#SexyGood Chocolate Tasting journey №8
Dormouse Chocolates : Guatemala cacao beans crafted in Manchester, England

Opening another 100 % Cacao bean to bar Chocolate bar from the Kosak Paris loot itself was always exciting ! This time this opening has another significance. It coincides with a Pairing exercise that I have just begun between two beloved Specialty food categories. Coffee ( which has now been a big focus for 4.5 years) and Chocolate ( the new kid on the block about a year old for me).
After the prompting of Michael Houlden ( Meanderthal Chocolate, Tucson, Arizona) on a pairing protocol where he recommended comparing Coffee and Chocolate from the same origin, it just serendipitously fell in place. Honestly, this is like once in a blue moon opportunity as I can’t think of the next time both origins would coincide, where I love the Coffee origin as well ! ( Ethiopia, Kenya, Colombia…) Maybe in the future with Tanzania, Brazil or Peru. At this point, I am super happy that it’s Guatemala !
This bar is made Dormouse Chocolates based in Manchester UK who seem to revel in the “micro batch” crafting approach. Their founder Isobel has an extensive “Large scale” chocolate manufacturing background whose knowledge they have used and applied in a specialty / craft based approach.
Their priority in manufacturing is to give the right time and technique to best bring out the potential flavours in the Cacao Beans ! Nice :-) No wonder they have been awarded quite a few times since starting out in 2014. They were acknowledged as The Rising Star of 2017 by the Academy of Chocolate Awards !
http://dormousechocolates.co.uk/about-us/

The Tasting Experience
The Bar packaging was very “craft” and that felt good. Made it feel homely and special. My only concern was the transparent label used on the back on top. Wasn’t too legible because of the wrapping foil design.
Now that I have had two Latin American origin Cacao beans ( Qantu Peru 100 % and Oialla Bolivia 100 %), I had some benchmarks in my mind. I wasn’t expecting overly fruity notes for one !
So, I got prominent “nutty”, something salty (the surprise ) and something tangy.
I saw their website looking for promised flavour notes and this is what I found though the packaging looks different.

Preparing for the Pairing with Coffee
The Guatemalan Coffee that I will be pairing this Chocolate with is an El Durazno, roasted by The Barn Berlin ( one of favourite roasters in the world ) has flavour notes of Peach + Caramel and has a super smooth body.
I am really curious to know what happens when they pair. Do they create something new or Collide ?
SexyGood Scoresheet (1 lowest 10 highest)
- Health Quotient (Organic/Biodynamic/Soy free/Gluten Free) 7
- Packaging design 8
- Look of the bar 9
- Aroma 7
- Mouthfeel 8
- Flavour 8
- Finish 7
Link to intro post with all tasting links
