蔡老師の賞味特區

十月份去紐約時，愛巧克力如痴如狂的我，去上了一堂Chocolate Paring的課程

咦？Chocolate Paring? 只聽過Wine Paring, 沒聽過Chocolate Paring.

Wine Paring 是依照菜餚食材的選擇搭配適合口味的葡萄酒，通常是從餐前香檳開始，時常吃一頓Wine Paring下來面前有十幾個大小高矮胖瘦不同的酒杯。

回歸正題，我的第一次chocolate paring體驗是在法國知名的手工巧克力La Maison Du Chocolat店內裡發生的。位於曼哈頓東上城(Upper East Side)的麥德遜大道及78街。 從我大學求學時期這家La Maison Du Chocolat就已經在了！

If you have been to wine paring meals I won't be surprised, but have you been to chocoalte paring?  I've had my first chocolate paring experience in La Maison Du Chcoclat at their Upper East Side store in Manhattan, New York.  It's on 78th Street and Madison Avenue.  I know they've been at the same address for quite a long time!

看看他們玻璃櫃裡那一排排整齊迷人的巧克力，每一顆都是在法國當地手工製作，這一排巧克力磚是採用與9999純金磚一樣的尺寸及厚度，讓人有巧克力磚有如金磚一樣的華麗感受！

像我這麼愛吃巧克力，一定要有極大的自制力才能夠平安地走出這家店...

Look at all the yummy chocolates in the case, every single piece in hand made in France, and they look very precious indeed.  A chocoholic as myself really need a great sense of self-restrain when entering a place like this.

我們今天的chocolate paring開始囉～好興奮喔！盤子上擺著三個玻璃杯及六顆巧克力，巧克力由左到右分別是：Guayaquil, Dentelle, Rocher Noir Praline, Boheme, Quito and Rigoletto Lait.  有別於機器做的巧克力，因為是手工，所以他們看起來每一顆都不是有很整齊的形狀。哇～真的很忍不這想開始了，不過坐在左邊有兩位還沒到，可惡！

So here it comes our chocolate paring session.  What you see is a plate with 3 glasses and 6 pieces of chocolates arranged so meticulously. From left to right are Guayaquil, Dentelle, Rocher Noir Praline, Boheme, Quito and Rigoletto Lait. 

有沒有看到盤自旁邊擺了一把小刀子，那是讓你可以切割巧克力用的。最好品嚐頂級巧克力的方式可不是一口就把那放進嘴巴嚼一嚼吞下去，而是切一小塊，放在舌頭上含著，讓巧克力自然融化在嘴裡，體會它的味道還有在口腔後段出現的香味！

The paring knife by the plate is for us to cut chocolates.  With such delicate chocolate, it'd be really a waste to just swallow them all.  I cut them into small pieces and let it melts in my mouth, I then taste the chocolate fully and even in my nosetrill just naturally breath in and out.  

這是我們當天的講師 Mr. Michael Olsen 他的裝扮跟氣息真的跟La MaisonDu Chocolat及紐約上東城相當符合，有一點保守，行為舉止都很得體，很有禮貌！(手還撐在吧台上故意裝帥喔～)

This is our teacher of the session, Mr. Michael Olsen!

哇～冗長的前言及等待過程終於結束並進行到第一個步驟了！

第一顆巧克力Guayaqui的元產地是厄爾瓜多，是深巧克力(Dark Chocolate)，質地很絲絨而且有溫和杏仁提味，最後還有淡淡的香草香釋出。我還嚐到酸酸的野莓香在背景裡，但是相當滑順，跟杏仁與香草的搭配絕倫！

Our First chocolate is Guayaquil is a dark chocolate ganache, it's very velvety and with a tender notes of almond and a hint of vanilla, I also taste sour cherry in the background, which balances the dark chocolate and it was very smooth!

配合Guayaquil的是Gyikuro Kanro Green Tea.  Michael挑了一款來自京都的綠茶！讓人驚訝的是，原來看似爽口的綠茶居然也可以有絲絨般的質地，搭配Guayaguil有異曲同工之妙！第一口茶有綠茶清新的味道，但漸漸圓潤的味道就出來了，最後出現在茶裡的是野花的香氣，跟巧克力再背景裡的野莓互相呼應。再來一口巧克力，再喝一口茶.....細細品嚐！

Our tea paired up with Guayaquil is a Japanese tea from Kyoto, called Gyokuro Kanro Green Tea.  This mellow tea has also a velvety texture.  In the beginning it was refreshing then started to round and become quite soft!  It leaves a lingering finish of a wild flower with an unexpected presistence of fruit.  Let me put another piece of chocolate and sip some more tea, hmm.... it's so nice!

可可豆有這麼大你知道嗎？當然還有更大的，也還有更小的。剖開來裡面是一串串的可可果實。自然風乾的可可豆才能釋出香淳圓滑的味道，用機器風乾的可可豆會節省很多時間，但相對的可可豆會變得較苦而且也較油膩！

This is a cocoa bean!  High-end chocolate comes from a natural drying, to force cocoa beans to dry will raise the bitterness and oily taste.

要能分辨出手工與機器巧克力的其中一項條件，就是看看巧克力殼的厚薄，手工巧克力是薄的，機器做出的巧克力是厚的。To be able to tell the differences on the hand-made or a machine-made chocolates, one of the condition is to see the thickness of the chocolate shell.  When a chocolate coating is so thin, only high-end hand coating is possible.

這個組合是Rocher Noir Praline & Black Tea Yunnan Royal Gold China.  烤過杏仁和榛果praline包覆在深巧克力裡，堅果的香味明顯，我的最愛就是巧克力與堅果的組合了！搭配的這一款紅茶是從中國雲南來的皇家金饌茶葉，它有很濃的花香味卻一點都不苦，果香在中段時會釋出但最後卻又有淡淡玫瑰香作結尾，真是奇妙！香濃的紅茶與味道較清楚明顯的Rocher Noir Praline真的是很好的搭配。

This combinations come with Rocher Noir Praline & Black Tea Yunnan Royal Gold China.  It's the roasted almond and hazelnuts pralines coated in dark chocolate.  This tea comes from Yunnan provance in China, it has beautiful floral flavor, yet not a single trace of bitterness, the fruitful flavor coming through and I can taste the note of rose in the end.  It's really a beautiful combination and they surely compliment each other very well.

別忘了還有下集　Part II is coming up!