Intenso d'Agrumi Acqua del Garda 2017

As soon as I saw it, I signed up. Making chocolate myself, of course I’m in! A day was set, which seemed long to me, but this was explained by the fact that we first had to conch the chocolate. By hand. That was my first mistake; stirring liquid chocolate for four hours is incredibly taxing on the upper arm. Some training beforehand would have been beneficial.

I chose a dark chocolate with 60% cocoa content and cocoa from Nigeria and Colombia as the base. A finely spicy, enchanting scent, at least for the first two hours of conching; after that, a mental feeling of fullness set in. Then it was time for the toppings. And here I want to warn about the second mistake: think beforehand about what you want! There are thousands of options, which can easily be overwhelming.

I first took a handful of candied citrus fruits; you can't go wrong with that. Right next to it was a bowl of rosemary-lavender brittle. It looked very nice, so green, so I added that. To prevent it from being too bitter, I then added a bit of pineapple on top.

Maybe I should have stopped there, but there were still so many ingredients available, and when you have the opportunity, you have to go all out! I then sprinkled some myrrh powder on top. To be honest, I don't remember why; by then, I had already tasted quite a bit, and I felt slightly nauseous and maybe a bit over-sugared. By the way, that’s the third mistake I want to warn about: don’t try everything!

Then I grated a bit of tonka bean on top - I had never seen a tonka bean before, so I couldn't help myself. I only pressed the vanilla pod into the still soft mass for aesthetic reasons.

The course leader said it looked very interesting. He didn’t want to try it, though. He did give me the tip to glaze everything to make the colors pop and to preserve the ingredients longer. He might have said something about "applying thinly," but I wasn't really paying attention at that point. He gave me a resinous, clear liquid that I applied generously. I thought it looked nice, so I did it more often. I didn’t keep count. After it hardened, the layer was as hard as glass, but everything looked really beautiful.

The bar was then packed in a nice sandalwood box. I'm fairly certain that it can no longer be eaten, but it looks really beautiful. I will probably hang it up.

In two weeks, there’s the course "Brewing Beer Yourself," which has potential; I’m really looking forward to it...

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In my opinion, the Intenso d'Agrumi has a somewhat misleading name. The agrumi (i.e., citrus fruits) are indeed present, along with some pepper, but they are quickly buried under a large ladle of liquid chocolate. This really smells like melted dark chocolate, very, very rich. After 5 minutes, the green notes come through; lavender and rosemary are recognizable. The combination of chocolate and lavender-rosemary I initially find quite disgusting; I certainly wouldn’t buy that kind!

Fortunately, after another 10 minutes, the chocolate recedes a bit, and the lavender becomes more pronounced. This is much more pleasant. This trend continues, although the chocolate note never completely disappears. Briefly, a fruity pineapple makes an appearance, which wasn’t necessary. Luckily, it doesn’t stay long. With the addition of myrrh and dry wood, everything becomes a bit warmer. I quite like this middle part.

As it approaches the base, it naturally goes as it must: sweet-resinous amber, a bit of tonka, and increasingly vanilla - as predictable as it is boring and unfortunately not my style at all. I admit, however, that the scent is exciting, varied, and well-made. It’s also not overly sweet. So, definitely worth a try for chocolate and gourmand fans.

Thanks to Cafeliberte for the exciting travel letter!