Djaul Island dark chocolated poured and barred-up

Final pour of Djaul chocolate done and dusted, still to age but final flavour very deep rich chocolate with lots of nutty hazelnut/peanut flavour.
would also make an excellent couverture drinking chocolate, now thats an idea

Wen Shan Pao Zhong green tea

We have received samples of exquisate Wen Shan Pao Zhong - Superior grade, for tastings.

This the COE winning tea of this Taiwanese green tea, rated the best of the  9 districts of wen shan paozhong tea growing area which are: Ping Ling, Shi Ding, Xin Dian, Xi Zhi, Shen Kan, Ping Xi, Shan Xia, Shi Men and Lin Co

There are few grades which are listed below

Top Grade (Superior)—> only 1 person win

First place-1—> only 1 person win

First place –2—> only 1 person win

First place -3 —> only 1 person win

First place –> 60 people

Second place –> 80 people

Third place –> 120 people

Wen Shan Paozhong tea 

Region;  Wen Shan district, New Taipei city.

Grower; Mr. Ong

Country; Taiwan.

 

Djaul island dark chocolate exquisite nutella flavour

Djaul Island- 3hrs into conche already the rich texture of this cacao is evident and the flavour at this early stage nutty nutella/peanut butter.

this cacao is from a neighboring plantation to that sourced last year but the terroir of this region producers the most exquisite hazelnut flavour

rare purple bud tea

From early January we will be able to offer rare purple bud tea from Yunnan China.

About Purple tea:

Purple tea is a rare variety of Yunnan large leaf teas. Tea leaf appears purple red when young buds on the tea tree, tea products are dark green after being processed, tea leaves in hot water with the color of blue-green, from  these magic transformations of color, this kind of tea is called Three colors tea by local villagers, generally called Purple tea.

Purple tea uses sun-dried purple tea leaves as raw material, produced according to the traditional technology of puer. Purple tea is of three major characteristics: fresh bright liquid, unique fragrance and strong flavor with excellent hui gan, these points make Purple tea different from all other puer teas. 

Purple tea contains rich flavonoids and has significant effects on decreasing blood fat, blood pressure, losing weight, anti-arteriosclerosis, anti-cancer, nourishing stomach and dental protection.

Ancient Chinese tea saint Lu Yu wrote in his Tea Scripture: Teas, Purple tea is the supeme. 

Located at the heart of the forest or in areas of high biodiversity, old tea trees have been growing for hundreds of years in Yunnan, totally integrated with the natural ecosystem. These trees are the source of many intersections and natural mutations, particularly (but not solely) responsible for the major differences you notice in the aromas of Yunnan to another.

From a natural mutation that produces tea leaves or buds ... purple! This color is due to anthocyanin pigmentation , the same as dark grapes. This  colorful natural substance is responsible  for the color of some plants such as blueberry, blackberry or cherry and some tea trees produce a quantity in  addition to chlorophyll, responsible for its green color of the tea leaves. This purple color generally does not touch the buds or young leaves that surround the buds, but sometimes this range may be wider violet and spread to the entire tree.

65% Fijian dark chocolate

after a short absence we have new stocks of organic fijian Cacao sourced from Kokosiga organic Producers, Fiji. This cacao is sun dried - washed Forastero Amenalado cacao beans, post harvest 6 day ferment. Again the quality is superb the overall quality coming out of the Pacific compared to previous years has been good.

roasted now to winnow and pre-grind/ dry conche

Though Samoan beans maybe effected by the recent cyclone.

Djaul Is cocoa roasted

another day another roast, pacific cocoa seems to like a deep long roast to bring out the best. this PNG bean is no exception, being an un-washed forastero the deep roast boosts the chocolate quotient even more.
be interesting if we can extract the peanut butter flavours we got from previous batches earlier this year.
some of this batch will be released for a limited edition couverture dark chocolate.
winnowed and pre-ground , will refine and conche Monday for a christmas treat.

pacific cacao

new offerings
we have a limited offer of  Djaul Island cacao, one of the best PNG flavour profiles, deep rich fruit chocolate with flavour notes of roasted peanut.
We also have a new offer of wild harvest Bolivian from the Beni region , this cacao is totally wild harvest by Amazonian Indians.

