Tasting Cameroon: A NYC Chocolate Experience
Moka Origins NYC Craft Chocolate Pop-Up Introduces America’s first, Single Source Craft Chocolate Bar from Cameroon.
Hosted November 30th at an inconspicuous office space on 86 Amsterdam Avenue, the recent Grand Opening of Moka Origins-Camp IHC pop-up collaboration created a stir amongst residents of Manhattan’s UWS.
The usually empty, after-hours office space transformed into an elegant gallery featuring Moka Origins’ handcrafted chocolate and specialty coffee on its signature minimalist hardwood aesthetic.
30 lb Chocolate Fountain
The bright windows with its live display of the chocolate production process — from the cacao pods to roasted beans, to a small-batch refiner, and finally a delicious dark chocolate bar— attracted over 500 people through the night.
The sleepy little corner of Amsterdam Avenue came to life with Moka Origin’s vibrant window display. As families and children curiously peeked, they couldn't help but indulge in the nougaty, honey-like Sierra Leone single Origin dark chocolate fountain and its curated accouterments.
Craft Chocolate with Character
At the store, Mark, Marco, and Joe educated customers about the bean to bar process and guided them through the various inclusion bars — from zesty, tangy lemon ginger to a decadent and highly addictive toffee almond. As the crowd excitedly connected over their new understanding of chocolate, Mark piqued their interest further. “We secured this micro-batch of Cameroonian beans from our long-time friend, and farming partner, Stanley. He produced these beans on his legacy family reserve in Kombone. It’s so humbling to taste our partner’s efforts in this delicious micro-batch form” and added, “this is the first-ever Single Origin Bar from Cameroon to be made by the American craft chocolate world.”
Chocolate for Humanitarian Empowerment
On cue, Faraji ushered in the first group of 30 customers.
A short passageway opened up into the main event space, guiding the guests through an immersive exploration of the bean-to-bar chocolate journey. On the left, Jeff Abella, co-founder of Moka Origins and Megan Giller, food writer and author of Bean to Bar Chocolate: America’s Craft chocolate revolution, inaugurate the evening. Megan introduced Moka Origins, celebrating the chocolate as “good quality bean-to-bar chocolate, that promotes social empowerment.” She commended Jeff’s efforts in establishing a farming School for sustainable agriculture and providing a platform to connect farmers to fair priced trading markets.”
Jeff shared stories of his time heading these humanitarian development projects amongst coffee growing regions in Cameroon, West Africa, and how those experiences eventually inspired the mission behind Moka Origins — social empowerment through coffee and chocolate.
Reminiscing over his early experiences tasting a fresh Cacao pod, he pulled out and cracked open the strange football-shaped tropical fruit before guests. He scooped out a pulpy cacao bean from this pod and distributed it amongst the excited crowd. Once everyone got hold of a pulp covered bean, Jeff encouraged the group to suck on the pulp around the bean. “That is the fruit of the cacao tree,” he exclaimed, as he asked them to share their experiences with this alien fruit. Jeff then explained the rest of the cacao production process and detailing how proper fermentation of the pulp plays an important role in the final flavor of chocolate.
Unveiling the Exclusive Cameroon Bar
As the excitement died down, Jeff unveiled the coveted Moka Origins Cameroon Bar, introduced the farmers and vision behind the Bar. “Quality beans from Cameroon are extremely rare, and hard to find. We secured this micro-batch of beans from our Farming partner in Kombone, Stanley. Stanley is part of our co-op in Cameroon, where we link farmers to transparent and premium price market places.”
Megan Giller continued, enthusiastically explaining various factors that influence the quality of bean to bar chocolate, and exclaimed: “This is America’s First Single Origin craft chocolate Bar from Cameroon.”
The exclusive Cameroon Chocolate, one from 200 limited batch bars, teases with a nutty aroma as subtle graham cracker flavor coats the tongue, gradually revealing fudgy, dry, red wine overtones. This feature bar was paired with a Tanzania Single Origin which, with its bright cherry notes and tart finish, eloquently highlights the stark difference in flavor from distinct Cacao growing regions.
As the group murmured in surprise at the stark difference in flavors — a fudgy West African Cameroonian origin from bright cherried Tanzania — Jeff explained that “Cacao is very similar to wine.” As the crowd agreed with excitement, he continued “the type of soil, weather conditions, and type of crops growing around the Cacao have a huge impact on the chocolate’s flavor. This terroir explains why each Cacao Origin tastes so starkly different.”
During this interaction, an excited patron inquired whether she could bake with the Cameroon bar. Here, Jeff alluded to a compelling section in Megan Giller’s Book and explained how Single-origin craft chocolate, with its distinct flavors, can be used to bake but also paired intricately with dishes from cheese to meat.
Superfood Alcohol Alternative…
Wrapping up his tasting, Jeff guided the curious group to the sober conscious, alcohol-free bar. While I served our nitrogen-infused, Superfood Cacao tonic, and shared a tasting card, the guests played around with the Cacao Nibs on the table display and inquired more about this complex, gravel-like ingredient.
Cacao Nibs, the key ingredient in our chocolate, is a vitamin-packed superfood that boasts countless health benefits. Pouring Moka’s nitrogen-infused Cacao elixir I explained that Theobromine, the naturally abundant compound in these cacao nibs, increases energy, enhances mood, and protects cardiovascular and respiratory health.
The health-conscious UWS crowd, some college students from the Fashion Institute of Technology, got excited about Cacao Tonic’s performance enhancement abilities and engaged the bar in an interactive experience where the crowd got to learn more about our story and learn more about Cacao Nibs.
As Jeff and Megan’s corner room ebbed and flowed with every guided tasting some of Moka Origins newly acquainted UWS fans sojourned around — getting progressively euphoric with refills of the Cacao tonic.
The lingering crowd cleared out around 10 pm, leaving the Moka staff to power through 3 hours of work to return the event space to its original state.
As the team wrapped up and returned to the hotel, the strong response and numerous mentions on social media had the Moka team overwhelmed with strange emotions of exuberance and humility.
From Honesdale Pennsylvania to UWS Manhattan, the vanguard efforts of Moka Origins — the Socially conscious Humanitarian chocolate makers — have certainly created a new buzz for conscious consumerism in the burgeoning world of craft chocolate.
