AFFORDABLE LUXURY CHOCOLATE.

I was just beginning to get seriously worried that chocolate will indeed be beyond the wallets of ordinary Joes, when I recalled Steven De Vries. Chocoholics will know De Vries as the man who took chocolate a hundred years back at his factory and shop in Denver Colorado, USA. A long way from Java Island but his existence is reassuring.

De Vires began by working closely with small plantations in Mexico, Costa Rica and Venezuela. Being a small artisan manufacturer he goes directly to small growers with very good beans. But in such small quantities that they don't interest the big manufacturers who have to buy big. De Vries goes to growers that grow on ten acres or less and produce one to two tons of dried beans per year.

He hit upon the artisan technique when he was in Costa Rica seven years ago. He brought back 30 kilos of dried beans in his bags. He roasted some in his oven. Peeled them by hand and ground them in an old grain grinder. The chocolate that emerged was gritty but full of "complex" flavours that he had never tasted before. He decided that he was not going to miss out in the "complexity and intensity" of these chocolate flavours in the production of his chocolates.

De Vires inspired by his "discovery" took classes in chocolate making in California, scoured libraries throughout the country and all the way to Amsterdam and Spain. He visited dozens of chocolate factories. He says that he discovered that the people who made the best chocolates used the oldest equipment. With slower operating speeds and lower temperatures the old machines, he says, nurture flavour development.

De Vries monitors the first crucial points of processing. He does not want the beans ever to be rushed. Fermentation and sun drying stretches over two weeks. Later low temperatures and slow roasting preserve the aromas that can be burned up by high temperatures. De Vries then winnows cracked shells by hand to avoid husk being blended with the chocolate.

De Vries's recipe is simple:77 percent cocoa. The rest is sugar."Dark and intense," says a reviewer,"it pushes the upper limits of portability." Lately he has begun to age his blocks of chocolate for two months before releasing them for sale.

In tasting sessions at Berkeley California, De Vries chocolate took top spots over the big, big names.

At the moment he has been sourcing from Mexico, Venezuela and Costa Rica. But he says, he is certain that many more flavours are currently available. I have made it a point to email him about cocoa beans in our region.

He has not blended beans yet. He says he has his hands full with single origin cocoas at the moment.

Finally, what does De Vries chocolates cost? He told an interviewer once that"Chocolate is the only product where the difference between a run-of-the-mill chocolate bar and the best chocolate is only about five bucks."

And since he says his aim is to make the best chocolate in the world, it is certainly reassuring for us ordinary Joes. It is wonderful if great chocolate can remain egalitarian.