I had the pleasure of attending 'Cocoa Tea
and Chocolate Talks at the House of Chocolate Grenada. On Wednesday 5th May,
2019. I know you're probably thinking, did she say a TALK? That can't be
one of the fun ones! Well, jokes on you because I'm an academic so of course this qualifies as my nerdy idea of fun! Also there was COCOA TEA, which I happen to love so much I have recently
dubbed myself it"s beloved ambassador.
Now,
as some of you may already know, cocoa tea is a drink made of dried
concentrated cocoa, brought to a boil. Then, like most teas, it sees the
addition of milk and sugar as according to preference. On my island of Grenada we grow organic, ethically made cocoa that is of exemplary quality. Go ahead, ask about us.
Cocoa
tea is usually served hot. As it is made of the
raw ingredient used as the base for all chocolate, it is rich, full
bodied and if dried well in the processing part of the product, it is
very healthy.
It
is a drink I am extremely passionate about. As a child I was never a
milk drinker really and while many city house hold children seemed to have grown up
drinking milk, my countryside home really drank cocoa tea
the majority of times. It
is a tradition for my family that spans generations, both paternally
and maternally. One of those things that never seemed odd until I
discussed it with friends and found out that for them it was more treat
than daily indulgence.
On our island Grenada it is made in a variety of ways, most commonly with the addition of cinnamon and bay-leaf during the boiling stage. As I lived that wonderful privilege of country life, I grew up picking a bay leaf (locally also called bounden leaf) off a branch, left to dry on our kitchen counter. I would pop it into a boiling pot of melting cocoa and watch the steam swirling up from that fragrant depth of soon to be liquid chocolate.
I
wish I could describe for you the smell of a bay-leaf hitting that
boiling hot, dark, swirling vat of cocoa. How it permeates...not just
every room of a house with the smell of roasting cocoa bean but the
general surrounding environment with it.
So
many Sunday mornings I woke up by that smell, as my mother stood at our
stove. Waking the house and my appetite with the stir of that pot of
tea. I love it so much I've wrote poetry about it y'all!
At
the Grenada Chocolate Festival 2019, Cocoa Tea and Chocolate Talks, we
were lead into discussion by Belgian professional chocolate taster: Le Cameleon Chocolate
She spoke to us of the differences between a traditional Mexican cocoa roast and a contemporary one.
I
was enraptured. Since cocoa tea means so much to my family it was
enthralling to find out that the Aztec made chocolate, oven roasting
their beans and adding a smoky, woody taste to their chocolate not just
for flavour but as a way to pay spiritual homage to their ancestors
through the smoke ascension.
Myself and Cameleon Chocolate sharing a cup of vegan cocoa tea from the House of Chocolate Grenada
I
cannot help but marvel over how people, so far apart, so different in
look, culture and geography, managed to work out a delicious endeavour so
similar in it's process.
Here,
at home in Grenada, we do a lot of stove top roasting of our cocoa
beans. Maybe because with time it has seemed simply easier and time effective? Our
chocolate taster reminded us of the importance of knowing the objective
of chocolate tasting, is it for traditional notes of wood and smoke or
modern notes of smoothness and spice? Notice where the emphasis lay on
your tongue.
Afterword,
the House of Chocolate gave us an exclusive look at how they make their
cocoa tea in house and we got to tasting. We also had the opportunity to
taste some rough ground chocolate from Tabasco Mexico, examining the story
in the flavour of a treat typically used to make drinks. We noticed how it is 70
percent sugar and as a result, is more prone to melt quickly. How its
roughness, mildly woody and smoky notes, play on your tongue a little
before it is gone. We could then compare and contrast this with how our many grades of Grenadian chocolate tastes smoother,
darker and leaves a burst of flavour long after it is gone...We got to taste this not just in tea but in House of Chocolate Grenada's jam filled bon bons!
Also pictured above: me dying over how cute this tiny treat is oh my goodness just LOOK at it!
I cant wait to have a dark roast, vegan styled cup of cocoa tea someday. Honestly with all that sharing of cultural similarities even in the face of difference, it's made me want to put Mexico on my list of places to visit for the first time in my life because what else do we do similarly, I wonder? The more we change the more we stay the same it seems...Thank God the cocoa stayed deliciously brewed!
How marvellous it was to taste and discuss the existence and relevance of
cultural, historical tastes, verses modern taste and trends. How often we forget that
food carries in it not just tradition but the stories of a people, long
after are gone. It makes me wonder what other stories meals have been
trying to tell me....
Peace. Love. Cocoa Tea!
For more on the Grenada Chocolate Festival 2020 click here!
For more on the Grenada Chocolate Festival 2020 click here!
