Cocoatrait, a Chennai-based chocolate brand, has come up with an exclusive collection made up of nine flavours as a tribute to the city.
There are certain types of food pairings that would have no takers. For instance, curd rice with jaggery! I’m sorry I even had to write that. But here’s a Chennai-based sustainable bean-to-bar chocolate brand called Cocoatrait that has come up with nine whacky flavours, all of them an ode to Madras. Starting with filter coffee and ending with mor milagai, the Madras Collection is almost like a gastronomic trip to Madras, only more chocolaty. Surprised by the options? So are we.
For the uninitiated, mor milagai is a condiment that pairs perfectly with curd rice and sometimes even used to flavour certain tiffin items like dosa or upma.
The Madras Collection box contains an assortment of nine bars with flavours that will strongly remind you of the city. There’s malligai (jasmine), paneer roja (rose), sarkarai pongal, panagam, panai sarkarai, and even kozhukattai and sukku kaapi. “We wanted to do something that is like a tribute to the city, having grown up here,” says L Nitin Chordia, Cocoatrait’s co-founder. Nitin is also India’s first certified chocolate taster.
The brand, founded in 2015 by Nitin and his wife Poonam, has come a long way in terms of becoming one of the world’s first zero-waste sustainable bean-to-bar chocolate brand. Kocoatrait sources its cocoa beans from farms in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. All their ingredients too are sourced locally, and their factory occupies less than 1,000 sq ft space in Chennai. More on Kocoatrait later, first we try out some of the nine unusual chocolate flavours.
To be honest, we were quite intrigued to know just how some of these pairings were possible. One may have tasted chocolate flavoured with palm candy or coconut or coffee but flavours such as malligai and mor milagai are a definite surprise. “We’re aware that the flavours may not resonate with someone outside the state. They may not even know what sukku malli kaapi is. But someone from here will surely get it and that’s what we wanted to achieve,” Nitin explains.
While the panagam bar comes with distinct notes of cardamom and ginger, with the mor milagai bad the mildly fiery aftertaste hits your throat once the chocolate begins to melt in your mouth. Another favourite is the malligai, made using an interesting method.
“We get the jasmine buds in the afternoon and from 5 pm until the next day morning, the coffee beans are allowed to soak in the aroma as they bloom through the night. We then separate them in the morning and the beans are taken for grinding. Contrary to what one might think, jasmine is not added to the chocolate at all,” Nitin beams. This one, in particular, fills your throat with the smell of jasmine blossoms the second you put it in your mouth. Then comes the flowery bitterness of the white flower, balanced quite well by the chocolate.
Nitin tells us that Poonam, the brains behind the flavours, worked on a few other experiments that did not turn out as expected. They also worked with rice and a coconut-based candy (we’re thinking kamarkattu) among other flavours (at the risk of turning into Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans) but were not as successful as with the other nine.
Almost all the flavours used are added to the beans when they are being ground. “The usual practice is to add flavours as oils. But we add all our spices and flavours to the beans. The exception is the malligai,” Nitin adds.
What’s even more gratifying about the whole idea is that the boxes are 100% waste-free. Packed in palm leaf boxes that come from M Rm Rm Foundation’s Manjal, the chocolate bars’ packing material too is made using upcycled material like cotton and cocoa husk. “We get our covers printed at V Excel, a company that employs persons with disabilities who are trained in the screen-printing technique. And the aluminium foil used too has no plastic,” Nitin tells us.
On each cover is a spotlight on a sustainable Chennai-based brand. There are mentions of Arture Designs which makes sustainable bags and wallets, Relove Closet, a thrifting initiative, Papermelon, a jewellery brand that makes use of paper and more. “We just want to make people aware that there are such great initiatives and sustainable brands and people based out of Chennai. We’re more than happy to feature them on our covers,” Nitin adds.
And there’s more. The inside cover sports artwork was done by two artists with disabilities – Akash Parekh (28) and Rupak Munje (24) – who were employed on a commission for the job during the pandemic.
The idea and the work for the Madras Collection, in fact, began in 2019 and the box was initially scheduled to be launched just before the lockdown began. “But it looks like the break only helped us. We’re excited to be bringing it out now,” Nitin tells TNM.
The Madras Collection — flavoured with Sukku Malli Kaapi, Filter Coffee, Kozhukkattai, Malligai, Sarkarai Pongal, Mor Miligai, Panai Sarkarai, Panagam and Paneer Roja — can be ordered from February 15. A limited edition of 75 boxes, they are priced at Rs 3,250 (inclusive of overnight delivery and taxes) and can be ordered here.
Source: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/filter-kaapi-mor-milagai-madras-packed-chocolate-bars-143457
