Seven paradises for chocolatiers

Some people go for wine or tapas.

But here we propose a route through workshops where they make

artisan chocolate

In other words, chocolatiers who do the whole process from receiving the cocoa beans, from small producers, until they obtain a tablet, without additives such as vanilla or lecithin, to obtain a product of the highest quality and respecting the original flavor.

It is a very new trend in Spain, but it already has a few fans who are making the sector grow, for which the Association for the Promotion of Artisan Roasting Chocolate Bean to Bar in Spain was born.

Its president, Victoria de la Torre, says that her objective is for the Administration to recognize this manufacturing process and to regulate it in the future.

Surely who marketed the first

tablet

In Spain, it was Xavi Palau from Lleida, who with his Pangea brand sells at different artisan product fairs.

But the passion has already spread and deserves a tour.

Cocoa House (Girona)

It is a dream for the chocolatier.

Jordi Roca's project, the Roca brother pastry chef, fits into the same building a chocolate shop where you can taste the products or take them with you, with a workshop in sight to discover how chocolate is made and a

hotel

with views of the old part from Girona where to dream of cocoa trees.

Open at the beginning of the year, in the store (they also sell

have tablets with eight different origins of cocoa, such as the Awajún community in Peru, Los Bejucos in the Dominican Republic or La Hacienda Victoria in Ecuador.

For now they work with two flavors: a tablet with 70% Awajún cocoa with mandarin orange and licorice, and another that contains cocoa from Las Trincheras infused with Macallan whiskey.

In addition, you can taste the local hot chocolate and artisan pastries, including the famous

of Girona chocolate filling a

(combination of the Valencian fartons and

Italian) or a classic

.

• casacacaogirona.com

enlarge photo

Xocolata Museum (Barcelona)

Here you are educated about the culture of cocoa and

tablets are made

in an open workshop.

The museum opened this space, which is directed by Olivier Fernández, a year ago, helping to publicize artisan chocolate of origin.

They have envelopes with 15 grams of chocolate, ideal to get started in the different origins of cocoa and prepare a particular tasting.

Even if one is inexperienced, the varieties of flavor that cocoa provides according to their origin and cultivation immediately jump to the taste buds.

What already requires more experimentation is recognizing the tasting notes.

They have just launched a line of chocolate with additives, such as 70% Tanzanian chocolate with orange, 72% Madagascar with

caramelised cocoa

or 67% Papua New Guinea chocolate with dried apricots.

It also has an

store

.

• museudelaxocolata.cat

Chocolates from the Utopick chocolate shop in Valencia.

Utopick (Valencia)

In the Ruzafa neighborhood, hotbed of modernity in Valencia, is Utopick, a hunch from Paco Llopis and Juana Rojas.

He is from the world of pastry and she is from the fine arts, and they joined their good hands in this chocolate shop.

They take care of the selection of cocoa and the elaboration, but also the presentation, and the result is tablets that enter through all the senses.

In 2017 they presented the first

tablet

made with a cocoa from Nicaragua.

They have the workshop behind the store, so the aroma of cocoa seeps everywhere.

They offer 15 options, one of the most special being the tablet of 70% cocoa from Nicaragua with canarone citron grown in a botanical garden in Gandia.

In addition, they have about thirty prescription tablets, and their website offers the option of purchase.

The

of the house is the orange and almond chocolate, and the macadamia macadamia sauce with the point of salt or the milk chocolate with chai tea are also highly appreciated.

• utopick.es

Maychoco (Velez-Malaga)

Mayte Sánchez thought that she knew chocolate well until it occurred to her to make it and she discovered the world of the

and saw clearly that this would be her destiny.

After training at Chocolates Isabel and taking the official chocolate tasting courses, he opened his little workshop by the sea a year ago, in the small Malaga town of Benajarafe (Vélez-Málaga).

There he receives visits and teaches how artisan chocolate is made, in addition to organizing tastings, which can also be

.

His brand currently has 10 types of tablets.

One of the most special is that of 70% cocoa from Peru with dehydrated mango bathed in cocoa.

White chocolate with dehydrated mango and a touch of fleur de sel is also highly valued.

• maychoco.es

Pot (Hornillos de Eresma, Valladolid)

In Puchero they had been roasting coffee for five years in this town of Valladolid, in the middle of the countryside, when they ventured into the world of chocolate.

They soon realized that cocoa shares certain similarities and stories with coffee, as both have been losing quality and flavor with the industrialization of food.

"They are processes with many parallels and it has been a natural evolution," say Marco and Paloma, the founders.

They have been making chocolate for a couple of years, working with five origins and so far they have dared with a tablet that could not be more defining of their identity: chocolate with coffee.

They receive visits from coffee growers and chocolatiers who want to taste their products and see the workshop where their temptations take shape.

They have a cafeteria,

sales

and usually organize tastings.

• puchero.coffee

enlarge photo Juan Ángel Rodrigálvarez, from Kankel Cacao, in Albelda de Iregua (La Rioja).

Kankel Cacao (Albelda de Iregua, La Rioja)

A lifelong pastry chef and chocolatier, who has worked with chocolate in a thousand shapes and colors, Juan Ángel Rodrigálvarez decided that he wanted to go further and make his own chocolate, from beans to bars.

It presented its first tablet at the 2019 ChocoMad fair, and already has five main references: the Philippines, India, Peru, Madagascar and Uganda.

In his workshop, between Albelda de Iregua and Nalda, near Logroño, he has a classroom where he offers information so that people understand the cost of the

visits the workshop and has a shop (also

In addition, it offers tastings of chocolates and wines, since its partner is a winemaker.

One of its specialties is truffles with white and red wine.

• kankelcacao.com

Kaitxo (Balmaseda, Bizkaia)

Kaitxo followed a similar path to Puchero, because they started out as coffee roasters and then launched into the recovery of artisan chocolate with original cocoa.

Raquel González Setien, co-founder with her nephew Mikel, was passionate about chocolate and did the taster training.

"Coffee and cocoa as agricultural products have a lot of things in common," he remarks.

They have the workshop in Balmaseda, a small medieval town in Bizkaia that deserves a visit on its own.

Usually, they open the doors to show how chocolate is made and do tastings, but with the current situation they are offering

tastings

.

They have 10 types of

chocolate

among which the 75% cocoa from Tanzania or the white one with caramelised pistachio stand out.

In addition, its Peruvian cocoa milk chocolate bar with liquorice and violets is famous.

• kaitxo.com

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