Chocolate shop excites all palates

“To bring people fresh food and community and just a place to get away from the everyday, [to] be happy for a little bit,” said Stephanie Jackson, co-owner of Middlebury Chocolates. “That’s my overall goal.”

And, looking around the high ceilings and openness of the café nestled by the river, on Main St., it is easy to sense a kind of other-worldly containment. The space is filled with tables and chairs arrayed expectantly towards a central counter. The focus of Middlebury Chocolates is clear: people and chocolate.

“I’ve always known I wanted to own a café,” said Jackson, “[and] we have a passion for food.”

The proof of that passion is in their product; Stephanie and her husband Andy, the store’s other co-owner, have formulated a menu of desserts, milkshakes, coffee roasted in-house and, of course, a selection of fresh truffles that display careful thought and skill.

But it’s chocolate that steals the show. Tasting the most basic truffle, a Classic Dark, the mouth is arrested by bright fruit that continues and deepens to warm as the chocolate melts.  The flavor finishes on a note of pure cocoa and the tang of cherry, without a trace of the bitterness too often associated with dark chocolate.

It’s clear that the couple has succeeded in doing something most chocolatiers just talk about: making truffles that are about the flavor of the chocolate, not what’s added to it.
According to Andy Jackson, the singularity of the flavor of their chocolates depends heavily on its roasting. Chocolate is “kind of like coffee, the fruity flavors are in the oils,” he said. When over-roasted, a burnt caramel flavor will dominate the chocolate.

“[We] do a normal, vibrant roast and have people consume them within a week,” he said. The near immediate transfer from kitchen to palate allows the truffles to keep their flavor clarity in a way impossible when dealing with packaged chocolate.

“We roast [the cocoa] every day or every other day,” said Andy. This is a rare liberty for a chocolatier. “That’s why they make bars, to extend shelf life.”

“We wanted to give people a different chocolate experience,” said Jackson.

And in that, Middlebury Chocolates has succeeded.  Unlike the widely-known European style truffle, the store’s chocolates are made without dairy, and are finished with a roll in fresh-roasted chocolate nibs. Yet the omission of butter makes them no less smooth. Rather, the oil of the bean is left to intensify the chocolate on its own. The result of the lack of dairy is a lively and complex flavor profile that complements each truffle uniquely.  In Vanilla Cardamom, one notices a particular zest that balances the familiar smoothness of vanilla; in Traditional Spiced, there’s a warm foundation to support the piquant Ancho.  Similarly, in the Salted Truffle, one tastes a blossoming sweetness that forms a perfect contrast.

But these are not the limits of Middlebury Chocolates. The Jacksons vary their truffle flavors regularly, and are constantly revising their chocolates. They also create their own desserts, all of which are gluten-free. These include a flourless chocolate cake, cookie sandwich and an aromatic Tiramisu deserving high praise for both delicacy in texture and subtlety in flavor fully capable of holding its own, especially accompanied by a cup of the store’s coffee.  Available by the pound upon order, Middlebury Chocolate’s coffee is as equally fair trade and organic as their chocolate. Its spice and richness earn it a place as one of the town’s best cups of coffee.

As if their variety and quality weren’t enough, Middlebury Chocolates earns even greater appeal for its hours: 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.  The couple hopes to expand their business within the next year to making bars, gelato and more truffle flavors. They plan to hold the store’s grand opening on the weekend of Sept. 24.