Seven years ago I stopped drinking coffee. just when it was beginning to become a thing, with really good coffee shops appearing in salubrious districts, the redolent delights unquestionably delicious, I quit. Perfectly roasted beans of exotic origin tempting me in, yet I was unable to let a drop past my lips. A drawing of the aroma into my nostrils and my brain started asking me questions 'where has the caffeine gone Rachel, we used to like the caffeine Rachel?' Tasting however was a dichotomy of beautiful flavour irretrievably marred, as it was all strange nausea top notes, followed by a head spinning confusion and finishing on a shaky shaky cake walk jitter base.

After a little experimentation into the rejuvenating qualities of cacao, I was pulled in to a whole world of glorious beaned delights. My early morning pick me up now comes in a slab of delicious fruity bitterness, heavy on the cacao, that melts slowly into my bloodstream.

The down side to this is that I annoy myself with how unnecessarily and borderline laughably snooty I am towards most things in this world labelled 'chocolate'. A vast majority are nothing of the sort, more a cocktail of oil, non dairy creamer and a cursory molecule of cocoa to keep trading standards off their back. Thankfully, just like the coffee thing, in an emergency, chocolate of almost acceptable palatability and 70%+ cacao content can now be acquired at the corner shop; although this is location dependent. I struggled in Bridlington.

Currently doing the business is this Peruvian single estate from Willies. Other chocolates are available, but no others have lulled me into a similar state of borderline obsession. Yet.

CAFFEINE NOT CAFFEINE