Chocolate tasting at Kakawa

By Rowan Sinclair-Gregg

It’s a cold, crisp December day, and Janet, Jaeyoon, Sophia  and I can think of nothing we’d rather do than head to local chocolate house, Kakawa.

 

We have come to try Kakawa’s delicious drinking chocolate, and are welcomed by the shop’s owner, Tony Bennett. He is a convivial host who lets us take a peek at the in-store, climate controlled kitchen and accepts our continual requests to try just one more drinking chocolate flavor.

Eventually we each choose a different beverage offered to us in beautiful white and blue painted cups.

Janet goes with the Chili, one of the Mesoamerican blends.

Janet:  “From the first sip it’s sweet with a spicy aftertaste I feel in my throat. It has a smoky flavor that reminds me of mole sauce!”

Sophia decides on the Tonanzine drinking chocolate, a contemporary elixir that she describes as “Creamy with sweet floral rose taste. Its less rich than the other blends I tried.”

 

Jaeyoon asks for a mix of the traditional Mayan and the contemporary American.

 

Jaeyoon: “The Mayan chocolate is quite thick, so I mixed it with the American, which added some milk chocolate to soften the taste. You can first taste something floral, it reminds me of mountain flowers- then you can taste the nuts, which contrast the initial flavor. Then its spicy at the end.”

 

I chose a blend of the Mesoamerican Chili and the American. There are surprising bursts of flavor in the drinking chocolate- at one time it is spicy, at another it is sweet and creamy.  Like Janet, I can feel the spice at the back of my throat, and can really taste the chili.

 

 

The consensus is clear, all of the drinking chocolates are delicious.