Spotlight: Mast Brothers, Round Two

Mast Brothers logo,
carved into the cement of their building

After taking a tour of the Mast Brothers Chocolate Factory, I had to try the brew bar down the street. I was in need of another dose of locally produced chocolate.

The storefront looks very similar to the traditional store, but much more sparse. Shelves built into the wall house the chocolate bars available for purchase, and a simple menu behind the counter describes the five to six offerings of the day. They had samples of the chocolate spread on sourdough – delicious. We surveyed the short selection, first attempting to opt for the chocolate beer, which was not available. What a disappointment! It was a popular ask for the customers that trickled in after us, and I may have to visit another day to give the non-alcoholic, carbonated beverage a whirl.

Quickly overcoming the initial dismay of the out-of-stock beer, we chose to try the brewed chocolate and traditional hot chocolate. The brewed chocolate consists of brewed cocoa nibs using a syphon coffee system. It was fascinating to watch from the blonde wood bench – the only seating in the storefront – with the water slowly seeping upward toward the nibs, and bubbling out at the end to produce a brown, translucent beverage. It resembled coffee, but with the scent of chocolate. It was not particularly sweet and didn’t have much of a taste – certainly nowhere near the strong flavors present in their chocolate bars.

The hot chocolate was as expected – very rich, incorporating dark chocolate and not too much sugar, served in a small cup that proved to be more than enough for the group. It took four of us to finish it, and resembled the velvety fullness of a traditional Parisian chocolat chaud.

One new way to experience chocolate (brewed) and one traditional (hot chocolate), and one yet to be tasted (chocolate beer). I guess I will have to visit the establishment once again!

Until next time,
SugarSource

Spotlight: Mast Brothers Chocolate

Mast Brothers Chocolate has emerged as a bit of a sweet landmark in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. A cream-colored exterior does not hint at the chocolate offerings just inside the door. I decided to try the Chocolate Tour to learn more about the company, the process, and to sample some of the local chocolatier’s offerings.

Once inside, you encounter burlap sacks of cocoa beans highlighting the global sources for the sibling-run establishment. The blond wood, white walls and splashes of black do not resemble the factory aesthetic I had in my mind, and the smell was incredible – like being wrapped in a chocolate blanket. A table with brightly wrapped bars occupied the center, and an employee dressed in white approached with a tray of broken pieces, offering a sampling of the Dominican Republic single-origin bar. Delightful!

Everyone gathered in the front entry, where the guide quickly recapped the history of the company – founded by two Iowan brothers – as well as how chocolate is made, beginning with the fruit. She talked about where and why they source, and let us each crack a cocoa bean to taste the bitter nib inside. It only slightly resembled what I think of when I think of chocolate.

Then it was off to the back of the store to learn about the roasting process, how husks and nibs are sorted (through a vacuum contraption) and how chocolate is mixed together (in large rotating metal buckets with multiple stone wheels for grinding). The single-origin bars are solely cocoa beans and sugar, with the cocoa percentage determined by the beans-to-sugar ratio. A batch with 7 pounds cocoa, 3 pounds sugar is considered 70% cocoa and a part of the beans-to-bar trend that has emerged. After sampling the chocolate liquid in the middle of mixing – you could still distinguish the occasional sugar granule – we saw where they age the mixtures. Like cheese and wine, the brothers believe aging the chocolate further develops the taste and fosters a deeper, richer experience. It is a much shorter process – one to three months – but surprised me nonetheless. Once sufficiently aged, the chocolate is heated once again, distributed into molds, chilled and wrapped in prints custom-designed by a mind formerly of the fashion world. For the single-origin bars, the outline of the country is often incorporated into the paper and the effect is stunning.

Finally the tour concluded with the much-anticipated tasting. Similar to a wine tasting, we were instructed to taste the pieces of chocolate in a certain way to assess both the texture and the subtle notes hidden in the velvety layers. Everyone on the tour consumed at least half a bar each, attempting to identify the nuances and sipping on water for reprieve as we moved from a bar with a lower percentage of cocoa (70%) to one more concentrated (76%). Given the opportunity (and a little prompting from our guide), we could find subtle distinctions like blueberry and lime, developed as a result of differing climates, soils and continents. Here I think it is important to provide a disclaimer. While I am a serious sugar fan, the tasting was a bit of a struggle toward the end. With sweet after sweet and no salt to offer a break for my palate, I was a little fatigued by the end.

In my chocolate-induced haze, I ended up purchasing a 12-bar box, as the most intriguing varieties were not included in the sampling such as sheep’s milk, goat’s milk, and vanilla and smoke. While the prices are a little steep, the tour opened me to a new way to experience and taste chocolate. Mast Brothers is most likely not going to turn into an everyday indulgence, but is a welcome change of pace from the other bars I had been alternating in my pantry. They have a brew bar next door where they stir up cocoa beverages, which I have since added to my “must try” list…

Until next time,
SugarSource