Cocoa Beings
VIP Room Hosts Exotic Chocolate and Wine Tasting Seminar
STORY AND PHOTOS
BY STEPHEN VRATTOS
It was immediately apparent
upon entering the VIP Room
Thursday, August 23, any preconceptions
about an evening of
revelry, hopped-up on wine and
chocolate, should be left at the
door. What the eighteen intrepid
taste bud adventurers received,
however, was a fun, fascinating
and enlightening exploration of
the world’s most popular confection
and its relationship to wine, a
treat for oenophile and chocoholic
alike. Presented by self-appointed
Chocolate Sommelier Roxanne
Browning, this primer also served
up an eye-opening overview of the
global treat, its history, harvesting
and how-tos on selecting the best
and eschewing the least.
The tasting featured a trio of craft
chocolates, made with heirloom
cacao and old-world methods—
white with cacao nibs, raspberry
rose and dark 70% cacao—paired
with a white, rosé and red wine,
respectively. Browning began by
instructing the assembled to take
a sip of the white wine, swishing
it throughout the mouth, so it
awakens all the taste buds. Then,
small “nips” were taken of the white
chocolate, again taking the time for
the entirety of the mouth to savor
the flavor. “The goal here is to enjoy
them individually before enjoying
them together.”
According to Browning, the
build from white to dark, wines
and chocolate, allows the flavor
centers of the mouth to acclimate
to the lesser, albeit no less delicious,
levels of taste, properly preparing
them for the stronger experiences
to come. “A dark chocolate would
overpower a white wine and vice
versa. What we’re looking for is a
balance on the palette.”
Celebrating her tenth anniversary
as an “Exotic Chocolate Taster,”
Browning began her career in
advertising as an original “mad
woman,” working for a boutique
firm on Madison Avenue, much
like the titular characters on the
former hit AMC television series,
Mad Men. “That show was tame
in comparison to how it really
was,” Browning noted, telling of
how a colleague was once held by
the ankles outside an 11th-story
window.
A 2-term stint as the Mayor of her
Northport Village home in Long
Island followed. But the business
landscape to which she returned
had changed. “I wanted to get back
into creative, but everything was
online.”
Browning took an internet marketing
course. Playing with key
words associated with one of her
loves—chocolate—to see what
might elicit the most hits, she came
up with “Exotic Chocolate Tasting.”
She registered the name and immediately
began getting responses
2018
from such prominent businesses
October as Amazon and CitiBank. From her
solo venture’s early days, she incorporated
another passion—wine.
“I soon realized I needed wine.
¢COURIER TOWERS SHORE NORTH chocolate, is related to caffeine,
but has different effects, such as
54 mood enhancement. Tasting chocolate alone wasn’t
going to do it.”
Fortunately, the long-time collector
and oenophile already had more
than a passing knowledge on the
subject, recognizing the potential
of mashing up the two. “If you look
at a flavor wheel, you notice a lot
of crossover between the profiles of
chocolate and wine, such attributes
as earthy, floral, nutty and spicy.”
During the seminar, the proud
Certified Women’s Business Owner
also dissects the mysteries behind
labeling and how to select the
highest quality chocolate, such as
understanding ingredients listed on
U.S. product labels are ordered by
quantity, with the most prevalent
coming first. Certainly disheartening
to many of the attendees was discovering
their favorites contained little
cacao and were considered terrible
examples. Brands such as Godiva
and Ghirardelli are owned by big
corporations or conglomerates.
Cacao “POD”-cast with Exotic
Chocolate Sommelier Roxanne
Browning
They source their chocolate from
West Africa, where child slavery is
used to harvest bulk flavorless cacao
beans for commercial use.
Browning doesn’t just talk the
talk; she walks the walk, trekking
to the Amazon to not only
visit Quechua people, but also
live with the world’s cacao caretakers,
immersing herself in their
lives to get a hands-on experience
of how the best cacao beans are
raised and harvested. No surprise,
she’s an ardent proponent of ethically
sourced chocolate, which
is grown on family-owned cacao
farms or co-ops. “These stewards
of the rain forest understand the
delicate ecosystem in which cacao
trees thrive naturally. More revenues
flow back to the source to
preserve them.”
You’ll have one hour to complete this part of the exam
Hmm... Smoky with hints of cherry...
DID YOU KNOW…?
• Cacao contains Flavonoids,
the plant-based compounds with
powerful antioxidant properties,
which help lower blood pressure
and prevent blood clots? In fact,
dark chocolate of at least 70%
cacao content is recommended
as part of a heart-healthy diet; an
anti-inflammatory which protects
against cancer, heart disease and
type-2 diabetes.
• Craft dark chocolate is vegan,
gluten-, diary- and GMO-free?
• The idea chocolate contains
caffeine is a myth? Alkaloid theobromine,
the active ingredient in