Comments on: Cacao Sampaka, Barcelona

By: Jade186

Jade186 — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 15:49:22 +0000

I was in Barcelona last week, tried this little shop and I must say that the chocolate and ice cream were delicious! The fruit sorbets were really flavoursome and the chocolate was, as described above by MM, quite intense and rich. My Italian foodie friend who was travelling with me did like it as well, and gave me an informative little lecture on how to discern between excellent, good and mediocre ice cream. The salesclerk did not allow photos to be taken inside, yes, but was not as snooty as I expected her to be (well she was cordial with me atleast). Thanks for this post MM!

By: mgr

mgr — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 03:10:00 +0000

Mayumi, yes. Amedei actually helped cacao bean cooperativas in Venezuelas Chuao region…which is the most prized beans. As opposed to Valrhona that did nothing of the sort. Amedei even paid the debts of the farmers in the never-ending debt ridden situations between the farmers and landowners. Same thing that happens in the Philippines. Only difference is Venezuela produces the best chocolate beans in the world. Their chocolate specially the Chuao and porcelana brands are smooth as silk..and very “intense” as according to MM’s own words. Their milk chocolate though is of the swiss style of manufacturing…super deadly creamy and smooth. Try some if you can.

By: mayumi

mayumi — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 02:33:39 +0000

MGR, i have to ask… have you tried the amedei yet? i read an article about the chocolate war between amedei and valrhona. the italian owned amedei sourced the same cacao from .. was it venezuela (?) from the french.

replaced it as the world’s BEST chocolate.

so, what do you think?

By: Marketman

Marketman — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 05:49:20 +0000

MGR, yes, and I think I got to other things you mentioned earlier as well…will have to speed up the posts.

By: MGR

MGR — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 05:42:12 +0000

And Godiva is owned by….Campbell’s (the same soup company). Surprise!

By: MGR

MGR — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 05:37:41 +0000

Hey, you made it there after all. I recomended this place to you from a previous post. Forget the snooty salesclerk. Probably having a bad day..I still have some CS chocolate in my cupboard chocolate stash. I also have some Amedei from Tuscany.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 02:20:21 +0000

fried neurons, the Spanish chocolates we tried were best described as being seriously INTENSE, very cacao-ey, nice and bitter, evocative of the cacao bean, not too sweet, not too creamy, screamed CHO-CO-LATE flavor. Not the best we have had on the planet, but incredibly interesting, if you ask me. They get kudos for presentation and merchandising, however.

renee, yes, I think a few years ago we tried the 1848 bars of chocolate, they are okay though the shops I list in Barcelona had more of the artisanal made by hand chocolates in addition to more transport friendly bars. But SURPRISE, SURPRISE, 1848 and all its Frenchness has a dirty secret…it’s actually owned by CADBURY and they don’t put their brand name on the wrapper as it could negatively affect their sales. But yes, any high cacao content chocolates (60-80%) are significantly more flavorful than the low concentration cousins. Despite our preference for darker chocolates (my wife and daughter in particular), I personally also like milk chocolates big time. I can go from really pricey stuff to my long-time favorite, CADBURY FRUIT & NUT any day… And milk chocolate covered raisins are another weakness…

sister, heeheehee, I have to remember that line the next time I run into a snooty salesperson…there were a FEW in Barcelona.

By: sister

sister — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 15:40:13 +0000

Just remember what Mom said to a snooty salesgirl at Bloomingdales: “Don’t forget which side of the counter you’re at”.

By: renee

renee — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 08:19:26 +0000

has the kid tried the parisian chocolate 1848? its the best one i’ve ever had, but sadly i don’t enjoy some of my old favorites as much after I tasted this (im no longer excited by cadbury hazelnut) hehehehe, oh well, the price we pay for a bit of heaven =P

By: fried-neurons

fried-neurons — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 06:21:28 +0000

I have never understood (and never will) sales associates who are snooty. I mean, unless a person look and smell like a hobo who will drive paying customers away, that person doesn’t deserve to be subjected to “katarayan”. Lalo na if the person is actually a paying customer.

Whenever I encounter snooty salespeople I can’t help but think, “Hello? You work in retail. As a salesclerk. Get over yourself.” tee hee. *evil grin*

Anyway, with regards to chocolate: I don’t think I’ve ever tasted chocolates from Spain. How are they? Are they sweet like American, creamy like English, rich like Swiss, complex like Belgian, or smoky like French? Super sarap ba? Maybe I’ll try to find some here…