Rating chocolates and chocolate ratings 2004

(Seve)


For each shop visited, a box of freshly made dark chocolate are tasted and rated on the following independent dimensions: texture, aroma, balance, and intensity plus an overall impression where five is the best possible score with three being the average, defined as a Valrhona equivalent. While each chocolate is rated based on its own type, since it makes no sense to compare the texture dimension between praline and ganache, only the composite score is tabulated and noted. Like all ratings, these contain a good deal of taster bias and idiosyncrasies, despite rudimentary statistical techniques to minimize the impacts, and should be used with these issues in mind.




A quick note on terminologies for the ratings

Bonbons: chocolate candies

Couverture: chocolate or, specifically used in these rating, the chocolate coating on the bonbons

Fourrage: filling/heart of bonbons

Ganache: fourrage made with chocolate, cream, and infusion of flavors

Praline: fourrage made with crushed, carmelized nuts




Tasting Notes

Les 5 Tablettes

Jean-Paul Hévin: beautiful bonbons, lousy tea (service)

Les 4 Tablettes

Christian Constant: a thoughtful poet of chocolates and maker of pastry with precision

Gérard Mulot: the ultimate neighborhood chocolate shop

Jouvaud: how to bribe a kid

Pierre Hermé: pastry and chocolate as an exuberant art

Sève: how to bribe an adult

Vincent Dallet and Near Misses: Au Parrain Genereux and Terroir: sometimes, being there is more important than having the numbers

Les 3 Tablettes

Pralus: must have been a bad day

Joel Durand: crunching away without couverture

No rating

Puyricard: conspiracy theories abound

Not Rated

Valrhona: not sure who is more insulted, McDonalds or Valrhona

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