Art Inspired By The Blind Chocolate Tasting #3
Karen Grace’s Responses After Tasting
If you are new or have landed on Tarantula: Authors and Art for the very first time, welcome to the art by Karen Grace inspired by our first podcast The Transformational Power Of Chocolate. This is the third of four works by the Tarantula: Authors And Art crew. If a friend forwarded you this article, double welcome; if you like it, share it or why not subscribe?
To listen to the podcast that inspired Karen’s art click here. The chocolate was generously donated to us for this experiment by Taman Chocolates.
We tasted the mysterious sample number three while in the midst of our first podcast - perhaps you watched as we pinched our noses or covered our eyes to focus our attention on the scents and tastes unfolding in our mouths? My first impressions were of deep rich earth, and it took me to my garden in Seattle, tasting fresh ripe deep purple fruits, warm from the summer sun. Later, as I prepared to paint my reactions I was able to taste again. This time the smokiness of the chocolate hit me first and I was transported to a campfire in the woods - eating wild blackberries. The colors that came to mind were deep rich reddish purples, blue violets, and a tinge of flickery golden light from the fire. I love to let watercolors work their magic- inviting the colors to mix and meld as they may… seems like a perfect counterpart to chocolate.
Here are the official notes from Sanja on this chocolate, revealed to us in our second session:
SAMPLE No. 3 by Taman Chocolates
BEAN-TO-BAR CRAFT CHOCOLATE, INDONESIA - RANSIKI - WEST PAPUA, Single Cooperative Cacao
Chocolate made of beans grown and harvested by the cooperative Eiber Suth in the area of West Papua’s Arfak Mountains, home to Vogelkop Superb, a newly discovered bird of paradise species.
The velvety-textured chocolate brings out a range of aromas and flavors, from mild fruit acids to the deep sweetness of the dark fruits with a pleasant bitterness at the end.
On my own I tasted our other two samples and painted in the quiet morning hours while my family slept and the birds sang…
This chocolate hit me immediately with citrus that eventually turned into butterscotch and it tasted exactly like I imagine the end of a warm sunny day in Tuscany aught to feel. (Not that I’ve been there, but a girl can dream…) We have friends moving to Tuscany this week so perhaps these flavors tapped into my sadness for their departure, hopes for their journey, and for a time when we can see each other again. I played with yellows, ochres, and reds to bring out the sunset feel and the nuttiness in the end. I love the way the yellows make little sunny halos in a few spots as they dance around on the page.
Here are the official notes from Sanja on this chocolate, revealed to us in our second session:
SAMPLE No. 1
BEAN-TO-BAR CRAFT CHOCOLATE, PHILLIPINES - MANA - DAVAO, Special Selection Cacao
Chocolate produced from the MANA cacao, a special selection of cocoa beans selected by the Auro Organization from the Davao region in the Philippines is considered one of the best cacao growing regions in the world.
MANA Chocolate brings a well balanced flavor profile of dried fruits, rum, caramel, raspberries, chokeberry and tobacco. It has a mild and creamy mouthfeel with a medium long aftertaste of a pleasant and mild citrus bitterness
My blind taste of sample number two tasted instantly fruity and followed with some spicyness and a little astringency - a bit like the tannins in a good cup of tea. It made me think of strawberries, being in the garden when I was little (yes, everything makes me think of the garden these days…), and a jacket my mom used to have that had the cutest, tiniest strawberries on it. She may still have that jacket, lurking in the back of a closet somewhere - but to me, the appearance of that jacket always said special occasion and summer! Strangely, I hated strawberries when I was a kid, but I think I had really only tasted the pale pink sort that came from far-away Florida via a refrigerator truck. I remember my first taste of strawberries, real strawberries that I picked from an actual plant in our yard, as clear as day, and I’ve loved them ever since.
Here are the official notes from Sanja on this chocolate, revealed to us in our second session:
SAMPLE No. 2
BEAN-TO-BAR CRAFT CHOCOLATE, MADAGASCAR - ANTSAMALA - SAMBIRANO, Single Plantation Cacao
Organic cacao beans with a unique flavor profile, unlike typical Malagasy cacao, come from the Antsamala plantation, which is one of the eight plantations of the Mava Estate, in the Sambirano valley.
On nose, the chocolate opens with floral aromas with nuances of prunes and cacao gradually developing flavors of tropical fruit, peach, fennel, and pink peppercorn. It has a rather fast melt and a delicate bitterness in the aftertaste.
Stay tuned for art works from the rest of the Tarantula team!
ABOUT TAMAN CHOCOLATES
„Taman” has two meanings in Croatian. The first one means “dark”, you know, just like chocolate. The other meaning doesn't have an English equivalent. The most accurate explanation would be that “taman” describes that liberating intimate sense when something feels just right - not too little, not too much, the right thing in the right moment, everything perfectly aligned. This is the philosophy we follow in our boutique manufactory and this is the exact feeling that we want you to experience when tasting our internationally awarded chocolate products.
For our bean-to-bar chocolates we choose cacao with exciting flavors as well as aromas that we want to preserve and highlight with the least amount of processing. Besides amazing flavors, we want our chocolates to tell a story of where the chosen cacao comes from and of the people who grow it. We use only high quality cacao of controlled origin, which we procure in cooperation with trusted partners to ensure that the cacao is well cultivated, fermented and dried; and that all those involved in the cultivation and processing of cacao are adequately paid for their work.
All our products are hand-made and crafted in micro batches with lots of love and passion.
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