My wife and I have had a fine floral shop for 7 years. I had a little area where I sold some truffles and bars. Starting yesterday we opened up our new much larger shop on the main street. I bought 2 drinking chocolate machines (I chose machines, because if i were to use a steam wand to make it fresh, the health code requires me to invest another $15k to be up to restaurant code).
The two couvertures I have tried so far are E. Guittard’s 58% and Valrhona’s caraibe. The Valrhona being the obvious better of the two.
I noticed the Valrhona didn’t play well with water mixed, but later mixed well. The cocoa butter started to rise to the top and stayed there after it turned for about 3 hours. The taste was practically the same.
E. Guittard mixed really well.
The reason I choose a $9 a kilo vs a $17 kilo type chocolate was to see if it really mattered to the general public. It didn’t. My high end customers haven’t tried the two, but it’s pretty obvious to me that the Valrhona is better.
This weekend I am going to try a couple different Amano couvertures for the Oregon Chocolate Festival.
I also ordered some medium grade Callebaut I’ll try soon too.
BUT the main reason why I made this post was to tell you about something I did on my own that was COOL. So when I sell the drinking chocolate I fill the cup up half way with fresh whip cream (un-sweetened). I make the whip cream with a dispenser that takes a CO2 cartridge, not the crap out of a can. After I fill the cup up half way with homemade whip cream I fill the rest up with drinking chocolate. I then lightly bang the cup on the counter and the cream bubbles to the top in a ball that resembles a small mound of vanilla ice cream. I then sprinkle with cocoa power. It looks so goooood!
If anyone else wants to share their drinking chocolate experiences, please do.
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