Drinking Chocolate: Chocolate One-on-One with Victoria Cooksey

— October 2018 Issue Free Content —

Chocolate One-on-One: Drinking Chocolate

with Victoria Cooksey

The Drinking Chocolate Spectrum

Drinking chocolate. It’s not only about a luscious, satisfying drink. Whether you enjoy a bit of history with your daily chocolate fix, are into drinking chocolate-making accessories, are into following trends, or enjoy comparing one single-origin to the next, drinking chocolate offers something for everyone. Today we explore several drinking chocolate topics with fellow chocoholics from around the world featuring Sophia Rea of Projet Chocolat in the USA, Domantas Uzpalis of Chocolate Naïve in Lithuania, Luke Owen Smith of The Chocolate Bar in New Zealand, and Lilla Toth-Tatai of Little Beetle Chocolate in both England and Hungary. Now get those cups ready and let’s begin!

Victoria Cooksey: Who are the top 3 historical figures whose actions (or just love of chocolate) influenced how drinking chocolate evolved to what it is today?

Sophia Rea: What comes to mind first is of course the Olmecs. They were a civilization that pre dated the Aztec and Inca and we know by traces of cacao in vessels that they cultivated cacao. So without the Olmecs there would not even be chocolate as we know it today. Then would be the monks in Spain who were responsible for making drinking chocolate like the Aztecs with a few modifications. Chocolate was not well received when it arrived to the Old World yet the monks knew its value. In order to make drinking chocolate palatable the monks added sugar.

Spanish Monks making chocolate…

Next they used Old World spices that were familiar and available such as black pepper instead of chile. Also heating the drinking chocolate as opposed to serving it cold or at room temperature like the Aztecs which gets us even closer to evolving into the drinking chocolate we know today. The last would be Marie Antoinette. She made it fashionable to drink chocolate and brought her own apotheker from Vienna to Versailles.

Her favorite drinking chocolate at court was made with almonds and orange blossoms from her garden. It calmed the nerves and was good for all stomach ailments. I’d like to see drinking chocolate become more fashionable again. Especially if you are not a chocolate maker, it is a way to experiment with chocolate in the kitchen.

Adding florals, herbs, spices and different milks or even water are an easy way to become creative with chocolate without having to go to culinary school. Just make sure to use the best ingredients!

Victoria Cooksey: What trends are you seeing in drinking chocolate this year?

Lilla Toth-Tatai, Little Beetle Chocolate (pictured here): I think Golden Milk inspired hot chocolates were a big hit this year. Either with white or milk chocolate. I made it a few times during the winter too.

Also more and more people are trying vegan versions either using water or alternative milks such as nut milks or rice milk. I’ve been experimenting with these as well but most of them alter the taste of the drink so you need to choose carefully.

During this summer, I’ve seen a lot of posts about hot chocolate frappes or iced hot chocolate drinks which can be a great alternatives to the hot beverage but still delivering amazing flavours.

Bottled chocolate milks are also trendy. I’ve seen some British makers (Pump Street and Land) team up with dairy companies to bring back this retro beverage in a higher quality version.

Victoria Cooksey: As a chocolate maker, what have you found to be the differences between eating a piece of solid chocolate versus how that same chocolate tastes in hot, liquid form?

Domantas Uzpalis & Victoria Cooksey, 2017 Northwest Chocolate Festival

Domantas Uzpalis, Chocolate Naïve: Absolutely. Warm chocolate is a powerful culinary experience. I think it is due to the fact that all aromatic volatiles of chocolate are most available when chocolate is in warm state.

Every chocolate producer can testify that the chocolate tastes best when it’s in warm and liquid state (in the grinder).

It’s just some kind of connection between the warm and dense hot chocolate and human pleasure centers.

Victoria Cooksey: What qualities/information should consumers look for when purchasing drinking chocolate?

Luke Owen Smith, The Chocolate Bar: The first thing for me is whether or not it is made with whole chocolate. If it’s just a mixture of cocoa powder and sugar than it’s probably going to be bad, whereas if it contains cocoa butter (or cocoa mass/liquor) then you know it’s proper chocolate that’s been crumbled into powder.

Luke Owen Smith of The Chocolate Bar

After that you need to look at the quality of the chocolate being used, the same way you would when looking at a bar of chocolate. Ideally you want a craft chocolate, made from scratch using high quality and ethically traded cacao. Here in New Zealand we currently only have three companies making drinking chocolate this way – Wellington Chocolate Factory, Hogarth Craft Chocolate, and OCHO Chocolate.

