How do I know this?
I know this because my PhD supervisor not only encourages my academic work and tells me to have faith in myself, but brings me chocolate from his travels.
It’s kind of wonderful. The following is one of my supervisor-given lovely chocolates.
El Rey Apamate 73.5% Chocolate Oscuro
When I was in America in 2007-8, I was blown away by El Rey’s Icoa white chocolate. El Rey’s Icoa is one of the only white chocolates in the world that uses undeoderised cocoa butter. This means that the bar actually tastes like chocolate, unlike most white chocolate which taste of naught but milk, vanilla, and sugar.
I was rather keen to find out whether El Rey’s dark chocolate would be equally impressive in its own right.
The three words that best describe this chocolate (if I had to pick only three) are fruity, subtle, and light. Even at 73.5% cacao, this dark chocolate is not at all bitter, acrid, or sour. In fact, if El Rey’s Apamate was a fictional character at a party, it would be the unassuming and demurely-dressed girl in the background who smiles at everyone, has a couple of dances with relatively attractive men, never puts a foot wrong, and probably irons her nightgown before she goes to bed.
The aroma of this chocolate is predominately sweet cocoa but also has hints of caramel, muscovado sugar and, surprisingly, charcoal. The fruitiness isn’t immediately apparent in the aroma but comes through strongly in the taste, as lychee, white peach and sweet pineapple intermingle with subtle notes of butterscotch caramel.
Each time I tasted this chocolate, I was pleasantly surprised by its ability to blend complexity with subtlety. The light fruitiness and sweetness of the cacao, combined with the chocolate’s overall lack of acid or bitterness, makes for an easily-likeable chocolate that I’m sure would suit people who like dark, but not super-dark, chocolate.
Thanks Ally!
And now I should probably go work on that “PhD” thing…
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
wow that is a good supervisor who understands you need good chocolate to get you through the phd – you must now look forward to her travels
Absolutely! Everything you say is spot on, except my supervisor is a he
oops – I worked with a woman called ally so obviously thought you had the same person supervising you – silly mistake!
Teehee! It would’ve been a cool coincidence if it was the same person
A great supervisor indeed. Everyone who has attempted any sort of thesis knows to their very core that it is impossible without chocolate. I got mine bound in Cadbury’s purple as a mark of that commitment. I do like the sound of El Rey’s white chocolate, it might have to go on the wish list with the Vestri.
El Rey’s Icoa and Vestri… if I ever see them in Australia, Louise, I’ll buy you some immediately! Love the Cadbury purple thesis symbolism – I got my Honours thesis bound in deep green because it was about ethical consumption
Now you HAVE to get to work
Yes…..
I love baking with Oscuro – a well-priced, high-quality bulk chocolate. And El Rey Caoba milk is the best milk chocolate around, period. Love that Venezuelan chocolate.
I’m so ridiculously jealous that this chocolate is so common for you that you can bake with it willy-nilly! Oh, the dream of having such chocolate available to me in bulk…
Did you say ‘deodorised chocolate’? Yes, you did. Don’t know why, but I’m constantly amazed at the length suppliers go to to ensure a place in food chains!!! This chocky sounds like a good one for me…, dark but not too dark & appropriately smelly
I know it sounds silly, but it’s like pasteurising milk. Most cocoa butter is deoderised to remove its impurities, but at the same time this strips it of the chocolate-y flavour. So in the same way that raw milk is apparently tastier, so too is undeoderised cocoa butter. I think!
Two of the most important ingredients for making it through a PhD in one piece: good supervisor, and good chocolate!
It’s weird how that isn’t written anywhere in the PhD guidelines/information…
Your supervisor is a clever one – give the girl chocolate; now she’ll WORK.
Blog first, then work? *sheepish face*
Gosh aren’t you lucky having such a lovley PhD supervisor that not only knows you so well but is so generous in providing you, your indulgences. Hmmm now I keep thinking of what kind of chocolates I could provide to you from MY region of the world
I am super lucky indeed
But before you start thinking about chocolates in my part of the world, remember that you owe me *your* address first 
You are clearly a match made in heaven! Well if I had known that PhD’s came with chocolate assistance I might have tried to go for one
You woz gypped, Lorraine!
Though I think I’d be perfectly happy with your book deal, if I was you!
So El Rey’s Apamate is you?
Oi!! *laughs riotously* Cheap shot, BFF! I most certainly do NOT iron my nightgown. (Though my mum did give me a white nightgown for Christmas that makes me feel like I’m straight out of Little House on the Prairie…)
Mine hasn’t come with chocolate assistance at all! I’m going to send your blog to my supervisor.
Oh, I think you must! And preface the email with the subject heading “chocolate makes the [academic] world go round”
I thought you were supposed to give an apple to your teacher, but chocolate from your supervisor sounds like a much better deal! I love your tasting notes too – so articulate and precise!
Thanks Helen
Just so you know, I have made my supervisor brownies before! Much better than an apple, methinks 
They have this amazing looking chocolate in the US? I must find. I like all types of dark chocolate, but the ones that aren’t as bitter become so addictive!
Yes indeed! I saw this one regularly in the US, so I think it should be fairly easy for you to find
My mouth is watering. That sounds divine! But I just have to ask: irons her nightgown?!?
I just write what my fingers tell me to write. I have no say in the matter.
(Surely there are some people who do that?)
Perhaps we should meet up half-way and you can give me all your chocolates Ms. Hannah
have a wonderful dayyy
Sounds like a plan!
Hello there Hannah,
You know… I have to bow down on the floor. You are truly a chocolate connoisseur! I am just a newbie.
My favorites are milk ones. I parted away from the pretentious chocoholic roads of dark chocolate and take a reverse back to my childhood faves.
I love Javanese stuff and valrhona… Any recommendations?
Well, good to know you.
*laughs* Thanks Pierre, but I’m really just someone who loves chocolate! And dark chocolate, although I’d like to think that doesn’t make me too pretentious! I’m not as confident recommending milk chocolate, particularly as I’d have first pointed you towards Valrhona in that regard. I’d definitely suggest giving Askinosie’s Dark Milk chocolates a try, though perhaps those mightn’t be sweet enough for you? Valrhona’s Jivara Lait is probably one of the best plain milk chocolates I’ve had so far.
Love the metahpor comparing the chocolate bar to the girl at the party. What a good description! The chocolate sounds wonderful, but I’m more intrigued by their white chocolate – I must find one of those bars!
Have you accumulated enough coconut flour recipes yet?
Thanks Heather!
And I think yes, yes I have! Going to wait for the next “Magic Monday” at my local health store (when everything is 20% off) and go for it 
I get such chocolate cravings every time I read your blog! Cruel… I have none here
*gasp* I honestly don’t know what that would be like. I have (no joke) over 25 different blocks of chocolate right now…
That’s pretty cool to get presents from your teachers! Especially edible ones!
Absolutely! I’m very lucky
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