Best high-line dark chocolate?

[denning]

I realize this is a thread necro, but I figure it's better than starting a new thread.

I was recently gifted some chocolate from a maker known as "Schell', specifically the Umami Papua and the Coeur du Cacao bars. Anyone know anything about these? Apparently they have been specifically developed in conjunction with a vintner to go with wine. Not a pairing that normally goes well together, but these are seemingly quite good.

 

[CharlieAngel]

Originally Posted by jeldharr

I really liked the Scharffen Berger stuff. Yes, they're owned by Hershey's, but they still make their chocolate in their little plant in Berkeley. I went out for a visit and they were so hospitable and nice that I make a point to purchase their chocolates still. I've never done a plant visit that was so much fun.

Just something to note that is no longer true. Hershey's shut down SB in Berkeley and moved production to PA.

 

[Annadale]

Originally Posted by lakewolf

Belgium and Switzerland produce the best chocolate in the world...

and also the best tennis players

Well, that is an absolute crock of sh**! Belgian and Swiss chocolate have inordinately large amounts of sugar embedded in them to mask the poor quality beans used in their manufacture. It's an old restaurant trick,sweeten and add cream to coat the tongue preventing an accurate assessment of flavour! The best quantity manufacturer's in my not so humble and fully qualified opinion are Amedei from Italy( which was started by an Italian brother and sister when they were refused the rights to handle Valrhona chocolate back in the 90's. They started their own company out of spite and now compete head to head for some of the best beans in the world with the Frenchies! I love a good underdog scrap!). Michel Cluizel come a distant second (good range). Valrhona are in my opinion the Cadbury's Creme Egg of the, and I use the term broadly, quality manufacturers. There is a small artisanal producer in New York, can't for the life of me remember their name, whose offerings looked interesting, though if I remember correctly, their graphics were similar to the English Rococo Chocolates. Two brothers i vaguely remember, red hair and geeky

 

[kiya]

Originally Posted by Annadale

Well, that is an absolute crock of sh**! Belgian and Swiss chocolate have inordinately large amounts of sugar embedded in them to mask the poor quality beans used in their manufacture. It's an old restaurant trick,sweeten and add cream to coat the tongue preventing an accurate assessment of flavour! The best quantity manufacturer's in my not so humble and fully qualified opinion are Amedei from Italy( which was started by an Italian brother and sister when they were refused the rights to handle Valrhona chocolate back in the 90's. They started their own company out of spite and now compete head to head for some of the best beans in the world with the Frenchies! I love a good underdog scrap!). Michel Cluizel come a distant second (good range). Valrhona are in my opinion the Cadbury's Creme Egg of the, and I use the term broadly, quality manufacturers. There is a small artisanal producer in New York, can't for the life of me remember their name, whose offerings looked interesting, though if I remember correctly, their graphics were similar to the English Rococo Chocolates. Two brothers i vaguely remember, red hair and geeky

I agree with all of this. I've studied chocolate for years and the Belgian and Swiss (especially the Swiss) make terrible chocolate which only tastes like sweetened powdered milk. Their quality of bean is unbearably low.
The best chocolate in the world (in my opinion of course..) comes from Domori, with Amedei coming in second place. Both Italian.

 

[Annadale]

Haven't tried Domori yet,never seen it in Ireland, and now I'm in China.......well, good chocolate is an impossibility!

 

[YoroiChuu]

I like Guylian.

 

[LA Guy]

Originally Posted by kiya

I agree with all of this. I've studied chocolate for years and the Belgian and Swiss (especially the Swiss) make terrible chocolate which only tastes like sweetened powdered milk. Their quality of bean is unbearably low.
The best chocolate in the world (in my opinion of course..) comes from Domori, with Amedei coming in second place. Both Italian.

I never had the Amedei before last night, but I think that I like it significantly more than the Domori. Or maybe I'm just over-Domori'd. I enjoy it, but less than I did, say, 6 months ago. Thanks Kiya!

