"It is dark as the AlChemist walks along the corridor, rough stone under his feet, air warmed from well smoldering hearth fires stirring his cowl. He opens a hewn timber door, worn smooth at the threshold over years of use. He breaths deeply the comforting smells of this laboratory. Hints of wood and smoke linger in the air from the last time he roasted raw materials for his elixirs. Another smell, heady and almost intoxicating, brings a smile to his face as he remembers the smell wafting up as he was last grinding his pastes and powders. He looks about. Everything is in place. The roasting drum is cool in the hearth. The mortars and pestles are laid out neat and tidy, only a small amount of deep brown paste marring their finish. The cracking mill is sitting ready, waiting for the next batch to be crushed fresh out of the roaster. It is time to begin his magic, his devotion, his passion, his Alchemy, yet again. He prepares himself for the work ahead. The roasting, the cracking, the winnowing, the grinding, the mixing. The transformation of base materials into something more than they were. The transformation of cocoa beans to chocolate, the work of Chocolate Alchemy."
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I have now been testing out the Behmor 1600 coffee roaster for about 3 weeks now. I tried out both coffee & cocoa and it is doing a good job. When it becomes available (end of August?) we should have units for sale. But before we get too far into how it […]
Filed under: Roasting | 1 Comment »
The new crop of Ocumare (a delicate Criollo from Venezuela) is in and available. If a few of you want to jump on it, there is a small window of opportunity to taste and compare both crops. There are a few pounds of the Ocumare 2006 left. I have set the limit […]
Filed under: Cocoa Beans, Roasting, What's new & Updates | 2 Comments »
Hi, welcome to the new and improved (I sincerely hope) site. A number of months ago, the service we use to manage Chocolate Alchemy site was hacked and became unusable to us. To make a long story short, we are now using Wordpress to handle a portion of the site.
That means a number of things […]
Filed under: Products, Cocoa Beans, Roasting, What's new & Updates, Alchemist's Mussings | No Comments »
OK, you “do it yourselfers”. Being a chocolate alchemist sometimes means making your own equipment. Well, I am going to be building a new cocoa roaster for myself (actually for you, it is for your Kits) and I thought it might be nice for people to follow along and maybe build their own.
Now before you […]
Filed under: Roasting | No Comments »
