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Chocolate and Coffee

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Brian Now

Brian Now

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I couldn't participate in the beer discussion because I don't drink. But I thought since David loves chocolate I could start a thread on the subject. I am getting more and more into chocolate.
I need to expand my horizons in terms of chocolate bars. One of the basic grocery store level chocolate bars I like is Dove.

Also, I have started making my iced mochas at home (Starbucks' version is better but it was bankrupting me) and am currently using Hershey's special dark cocoa , the kind you have to had sugar too if you want it sweet. I saw Ghiradelli cocoa at a local bookstore, but it was about $10 a can. I will splurge on it if anyone can tell me it is better than Hershey's. But isn't raw, unsweetened cocoa about all the same?

By the way, anyone into cold brew coffee, ie "Toddy"?
 
Mmm, chocolate. A fine thread my friend!
The stuff over here in the UK is pretty nasty - lots of sugar/cheap ingredients and minimal cocoa levels. I stick to European chocolate.

Then I started daydreaming and wondered what sort of chocolate our esteemed Paracast hosts would make if we transformed them into the dark brown stuff...
I think a Steinberg bar would be smooth, rich and velvety whilst a Biedny bar would be just the opposite; intense, dark and slightly bitter.
 
Brian Now said:
But isn't raw, unsweetened cocoa about all the same?
Click to expand...
I'm not much of a cook, but I did learn how to make my own chocolate, and what makes it special is the quality of cocoa and cocoa butter. In my view, Hershey's is good, Ghirardelli is better, but I like raw, organic cocoa, and the source I use is:
Truly Raw Cacao Powder (Organic Chocolate Powder) - 1 lb.

If you want it sweet but want to avoid refined sugars, you can try a terrific product from Organic Nectars: roasted chocolate syrup with agave nectar.
Organic Nectars | Our Products

I stayed away from chocolate for many years because of problems with the sugar, but now that there's agave and many other alternatives, like you, I'm into it.
 
Loose Leaf Tea said:
Then I started daydreaming and wondered what sort of chocolate our esteemed Paracast hosts would make if we transformed them into the dark brown stuff...
I think a Steinberg bar would be smooth, rich and velvety whilst a Biedny bar would be just the opposite; intense, dark and slightly bitter.
Click to expand...

That might possibly be the funniest post on these forums ever, LTL! Thanks.

And I might add, my chocolate would have nuts, LOTS of nuts. And shredded coconut. Hmmmmmm......

:p

dB
 
It's funny - I don't drink much alcohol, and absolutely no coffee. Which is weird, given that I grew up in a place where coffee is like water. I'm a dedicated tea drinker, have been all my life. I grew up drinking tea Russian style, sugar and lemon. These days, I use Stevia, a great sweetener that is not very well known in the US.

When it comes to chocolate, my absolute fave is something I discovered the very first time I visited Amsterdam: MozartKugel, chocolate balls with marzipan, nougat and/or hazelnut, depending on the manufacturer. They are simply divine, wonderful, addictive. Nothing like 'em in the States, which is probably a good thing. ;)

dB
 
Elitists!!
We common folk just swill Hershey's syrup right out the can.
After the revolution, you'll all be doing the same. No more fancy Belgian bourgeois tasty snack treats for the likes of you.
Scaramouche!!
 
Mogwa said:
Elitists!!
We common folk just swill Hershey's syrup right out the can.
After the revolution, you'll all be doing the same. No more fancy Belgian bourgeois tasty snack treats for the likes of you.
Scaramouche!!
Click to expand...

Oh, man, Hershey's ain't chocolate. It's choco-wax. If you want chocolate syrup, try U-Bet, the only stuff used to make real egg creams. When it comes to chocolate, I wave my elitist flag high and proud.

dB
 
David Biedny said:
Oh, man, Hershey's ain't chocolate. It's choco-wax. If you want chocolate syrup, try U-Bet, the only stuff used to make real egg creams. When it comes to chocolate, I wave my elitist flag high and proud.

dB
Click to expand...

You're just stuck in the effete, reality-based world. Go ahead, have your surrender-monkey MozartKugel. You might as well join the terrorists. We choco-wax people, we're the true Americans!
 
David Biedny said:
It's funny - I don't drink much alcohol, and absolutely no coffee. Which is weird, given that I grew up in a place where coffee is like water. I'm a dedicated tea drinker, have been all my life. I grew up drinking tea Russian style, sugar and lemon. These days, I use Stevia, a great sweetener that is not very well known in the US.

When it comes to chocolate, my absolute fave is something I discovered the very first time I visited Amsterdam: MozartKugel, chocolate balls with marzipan, nougat and/or hazelnut, depending on the manufacturer. They are simply divine, wonderful, addictive. Nothing like 'em in the States, which is probably a good thing. ;)

dB
Click to expand...

No coffee? Wow...I wish I had never gotten addicted to it myself. But since I don't drink and I gave up cigarettes I figure coffee isn't such a bad vice to have.
Tea...I drink a lot of green tea but only for health. It isn't that I am really into the taste that much. One tea I really do like the taste of is Rooibos. It is interesting that nowadays there are tea specialty shops here in Houston....there didn't used to be such an interest.
I think I have had your MozartKrugel things. I am not a fan of marzapan though.
 
LOVE chocolate! Lindt and Toblerone come immediately to mind. I have gotten into Hershey's Extra Dark....made a great facial, and tasted better than the blue mud I usually use! hehe
 
cold brewed coffee is very strong. i heard it has higher caffeine content than espresso.
 
pixelsmith said:
cold brewed coffee is very strong. i heard it has higher caffeine content than espresso.
Click to expand...

I make it at home out of ground coffee for espresso. I soak it for 12 hours in a french press. It's pretty good...it doesn't knock my socks off though.
 
Chocolate???

God so loved the fat people of the world, he gave them chocolate.

Seriously, those crazy aztecs and their Cocao beans, gave us one of the greatest inventions of all human history.

Yesterday, I had a chocolate chip cookie. BUT, it wasn't any ordinary chocolate chip cookie. It was from Sam's Club. It was the equivalent to eating a chocolate filled chocolate chip cookie pot pie. With a generous helping of French Vanilla Ice Cream... I nearly passed out into a diabetic coma.

Seriously, it was amazingly good.

As for coffee... Jack Daniels brand coffee has got to be my favorite of all time, and the bastards at Rainbow Foods, quit carrying it.
 
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