ONAMI: Taste Pairings of Food & Drink

Onami is a Japanese word that roughly means ?to compare tastes? as in food, drink or feel. ESPRESSO combined the tastes of DATERRA Farms PEABERRY, and YELLOW BOURBON coffees a with CHUAO CHOCOLATIER Spicy Maya and Nutmeg ?Chocopod? confections.

We were quite excited to get a new offering from fabulous San Diego confectioner Michael Antinorsi?s CHUAO Chocolatier, based in Carlsbad. CHUAO offers some of the most imaginitive, rich and tasty chocolates to be found anywhere and the list of flavor combinations with exquisite chocolate is a long one. The newest element in their line is a Chocopod?an individually wrapped almond shaped chocolate intended to go with fine Arabica coffees. CHUAO is actively reaching out to the caf? owner and patron with the new confections, and seems to have a winner on his hands with them.

Along with the chocolate, we tasted a couple of coffees from Brazil?s Daterra Farms, a grower that specializes in organic fair trade coffees and that is known for a high degree of careful husbandry at every step of its process. The tasted beans were a Peaberry and Yellow Bourbon.

The coffee was brewed with a filter cup method to a full city roast by our favorite home roaster and degassed for a full day prior to brewing; Daterra is known for superior beans and these were no exception; evenly sized, no clunkers in the lot, we expected much from the coffees.

What we realized immediately is that our beans were handicapped by the full city roast; they should have been given an Italian or even Viennese treatment for their maximum potential to emerge. As it was, the Peaberry still had a lot going for it; great aroma, snappy flavor and good body were offset by a flat aftertaste and the sharpness left by the too-light roast. The Yellow Bourbon faired less well; this coffee didn?t deliver much mouth feel, though it was mellow enough and not off-putting. Having had much Daterra Yellow Bourbon before, it wasn?t what we expected and the light roast was entirely at fault.

As for the chocolate, CHUAO hit another high point, especially with the nutmeg, in our view. Its 60% cacao content was sharply matched by the nutmeg; this is a confection not to be treated lightly?no one is going to inhale these by the handful; they?re just too potent and rich in flavor. As you might expect from a nutmeg confection, there is a certain champagne-like dryness to it that we thought would go well with a morning latt? or au lait. With the peaberry, the nutmeg seemed to come into its own rich complexity; its compelling aroma was enhanced and sharpness of the coffee matched the potent nutmeg very well. This combination is something you want to savor, perhaps for a dessert after a meal rich in complex flavor combinations.

The Spicy Maya contains cayenne pepper. While at first glance, this seems contradictory, it isn?t once you try it. Indeed, pepper has been a traditional addition to chocolate for centuries in Latin cultures, and CHUAO has done it here with its usual finesse and excellent handling.

Again, the Peaberry paired better. The Spicy Maya hits the tongue with bright wakeup call and fills the mouth with a fullness of sharp, sweet yinyang brilliance. With the Peaberry it had a sparkle left on the back end and gave a wonderful back of the throat tingle. We thought it was just amazing and only wished we?d had some of Daymar?s Espresso Grato to go with it. All concerned who have tried this espresso note its macho robust taste; the Spicy Maya would be a great companion.

We had a tough time choosing a favorite between the two chocolates; the Nutmeg was the more endlessly consumable, the Spicy Maya more dynamic in flavor note and complexity. Both need coffees with body and either a dense flavor to contrast with the bright chocolates or very light to bring out the flavor notes born by heat and salts. But hands down, CHUAO has a pair of winners on its hands. To learn more about these items: visit chuaochocolatier.com and ChocoPod.net Also, www.elanorganic.com

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