New Release- organic Madagascan dark chocolate 64%

As a sister to our 77% Madagascan we have released an organic 64% dark chocolate version. This semi sweet version enables more of the fruity sweet undertones to be unravelled to reveal their delicious flavours. Their is still a slight smoky flavour which is a result of the high roast given to this bean

tea /cocoa filler, now just need to move it

this

organic Madagascar 77%

its out of the conch and the first batch poured, organic Madagascar 77% dark chocolate. Roasted by Pralus with beans from his isle of perfume estate.
Unbelievably dark roast but no smoky aromas n the final choc, just huge flavours or roasted nuts and tropical fruit- very long palate

Madagascar cocoa beans from Pralus

just in time ,a new shipment of cocoa beans from Pralus plantation on the 'isle of perfume' Madagascar. These beans have been roasted much darker than previous Lot # 200612. Really strong aroma all fruit and nuts. Winnowed and start of conching today early flavours are all citrus lemon/lime typical of this criollo. The surprise is this high roast hasn't dimmed the citrus flavours even though the outer husk is lightly burnt.

tea & chocolate filler, now to move it

i bought it now to move it, but will make life easier, too many bags to fill and not enough time

SAMOAN 73% DARK CHOC

finished the latest batch of samoan cocoa beans at 73%, definite reduction in bitterness with higher roast and produces a more pronounced nutty flavour. rating very high on customer tastings against Venezuelan & Madagascan chocolates

rare and ancient teas

coming soon by order only rare and ancient teas from one of our most respected chinese grower suppliers

Single Origin

We only buy our teas from a single origin, from the same farm and the same year.

Why Buy Wild?

First you must understand what the difference is between a commercially farmed tea and wild tea:

Our teas are grown on one single estate. Meaning in a bag of tea that you purchase you can be assured it is one single kind of tea from the same harvest. Unlike many commercially farmed teas that use teas from different batches and harvests and even different grades confusing and distorting the pure flavor.

Imagine an agile old tea picker plucking fresh leaves on the side of a steep mountain. We call this monkey picked tea because it takes skill and agility. Our teas are gathered by hand high on the mountain side by the local villagers and families that have been harvesting tea for years. Commercially farmed teas generally use large machinery to cut the tea.

Some of our teas like our Wild Snow tea is hand rolled and roasted over hot charcoals giving the tea a unique rich taste. To save money and time commercial farms mostly use machines for everything and use a hot air dryer to dry the tea so the tea loses important flavors and the amount of time it can brew decreases.

Our tea plantations are looked over by true tea masters. For example, Our Wild Snow tea is cultivated by the same family that has been using the same techniques for over 800 years on the same mountain. Our Wuyi Mountain Rock tea is cared for by a secret sect of Taoist monks. Compare that to the commercial farms where they are usually owned by a large company with little or no care for the tea itself and just seeing profits. Most of them do not even know how to cultivate tea.

  Wild Snow Sprout is hand-picked from over 4,500 feet high from the mountains of Yunnan Province. Only in the past few years, local people found this tea growing naturally in the wild. It is a wild Sai Qing green tea which is very difficult to find even in China. The unique aroma and flavor of this sun-dried green tea can only be captured during one brief harvest between March and April and consists of only large, silvery-white bud tips from Yunnan’s broad leaf, ancient tea trees.

Description Wild Snow Sprout has a rich honey-like flavor and floral, fruity finish. The special processing method allows the tea to be brewed up to 12 times.
Location: Yunnan, China

Swiss concher

Finally arrived a Swiss concher, a rare machine with black granite stones for producing super smooth textured chocolate. This machine also has a temperature controlled bowl to maintain an stable chocolate temperature during the flavour development period of conching.

bean to bar -chocolate making classes

Due to the number of requests we have received ,we will be conducting bean to bar chocolate making classes starting from May. For full details & booking please follow link to www.cravve.com.au

