hello! before I begin, this is a long post and if the whole of it doesn’t appear in your email, you can come over to substack and find it.
What do I mean by drinking chocolate?
It’s not Swiss Miss, those ubiquitous, dusty packets containing sugar, corn syrup, modified whey, cocoa, coconut oil, nonfat milk, salt, dipotassium phosphate, mono and diglycerides, and “natural” flavor (if it’s natural why can’t they name it?).
In the craft/bean to bar industry, unlike with our penchant for single origin, %-focused bars, drinking chocolate it isn’t so much as defined by what’s not in it, as by its purpose. The purpose in craft loosely means “chocolate sold to be heated with liquid and made into a warm beverage.” From there it varies from maker to maker.
Dick Taylor Chocolate: “A European style drinking chocolate” made from cocoa beans and cane sugar.
Fruition Chocolate Works: “Sipping Chocolate Mix” made from cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa powder, cocoa butter, salt, vanilla
Dandelion Chocolate: “Gourmet Classic Hot Chocolate Mix” made from cocoa beans, cane sugar.
Pump Street Chocolate: “An elegant and pure drinking chocolate” made using cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter.
Tcho: “Hawt Chocolate, formerly known as Drinking Chocolate Crumbles” made with cacaco beans, cane sugar, cocoa powder, cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin, vanilla beans.
Check out the extensive drinking chocolate lineup at Fjak Chocolate Moon Shop Zurich offers a hazelnut hot chocolate on their winter menu
In drinking chocolate we need to consider the phrase “form follows function” because “what shape it takes” determines our process, how we market it, and the user-friendliness of it. If I just lost you, and you’re thinking “but I just want to know how to make it” that is exactly where we’re headed.
Drinking chocolate is more than just chocolate melted in a cup
Like a two-ingredient dark bar, drinking chocolate can be simple, straightforward, and when crafted with intention, delightful. It’s that “crafted with intention” aspect that we focus on because “intention” is where we discover the freedom to pursue this craft however we each choose.
By crafting chocolate I’m of course talking about the craft approach of “starting” from scratch. We not only choose the exact ingredients we want in our batches, but face the dual tasks of impacting and enhancing the flavor of those ingredients. And, if chocolate making is a business for us, we accept the added necessity of creating a pleasurable tasting experience.
Drinking chocolate, like any chocolate we choose to make, doesn’t have to be limited to single origin dark chocolate, or take the form of bags of shredded chocolate. It MUST however, be crafted specifically as drinking chocolate. Sure, you can (and lots of makers do), chop up the same exact blocks of chocolate you use for your bars. But…why? This approach certainly makes use of “what’s available,” but Only if the answer is yes to these needs:
It tastes fabulous when melted, and diluted in hot water, milk, coffee, whatever liquid is used to make it a drinkable beverage;
The process of melting and adding/stirring into a liquid is satisfying to the user;
Since drinking chocolate is often stored and consumed gradually, it maintains its original appearance/characteristics throughout its shelf life.
You know what comes next, right? I’m going to say test different origins and %s to see which you work with taste good as drinking chocolate. By testing I do not mean sticking a spoon in the melanger and tasting warm, molten undiluted chocolate.
What tastes awesome at 70% might seem too sweet, and a higher % can be used; what tastes pleasantly bitter at 90% might be too bold when experienced in a cup or mug, which provide more aroma (heated chocolate is more aromatic; the wider the cup/mug/bowl, the more aroma we experience).
To test: we must mimic how the folks who buy it from us will experience it. They won’t experience warm/molten, they’ll experience it in whatever shape/form you provide: room temperature, solid chopped, shredded, grated, crumbled, cube-lets, chunks, chippy bits, discs, a dusty mix. They will then heat up some liquid, and either add the drinking chocolate to the cup or pan first, then add liquid. If the liquid is warm, the chocolate will begin to melt. If it’s cool, it will float and require more stirring.
This is why form (what shape we choose to make our drinking chocolate, + the recipe we choose to create texture and flavor) flows directly from the experience we want the consumer of it to have. Dick Taylor calls their version “European style” likely because they use an intense origin, and the marketing language encourages enjoying a small, thicker amount.
To re-cap, our goals for drinking chocolate:
Craft great flavor,
with a pleasing texture,
in a form chosen intentionally for the experience we hope to create.
I find it interesting that there are valuable lessons of chocolate making that drinking chocolate can teach us.