 

[Politely]

I've tried many of the high end chocolatiers in NYC, including Kee's, Teuscher, MdC, etc, and at that level of chocolate, the quality of chocolate is generally excellent, it's what they do with it that differentiates them. And while I like pieces here and there from each of those places, my overall favorite maker is Martine's, for their dark chocolate creams and truffles. They say they make them fresh every day, and I've witnessed it a few times. Every time I'm near Bloomingdale's, I find myself walking out with a pound of it - literally. It's a fairly expensive habit. As far as "regular" eating chocolate, I like Jacques Torres dark chocolate bark.

 

[kiya]

Politely, none of those places you mentioned make chocolate.
They're candy makers.

 

[bigbadbuff]

Originally Posted by JetBlast

+1, I always stop in there when I'm in LV. JB
Was in Vegas last week and made a point of stopping by Jean Phillipe getting an assorted truffle box. Very, very good.

 

[gdl203]

Originally Posted by kiya

Politely, none of those places you mentioned make chocolate.
They're candy makers.

You're correct but that's just semantics. They make chocolates, aka chocoloate-based candies, aka pralines. This is how everyone calls these little chocolate-based things.

 

[LA Guy]

On my way back from Spokane, my wife and I stopped by the very good Latah Bistro, which, in addition to some pretty good food, has great chocolate and chocolate based deserts. They comped me a bar of the Pralus "Fortissima" (80% cacao, mix of different beans), which has an amazing raisiny taste, and I bought a bar of Michel Cluizel's "Concepcion" (66%, Venezuela) which has starts with vanilla, has a deep spice cake taste, and finishes strong with dried fruit.

Man, I could really get into this...

 

[Politely]

Originally Posted by kiya

Politely, none of those places you mentioned make chocolate.
They're candy makers.

I think that's mostly true, which is why I specified "chocolatiers". I think Torres make his own chocolate in his "chocolate factory" - which is a pretty neat place to visit in SoHo, if you haven't been there before. As for the inclusion, it was just a matter of following the old discussion - you'll notice that all of the companies I mentioned were also mentioned in previous posts, other than Martine's.

 

[Annadale]

Originally Posted by kiya

Politely, none of those places you mentioned make chocolate.
They're candy makers.

Personally I like my chocolate the same way as I like my coffee. Dark, NO MILK, maybe a little sugar to highlight some aspects of the taste profile. Creams, praline, and ganache? For the 'palate bereft'.

The higher the quality, the simpler it should be.

 

[Politely]

Originally Posted by Annadale

Personally I like my chocolate the same way as I like my coffee. Dark, NO MILK, maybe a little sugar to highlight some aspects of the taste profile. Creams, praline, and ganache? For the 'palate bereft'.

The higher the quality, the simpler it should be.

You're entitled to your preferences, of course, but I don't think coffee is an apt comparison. Chocolate is more highly processed than coffee and it's not particularly simple. With chocolate, higher quality usually means more processing and less simplicity. Also, a "little sugar" is actually about 30% in 70% dark chocolate - imagine if your 12 ounce cup of coffee contained about 1/3 sugar. And, in my view, the higher the cocoa content, particularly when you start hitting the 80s, the less it is about fine palate than it is about brute force.

I rarely eat white or milk chocolate and am particular about my chocolate, but otherwise, I'm not much of a purist, and tend not to eat bars because I find them a bit boring. Actually, when I tried single origin bars, I could appreciate them for what they were and could taste the differences and thought they were interesting, but didn't find them delicious. And if it's not delicious, then why bother?

Anyway, if you ever make the trip to Martine's I recommend trying all of their creams and truffles, but I particularly like the dark pyramid (whipped cream, liquid caramel and hazelnuts), dark shell (chocolate mousse) and dark piano (butterscotch caramel), which is a bit odd since I don't like caramel. The first time my sister-in-law tried the pyramid, I gave her a piece as we were walking down Park Ave, and she literally stopped in the middle of the sidewalk in surprise. Anyway, it's kind of ridiculous how much I love that place.