Victoria Cooksey: What would you want consumers to know about the difference between an off-the-shelf hot chocolate and a premium drinking chocolate?

Domantas Uzpalis: First of all, many consumers don’t differentiate hot cocoa and drinking chocolate. There should be at least basic understanding about the product category as such. Hot chocolate is not all equal too. As we all know, quality of raw materials and execution makes the difference and it is certainly applicable to drinking chocolate products too. The better your raw materials are the better your drinking chocolate is. Small producers like ourselves use the same standards for the chocolate bars as for the drinking chocolate products so that the consumers to get full rheological excitement.

Victoria Cooksey: You often show drinking chocolate where you have melted down chocolate bars versus pre-made drinking chocolate. Is that your preference? What do you find to be the differences?

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Lilla Toth-Tatai: I always have quite a big stash of chocolate bars that I buy or receive from other chocolate lovers and I quickly realized that I can’t eat them all so quickly. To reduce my stash, and to finish off bars that were lingering around for too long in my chocolate box, I started to melt them down into hot chocolate.

Interestingly, I found that some of the older bars that become less flavorful over time become vibrantly delicious when melted down into a hot chocolate. I really like the richness and the creaminess they give to the drink. I don’t usually find this when preparing hot chocolate from a pre-made mix. Aldo, it really gives me a good feeling to make it from scratch, and I just love using my milk frother.

If the pre-made drinking chocolate is chocolate shavings, then obviously you get the same thing as when you melt down bars (it is worth checking the price difference, because sometimes you get more chocolate if you buy the shavings then if you buy a bar). It is also interesting to play around with different blends when I have several different samples that would be too small on their own to make a cup of hot chocolate.

Victoria Cooksey: What are the challenges in creating a premium drinking chocolate and the differences in the type or amount of work between making a chocolate bar and creating drinking chocolate?

Domantas Uzpalis: I think there are slight nuances that need to be considered. Liquid chocolate will taste a bit sweeter than a chocolate bar so sugar levels need to be adjusted accordingly. Also, drinking chocolate is very revealing – you can taste the flavour notes in full and they are very pronounced. Any flaw or imperfection is going to come through. Drinking chocolate is a great way to test the bean quality or any recipe too.

Victoria Cooksey: Any recommendations for the best way to taste drinking chocolate?

Lilla Toth-Tatai: The best way really depends on personal preference, you have to experiment until you find your perfect cup. A dash of double cream can give some extra richness and creaminess, but if you really want to taste the chocolate, I suggest you to try water-based hot chocolates. A milk frother or mini-whisk is essential to create a good emulsion in all cases.

Victoria Cooksey: What is the proper etiquette to serve drinking chocolate as part of a tasting or meal? What size or what type of cup/vessel do you recommend it be served in? Does it always have to be dessert?

The one and only Sophia Rea

Sophia Rea: I prefer drinking chocolate as an amuse bouche. Served before the meal it sets the tone for the evening, but drinking chocolate can be served anytime!

For breakfast, which by they way was considered healthy for all children to do up until the mid-century, for an afternoon break or even in the middle of the night, as long as there is a calming addition of chamomile or orange blossom.

In the summertime, add ice and horchata (a Mexican rice drink) or add to a smoothie and you can drink chocolate all day! A smaller cup is my ideal because it goes with my preference to be served hot and before the meal. Also, the smaller size cup keeps the chocolate warm longer.

I use antique demitasse cups from the 1920’s and modern Mexican chocolate cups. Some people prefer a drinking experience with a cappuccino cup or mug and if that creates a feeling of comfort and familiarity then be all means go ahead!

Victoria Cooksey: How has the significance of drinking chocolate been represented when you have been on origin trips? What is your favorite way to make and consume drinking chocolate at home?

Domantas Uzpalis: Like I said, people are just not familiar with drinking chocolate culture and especially in the cacao growing counties. Folks like to drink sugary cocoa mixture which is very far away from the real stuff. Having said that, some heritage still exist. I just want to remind that the chocoalte bar is a recent innovation. Cacao was consumed mostly as beverage for hundreds of years in Latin American as well as Europe. My best drinking chocolate recipe? That warm and gooey mass that comes straight from the grinder .

Years of Drinking Chocolate's Existence

For the rest of this Chocolate One-on-One interview, just click here to pick up the October 2018 issue in the Chocolate Connoisseur Magazine Shop.

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And for more on Luke, Sophia, Domantas, and Lilla, please visit them via the links below, and a big thank you to all four of them for sharing their knowledge with us for this article!