Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Amedei

The Amedei plant in Italy


Brother and sister, Alessio and Cecilia Tessieri, founded Amedei chocolate brand in 1990, naming it in honor of their grandmother. With no prior experince making chocolate, they followed their passion and traveled the world in search of the perfect cocoa beans. The goal being to produce organic and exclusive chocolate like no one before.
Cecilia now runs the factory on an every day basis, while Alessio travels the world visiting the plantations from where their beans come and always searching for the best beans and ingredients. They have developed unique relationships with the growers caring for both quality in the beans but paying equal attention to the conditions for the workers on the plantations.
I have tasted two of their chocolate bars, Porcelana and Chuao.

Porcelana is a 70% bittersweet dark chocolate made exclusively from the very rare and expensive, genetically pure cocoa bean Criollo, also known as Porcelana (porcelain) for it's white, translucent color. This chocolate has a slight nutty and floral aroma. Dense and dark on the palate with a hint of nuts and a lingering finish.
It is made in very limited quantities, only 20,000 bars per year. They are all hand marked and mine is no. 10,705/20,000. Really makes you enjoy this beautiful chocolate a little bit extra.

Chuao is a 70% bittersweet dark chocolate. Amedei has bought the
exclusive right to these beans and were the first chocolate maker to make a bar of pure Chuao beans. Chuao is the name of both the plantation and the Venezuelan peninsula where the cocoa beans grow, and they have been naturally selected over the centuries, creating a "natural blend". Before Amedei came along they were only added to chocolate products to enhance flavor. Now we can enjoy it in it's pure form.
Raspberry and dark fruit aroma with a floral, fruity round flavor in the mouth. Delicious!

These chocolates were a real treat to me. They are certainly not for a quick sugar fix, but to enjoy, slowly melting in your mouth, to truly appreciate their complexity.
They can both be found at
http://www.chocosphere.com/, along with other Amedei products, for about $12/1.75 oz.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I see you went to Crush 29 in Roseville, so if you are nearby, I own an espresso bar that carries a small selection of chocolates including 4 Amedei bars. Our focus is on espresso and coffee, but like you, one love sort of seems to lead to another. My obsession for coffee has led me to an interest in Chocolate, Wine, Cheese, Beer, etc. If you are in the neighborhood, come check us out. (See www.javaj.net for details).

Victoria said...

Thanks for the comment!
I will have to come by when I am in the neighborhood. Running out om my Amedei fast, and usually I have to buy it online and get it shipped... Now I can stock up from you shop. Thanks!

Janet said...

You nailed, the two best chocolate bars I have ever had too! I'm glad someone out there loves Amedei too!