Is That Dimethylxanthine You Eatin' ...?
I meet il Professore at the bar of the Caffe Fiore in the late, starting to heat up, murky Napoli morning. He is speaking of another taste, entirely: "You could make a fairly complicated blend of two of the existing Gimme mantras, the French, and Leftist, equal parts. The shot I am looking for has a certain 'meta-taste', a fantasy of complexes; one I say, that is like first tier bittersweet chocolate, could be Belgian or Italian."
We head for the lab of Scuola di Espresso. The Professore hands me the
shot, a hefty, maze-like sipper, compounded with astringent-to-bitter,
laced with ultrasonic notes of, yup, cacao. Next to it are samples of,
of course, chocolate.
"Yes", the Professore turns and continues, "you are tasting 3, 7 dimethylxanthine, along with the chocolate, similar, right, to the other metaxanthines, the alkaloids we describe as caffeines, in this case 'theobromine'. Cacao is of the theobroma genus, very apt word that is from the Greek, 'theo', for generic god of the Greeks, and 'brosi', food. So charmingly restorative is the cup of chocolate, potent creaminess, glossy dark, reminiscent of great leisure and profound taste. Remember we talked of the bitter element of 1, 3, 7 trimethylxanthine, the genuine caffeine of coffee. You could also have your cup of 1, 7 or 1, 3--whatever it is, you can look it up, the other dimethylxanthine, the 'theine' of tea. Coffee, tea, and cacao all contain proportions of the three to more or less degrees. And, recall that generally you can expect a dose of 60 to 150 milligrams in any of them, depending on brew method and type.
"Cacao is so remarkably related to coffee in all ways. Similar horticulture: it flourishes in the new world, always under shade best between 1,300 and 2,300 feet, 20 degrees above and below the Equator, from Cuba in the north to the island of Reunion off the coast of Africa. I am referring to 'The Book of Chocolate' by Nathalie Bailleaux, 1996. Trees of cacao are reared generally on smallholdings of less than 2 acres, buried in the dense forests of magnificent flowering overgrowth, out of Aztec and Mayan cultivation.
"It was spread throughout the central and south Americas by the Spanish in the 16th century and from Brazil to Africa by the Portuguese and to Java by the Dutch. Now Africa is the largest producer but of varietals, like robusta, not grand cru, as is the original 'criollo', the heirloom of cacao, a comparison to bourbon arabica.
"Cacao grows in large pods randomly out of trunks and branches, of roughly 16 kernels, which are cut out, fermented and dried, like coffee, you would say. But further, it is exported to chocolatiers to be roasted, like coffee, light, maybe medium mahogany, or dark bittersweet, like a deep French roast. Taste for yourself," he concludes.
I dive into the samples:
A Callebaut Belgian of 54% cacao fat, a bittersweet couveture, expensive and moistly creamy with chocolate in pristine balance, but loses aftertaste to be overly sweet.
An "ultimo dark" Ecuador organic of intense value at 75% fat, but the taste is somewhat lost in sweetness, lacks real character perhaps and a sweet to sour aftertaste, a bit strange.
A Papua New Guinea 72% dark roast which is sweet to mildly bitter with a dry finish, less creamy but with an ephemeral arid chocolate aftertaste, subtle, pleasing.
Finally, a pinch of pure Gimme cacao powder, Dutch producer, extremely aromatic, a real bite in the mouth, then a beyond chocolate finish and long cacao aftertaste. It would be a knockout with sugar, a dusting of chili powder and a tweak of salt, like an azetca cioccolata.
The Professore is busy closing the lab for the end of summer session as I turn out the door to the piazza for the trip home.
Ciao, il Professore. And ciao to the xanthines of the lab, ciao lab.
"Yes", the Professore turns and continues, "you are tasting 3, 7 dimethylxanthine, along with the chocolate, similar, right, to the other metaxanthines, the alkaloids we describe as caffeines, in this case 'theobromine'. Cacao is of the theobroma genus, very apt word that is from the Greek, 'theo', for generic god of the Greeks, and 'brosi', food. So charmingly restorative is the cup of chocolate, potent creaminess, glossy dark, reminiscent of great leisure and profound taste. Remember we talked of the bitter element of 1, 3, 7 trimethylxanthine, the genuine caffeine of coffee. You could also have your cup of 1, 7 or 1, 3--whatever it is, you can look it up, the other dimethylxanthine, the 'theine' of tea. Coffee, tea, and cacao all contain proportions of the three to more or less degrees. And, recall that generally you can expect a dose of 60 to 150 milligrams in any of them, depending on brew method and type.
"Cacao is so remarkably related to coffee in all ways. Similar horticulture: it flourishes in the new world, always under shade best between 1,300 and 2,300 feet, 20 degrees above and below the Equator, from Cuba in the north to the island of Reunion off the coast of Africa. I am referring to 'The Book of Chocolate' by Nathalie Bailleaux, 1996. Trees of cacao are reared generally on smallholdings of less than 2 acres, buried in the dense forests of magnificent flowering overgrowth, out of Aztec and Mayan cultivation.
"It was spread throughout the central and south Americas by the Spanish in the 16th century and from Brazil to Africa by the Portuguese and to Java by the Dutch. Now Africa is the largest producer but of varietals, like robusta, not grand cru, as is the original 'criollo', the heirloom of cacao, a comparison to bourbon arabica.
"Cacao grows in large pods randomly out of trunks and branches, of roughly 16 kernels, which are cut out, fermented and dried, like coffee, you would say. But further, it is exported to chocolatiers to be roasted, like coffee, light, maybe medium mahogany, or dark bittersweet, like a deep French roast. Taste for yourself," he concludes.
I dive into the samples:
A Callebaut Belgian of 54% cacao fat, a bittersweet couveture, expensive and moistly creamy with chocolate in pristine balance, but loses aftertaste to be overly sweet.
An "ultimo dark" Ecuador organic of intense value at 75% fat, but the taste is somewhat lost in sweetness, lacks real character perhaps and a sweet to sour aftertaste, a bit strange.
A Papua New Guinea 72% dark roast which is sweet to mildly bitter with a dry finish, less creamy but with an ephemeral arid chocolate aftertaste, subtle, pleasing.
Finally, a pinch of pure Gimme cacao powder, Dutch producer, extremely aromatic, a real bite in the mouth, then a beyond chocolate finish and long cacao aftertaste. It would be a knockout with sugar, a dusting of chili powder and a tweak of salt, like an azetca cioccolata.
The Professore is busy closing the lab for the end of summer session as I turn out the door to the piazza for the trip home.
Ciao, il Professore. And ciao to the xanthines of the lab, ciao lab.
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Anonymous Jul 25, 2009 – 9:10 PM
it is spelled dimethylxanthine