16 January,2017 08:30 AM IST | | Joanna Lobo
A new subscription service from Chennai aims to satisfy your cocoa craving with a curated collection of artisanal treats
Chocolate with coconut sugar; peppermint bar, and hazelnut milk chocolate
It is every chocolate lover's dream - to open a box and find different cocoa treats inside. If you like your chocolate stash delivered to you monthly, then a new subscription service, Cocoatrait, is your answer.
The service delivers chocolates sourced from all over India and the world, to your doorstep. They have over 50 chocolate bars and two subscription boxes - a normal box and a luxury box, both of which send out three fine chocolate bars made by artisan or fine chocolate makers. Cocoatrait is founded by L Nitin Chordia (left, in pic), who calls himself India's first and only certified chocolate taster. He and his wife Poonam operate a chocolate making and tasting school, Cocoashala, in Chennai.
We dialled for a sampler box and it was delivered in three days. The chocolates were packed in a gold tin, covered in foil and came with a cooling pack inside it. The pack was at room temperature, which meant that some of the chocolates had condensation on them.
The tin had three sourced chocolate bars, and two bars from the in-house brand Enchanté. We liked that the packaging, colour and even type of chocolate was different in all of them, making for interesting variety.
Our subscription tin contained three Indian chocolate bars and two from the in-house brand
The one bar that instantly caught our eye was Earth Loaf, with its beautiful light brown handmade paper wrapping (which we later learned is made from cacao husk and cotton). The company uses organically certified Indian cacao beans and their chocolates are raw (bean-to-bar) and vegan. The 72 per cent Keralan Single origin chocolate (R295 for 72 gm) had Keralan dark chocolate lightened by coconut sugar. The chocolate was dense and at first bite, overpowering. But a few smaller bites later, we loved the smoothness of the chocolate and the rawness and slight sweetness from the coconut sugar. It's a chocolate that should ideally be consumed in smaller doses.
Earth Loaf bar
Enchante Festive (Rs 250 for 55 gm) was a creamy, smooth, nutty bar with roasted hazelnut and milk chocolate. The bar brought back childhood memories of indulging in stolen chocolates from abroad and was a hit in office. In the
Enchante Excite (Rs 250 for 47 gm), the bitterness of the single-origin dark chocolate was balanced out by the fruity, nutty filling.
The aroma of mint hit us as soon as we opened the Indah bar (R90 for 40 gm). We weren't too fond of the peppermint, which was the overpowering taste and masked the richness of the professed 61 per cent cocoa in the chocolate.
While we love sea salt in our cookies paired with caramel, when added to chocolate it takes time getting used to the unusual flavour. The sea salt in the Pascati bar (R195 for 75 gm) veiled the bitterness of the chocolate and the sweetness from cane sugar.
Overall verdict
We love that Cocoatrait provides us with variety and that their products are artisanal, raw, gluten-free, vegan and naturally flavoured. And once we followed the chocolate tasting guide pasted on the tin, we had a whole new appreciation for the flavours even if we didn't actually like all of them.
Log on to: www.cocoatrait.com
Cost: Rs 1,099 to Rs 10,999 (subscription)