Puerh the tea that ages like wine- 2006 vintage in store now-tastings tomorrow

Just arrived 2006 vintage Puerh origin ; Yunnan Pu-erh - The Tea that Ages Like Wine High in the mountains of Yunnan, China, in an area believed to be the birthplace of tea some 4700 years ago, there are groves of ancient tea trees. These trees, some as old as 1200 years of age, flourish naturally under pristine temperate conditions. They are primarily tended and harvested by two Chinese minority ethnic groups, the Dai and the Aini. The Dai and the Aini harvest a large leaf version of the tea tree, Camellia sinensis. According to historical accounts, sometime during the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907), merchants began packing these large tea leaves into compressed bricks (see our video on pressing tea cakes). These bricks of tea were easier to transport by pack animal than cumbersome loose leaf tea. Because of the long distances and difficult terrain, it would be months and sometimes years before the tea would reach its destination, whether that would be Tibet or faraway Peking. But something miraculous occurred during these extended delivery periods. The tea changed. Not only did the color of the tea transform from green to amber and eventually to dark teak, but also the taste of the tea became livelier, richer, fruitier and smoother. During its months of travel, the tea underwent an aging and fermentation process whereby microbes acted on the tea, causing biological and enzymatic changes. The resulting tea, known to the Chinese as Pu-erh, became highly sought-after, first by royalty, high officials and the literati, and later by tea connoisseurs, not only for its unique taste, but also for its medicinal qualities. Green tea and red tea, the teas popular in the West, are best enjoyed when the leaves are still fresh. But, like wine, Pu-erh tea leaves improve with age. A 357 gram 1950's Red Chop Pu-erh tea disc now sells for over $10,000. It is perhaps because of this singular feature, the capacity to improve with age, that quality Pu-erh is in short supply and is coveted and hoarded by tea connoisseurs in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, so much so that relatively little is left for shipment to tea lovers in the West. Indeed, Pu-erh is a secret treasure yet to be discovered for many.

a good reason to eat more dark chocolate

CHOCOLATE -status as health food
Having only recently digested the fact that some
chocolate is good for us, could it be possible that it
might be even better than we thought? The answer is
a resounding YES if the work of prolific producer
Barry Callebaut is anything to go by.
Chocolate has always contained good things, such as
magnesium for memory and muscle health,
theobromine and caffeine, which help lift the central
nervous and respiratory systems and in the case of
milk chocolate, a good dose of calcium for your bones
too.
The buzz in recent times has been about the
antioxidant content of chocolate, which increases with
the percentage of cocoa. Sounds too good to be true?
Just what are the antioxidant properties of chocolate?
Cocoa beans contain considerably larger amounts of
polyphenols (or antioxidants) than red wine or other
commonly known sources of antioxidants such as
green tea and grapes. Antioxidants from cocoa beans
are significantly more active than other traditional
sources such as vitamin E.
Polyphenols are natural components found in several
plants (fruits, vegetables, cocoa). Scientific evidence
suggests that polyphenols protect the body against
the damage of free radicals and inflammation. The
polyphenols found in cocoa belong to the category of
Flavanoids, imparticular, the flavanols. In cocoa they
are present in abundance. Cocoa also contains even
more complex flavanols, known as procyanidins.
These are powerful antioxidants protecting body cells
against the effect of free radicals. Free radicals
accelerate the ageing process and are responsible for
the degeneration of certain bodily functions.
Flavanoids have a positive effect of the
 cardiovascular system, immune system, lower
cholesterol/blood pressure and increase the function
of blood vessels. It is little wonder that dieticians the
world over are recommending a diet rich in
polyphenols.
Cocoa contains more effective polyphenols than red
wine, green and black tea:
Drink               Total Polyphenol               Epicatechine,                  
                          Content                           a   flavanoid         
Cocoa    (200ml)           611                             564

Red Wine                      340                            163
(140ml)

Green Tea                   165                                47
(200ml)

Black tea                     124                                    34
(200ml)

vanuatu cacao

new delivery of vanuatu cacao beans has arrived and the first batch off the refiner will be ready tomorrow.

brand/name change

another year and we are in the process of a brand change from Byron Tea & Cocoa to Cravve.
This change we fell reflects the change and growth to manufacture coffee, tea & cocoa products from not only the best plantations and ingredients but with a craving to source ,manufacture and promote regional ingredients both local and Pacific Is