Drinking chocolate is more aromatic than a bar of chocolate, therefore it translates origin flavor in a more bold way;
Overheating destroys aroma;
The more air we mix in, the smoother and creamier the result. This is 100% what a molinillo does! whips in air and froths the chocolate.
How these lessons, applied to chocolate making, inform us:
If we are having a hard time with an origin and/or %, instead of tasting from the melanger we can “make a cup of drinking chocolate” with it. Experiencing it diluted may shed light on specific flavor notes.
Paying attention to refining/conching time is not just about making sure we don’t over-refine, but that we don’t lose aromatic volatiles that create flavor.
Likewise, air mixed in minus friction is our friend, and we really do need to imitate conching as best we can; in a small tabletop refiner we need to back off the tension knob as soon as we’ve achieved silky texture (no hint of siltiness etc), and if possible apply extreior heat + time. Sadly, the new stainless scraper blades don’t seem to aerate as well as the old style plastic paddle blades, as they are on the side of the flow, not “in” the flow. In a DCM20 we can blissfully enjoy the heat produced by the direct-drive, and remove all the tension.
How to make drinking chocolate, the basics
Like a bar of chocolate, it starts with choosing origin, pairing the % you want to use to help create the end experience, and having a plan for “what happens after batchcrafting.”
Batchcrafting
For dark, dark milk drinking chocolate, or classic milk chocolate (plant-based or dairy), the bean to bar process is used: beans are chosen, sorted, roasted, cracked and winnowed into nibs, then a % formulation is used to determine the ratio of the ingredients we plan to use. The batchcrafting process doesn’t change for drinking chocolate: refine as long as needed to achieve texture and flavor, without over-refining and ending up with fudgy/gummy chocolate.
The form we offer IS as much of the experience as the texture and flavor.
Chopped is usually the starting-point for small makers, but takes a lot of time. After batchcrafting works best if the chocolate is strained, tempered, then poured as slabs for easy cutting before chopping. Tempering raises the melting point of chocolate, makes the chocolate easier to chop, helps maintain the suspension of particles, and creates a uniform melt.
Shedded; commonly used in craft chocolate: once we get serious about producing more than a few pounds, we will want to forget trying to hand chop. While a food processor can handle a small amount, they are prone to motor burnout and can melt the shredded bits. A Robot Coupe is the answer. The high cost = time saved. After batchcrafting: chocolate is strained, tempered, then poured as slabs for easy cutting before feeding into Robot Coupe. Tempering raises the melting point of chocolate, helps maintain the suspension of particles, and creates a uniform melt.
Traditonal discs, and not-so-traditional tablets Round discs that can be chopped or grated by the consumer offer a whole other experience. In fact, unlike shredded drinking chocolate, the chocolate can be used for snacking, or even chopping for baking. At Map I riffed on this notion with a modern mould. After batchcrafting the chocolate is strained, tempered, then moulded. Moulding requires tempering, as moulded chocolate releases cleanly from moulds, and as before, raises the melting point of chocolate, helps maintain the suspension of particles, and creates a uniform melt.
Cubelets or small, square-ish shapes also offer more possibilities for the consumer: baking and snacking, not just melting. After batchcrafting the chocolate is strained, tempered, then poured into cube trays, cooled, then unmoulded. As with the tablets, moulding requires tempering, as moulded chocolate releases cleanly from moulds, and as before, raises the melting point of chocolate, helps maintain the suspension of particles, and creates a uniform melt.
Blends and mixes
Closer to traditional packet hot cocoa, but when made craft bean to bar is something much more special. Typically a mixture of chocolate and/or cocoa powder, plus milk powder or alt-milk powder (like oat powder), plus sugar. Can be mixed in a food processor or Robot Coupe. Not necessary to temper.
Packaging trends
Pouches (above) are easy, and can be heat-sealed. Cannisters, tubes, and cans are becoming more popular, but have more specific shipping needs than pouches, which can be shipped via padded envelope.
Starter recipes
Up next this week,
a post on crafting flavored drinking chocolate with printable recipes (think of it as the inclusioncraft of drinking chocolate).
Finally, I’d love your help! as a thank-you for taking the time to complete this survey, I’m offering a chance for a year’s paid subscription, or an hour-long mentoring sessions. Find the survey here
Happy chocolate making,
Mackenzie
The molinillo!!! Love it!!