This time last year we sourced some incredible coffee from @killbean.roaster for the (now-closed) cafe here at the factory.
What had started off as a little foray into coffee had quickly blossomed into a 3 grinder set up, where we had a dedicated grinder, using a specific bean chosen to specifically make mochas. That coffee was Killbean's Butterscotch, and was sourced from Yunnan in China where it underwent a double anaerobic process to develop caramel, cream, and even cheesecake notes. Trust us, it was amazing (we sold a ton of mochas using this).
Anyway, we got chatting to Yanyi about how we loved this coffee and he mentioned that he'd been offered a sample of cacao from a specialty coffee plantation that had recently converted to growing cacao in the same Yunnan province of China.
Turns out that this tropical corner of China has the perfect climactic conditions for growing specialty teas, coffee and now also cacao.
Interesting.
These samples kindly found their way to us about 8 months ago, and we got to work testing.
We found an incredibly sweet, floral and subtly fruity cacao that required an even lighter than usual roast to preserve its character. (The Yunnan runs our lightest ever roast). It made a bar that was quite different to everything else we made, and it passed the Improvement Test (namely - would working with this develop our craft?).
So about 6 months ago we ordered our first mini batch of beans from China. They are eye-wateringly expensive, but one of our founding aims was to make the lowest margin bars in the industry, so we're all good on that front . . .
When the beans arrived a month later, we jumped into production batch testing, which means starting with the "smallest big batch" on our large grinders.
At this stage, all the parameters we optimise during sample testing have to basically be reconstructed for larger batch production. The aim is to get back to the sample batch we preferred . . . but it's never as easy as just doing the same thing on a larger scale. It's just like mixing, proving and baking a larger batch of croissants or sourdough - the thermal mass of a large batch, the agitation of the machines working against more raw material, the longer processing times - all of these change the outcome radically.
Now that we've finally got production bars that are as good as the sample bars that blew us away, we're releasing what is the world's first (outside China) craft chocolate bar made with Yunnan cacao.
Probably.
This deserved some special artwork and happily, our favourite illustrator, Lily Blakely has recently returned from her Australian tour and knocked this one out of the park for us.
#beantobarchocolate #craftchocolate #beantobar
