It can be no coincidence that 7th July has been designated World Chocolate Day, and as Chocolate and Coffee have a complimentary relationship, these chocolate flight and coffee pairings take the coffee drinking experience to a whole new level.
It is rare for me to get this excited, simply by opening a box, but that was exactly my reaction the minute I removed the lid of the Ultimate Coffee Selection from the Artisan Coffee Tasting Experience.
Beautifully laid out, this is without doubt the perfect gift for the coffee lover in your life or, in case my wife isn’t reading this, the perfect way to treat yourself. At £34.99 this will be a birthday or Christmas gift for a number of my coffee drinking friends this year.
Beautifully presented, the large box contains six different blends of coffee as ground coffee, coffee bags and coffee pods, which you may think is more than enough for a gift but then Artisan Coffee go one step further and pair each coffee blend with the very best chocolate pairing.
However, if you know which is your favourite, then you can buy smaller amounts of your blend of choice.
Coffee expert and Co-Founder of Artisan Coffee Co., Ashley Palmer Watts has carefully curated chocolate flights that are tailored to match each of Artisan Coffee Co.’s signature coffee characters and amplify the coffee in your cup.
With each coffee character you purchase, Artisan Coffee Co. includes the paired Chocolate Flight to match, they are also available to purchase individually.
However, it doesn’t matter how good the presentation, the taste of the coffee is what is important, and the Artisan Coffee Company does not disappoint.
This tasting experience allows you to carry out a personalised tasting with other people, but I am afraid that I am too grumpy in the morning to share coffee, and this was far too delicious to do so anyway.
My personal favourite was ‘Big Shot’ (yes you can make up your own jokes, as indeed my wife already has). Big Shot is rich and smooth with dark chocolate and vanilla taste. The notes made mention of gooey fudge brownie which I couldn’t detect but perhaps my palate is not as refined as I like to believe. The rich dark chocolate was a perfect accompaniment to the ‘Big Shot.’
The Enigma also lived up to the billing with a rather (at least to me) unusual (in a good way,) flavour, which was at once jammy with a rich chocolatey base. I loved this one almost as much as the ‘Big Shot’ and I thought, maybe a hint of liquorice, which illustrates why it is named The Enigma.
‘The Genius,’ was another sure fire hit, nutty with chocolatey undertones and delicious notes of pecans and raisins. Delicious
The three mentioned were my standout winners but I would happily drink any of the others again (and again and again.) and I suspect that were I to taste them again my top three could change.
If you like coffee and have a particular favourite brand, then I would suggest that these are a must try. There is even a decaffeinated coffee reassuringly called the Dreamer which I have yet to try because I need this other coffee to leave my system to give it fighting chance.
If you are reading this and thinking to yourself, surely, he can sip the coffee and then spit it out, before trying the next, let me just say that once I had tasted this coffee there was no way that I wasn’t finishing the cup, even If I didn’t sleep for days and I strongly suspect that this will be the same for you because it is so delicious.
https://www.artisancoffeeco.com/