but almost always these programs include long-term partnerships with their farms, quality control and paying well over the Fair Trade minimum price ($500 + PNYSE).
Read MoreNext year marks the 10th anniversary of craft chocolate. In this time the industry has grown and changed with no signs of stopping. Specialty Chocolate to the American consumer can be a very personally rewarding relationship and for most people when you start adding $10+ bars on the table it can create an immediately alienating atmosphere. It’s better to work up to the higher end slowly, and I think the Wine and Coffee industries have done a good job at setting a tone like that.
Read MoreWhy Farmers Markets are important! and how they are a main artery for being and educated consumer, improving your quality of life and consuming deliciously!
Read MoreDelving deeper into my background and how understanding the chocolate industry paved the way and shaped my approach to the world!
Read MoreWhat does Delicious Consumption mean? Delving into the philosophical premise for this blog and giving a brief backstory on how I came to understand my process and relationship with food and my body/health.
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