Thursday, July 28, 2011

It's safe to say that Ritual Chocolate as a project has been moving forward more steadily than our blog. That being said, we still have a lot to accomplish before we're an established business. We are close, however, we have our bar molds, we have our cocoa beans and we have our business license.

For the time being, you can find small pieces of our 75% Costa Rican origin chocolate at Saxy's Cafe on 10th and Pearl in Boulder. The idea here is to appreciate a small piece of our chocolate along with a cup of hot tea or coffee. Remember, we're only using two ingredients, cocoa beans and cane sugar, both of which are organic and Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance. That means no emulsifiers, such as soy lecithin. No additional cocoa butter. And no flavor enhancers such as vanilla or salt.

Why no flavor enhancers? Would you spice a fine wine, beer or coffee? Flavored coffees became uncool years ago... Our goal is to share the flavor of the bean in as direct a manner as possible so that you can recognize the uniqueness of a particular region, genetic type, sun-drying method and of course, our process. We do however, condone pairing our chocolate with other sophisticated flavors such as whiskey, salt, wine, tea, etc. (And if you're a Boulder food business owner and you'd like to arrange a pairing event, let us know!)

Co-founder, Robbie, is a barista at Saxy's Cafe so he has been able to walk customers through the tasting process. So far, the feedback has been very positive. Our most common, and favorite review, of our chocolate is that the flavor continues to evolve throughout the tasting. It begins with a subtle chocolatey flavor, then after about 25 seconds the high notes begin to appear in the form of floral, berry and even mushroom flavors. Minutes later, after all the chocolate has melted, it continues to linger on your tongue in a more delicate yet enjoyable state.

Anyway, I just wanted to stop by the ol' blog to let you know that we're still headed in the right direction. Things aren't easy but we're on the path to launch shortly.

If you'd like to follow our progress more closely, I'd recommend liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.

Best