Coffee and chocolate seem like an easy pairing to make until we tried it ourselves. For this fun experiment, the constant was the chocolate, Fossa’s Honey Orchid Dang Cong Hongcha. What makes this chocolate challenging to pair with is it’s a tea-based milk chocolate with nuanced floral and lychee notes. Will the coffee overpower it? Or will they be a match made in heaven?
Our procedure: sip the coffee, have a bite of the chocolate and sip the coffee again.
First up, the Kenya from April Coffee Roasters. This was a nice compliment to the chocolate. The tanginess from the Kenyan was apparent but balanced off with a nice almond flavour. The tea from the chocolate was also highlighted with this pairing.
Next is the Balance from Volcano Coffee Works. This coffee is usually very mellow and approachable but this time the chocolate brought focus to its acidity. Maybe a bit too bright for some.
Yardstick’s Choco Coated Raisins evolved along the way. Paired with the chocolate, it exaggerated the cocoa notes at the start. With every sip thereafter, the “raisins” transformed into more of a white grape.
With PPP’s Tesfaye, the sweetness was through the roof. This pairing was almost pairing - so sweet, very smooth and the milk chocolate brought the Ethiopian coffee to life. One of our favourites on the table.
Last but not the least was a pairing with Colonna’s El Tambo Decaf. Simply, it was like a pairing done by a chef and a barista. Melted flat white is what we called it. Round, chocolatey and sweet. A classic example of why chocolates and coffees are a reliable pairing.
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The Fossa Honey Orchid Dang Cong Hongcha is part of our Christmas Morning Box, which you can read more about here. This limited release bar is a collaboration between Fossa and Pekoe & Imp. This chocolate was the International Chocolate Awards 2019 Gold Award winner.