Five new Vietnam have arrived

Today I am combining a few recent email exchanges.  I hope you find it helpful.

New crops are in…..

The first is Ecuador Esmeraldas 2017/18 Direct Trade.

Wild Harvest Bolivia is in.

What do you think of beans from Cameroon?

Two new Peru in stock

I just heard about "Ruby Chocolate" from Callebuat. Do you know what kind of bean this is and have any info about it? Would like your 2¢

We have the newest crop of an old favorite and two (soon three) new direct trade in.

ew questions have been a little light lately.  I want to share a correspondence I had due to Ask the Alchemist #211.  Because I have something planned Ask the Alchemist #212 (is it obvious to everyone what the subject will be?) I’m going to call this one 211.5.

We've noticed that different beans seems to have different amounts of intrinsic oil. The Peruvian Maranon seems to have quite a bit of oil and produces a chocolate that flows very easily but it tricky to temper correctly. Is there a way to know in advance the amount of oil in a bean so we can adjust the amount of cocoa butter we add?

It is another of the short and sweet speed rounds of Ask the Alchemist.

What is your favorite chocolate?

Today is just a small laundry list of announcements, some of which I would like your opinions on. There is no Ask the Alchemist because my queue is empty. 

Let’s start off with saying this bean ranks in my top 10 favorites ever.  It has virtually everything I love about chocolate rolled into one. Just look how it pegs the chocolate category in the spider graph!  And sweet.  And fruity. And nutty.  The flavors just keep coming and coming.

Yeah, I’m that impressed.