Finding Chocolate at Golden Tips Tea in Malaga Spain 🇪🇸

When you can’t find a chocolate shop and time is limited, look for a quality tea shop. Tea and chocolate just seem to play well together.  

On a very short visit to Malaga in December while looking for craft chocolate I ran across Golden Tips, a tea, coffee, and chocolate shop. 

Thankfully they had Maychoco Chocolate and Kaitxo Chocolate.  The Maychoco shop was a 45 minute drive from the city and I was out of time after spending too much time at the Picasso museum. Someday I hope to return to visit the Maychoco shop. The day I visited, I found my way back to the shop to buy more bars. When I arrived they were closed. 😔  It has taken a while for me to understand the hours of shops across Europe.  

Tasting notes: 

MAYCHOCO 70% Cuzco Peru. Made in Malaga. 

I was told the chocolate maker was about 30 km from the city which was too far for me to take a side trip and stay on schedule, otherwise I would have loved to visit.  

After opening the package I immediately catch the aroma heavy with cacao bean ferment.  That makes me guess a light roast and conche?   I pause to take a few photos. That always slows down the tasting process. 

First notes are bright like sweet tarts then the ferment notes come forward with some interest astringency, interesting because it isn’t overpowering but adds to the experience. As the melt continues the notes turn to cooked golden raisins maintaining their acidity as the melt mellows with more nut (maybe Brazil nut and walnut) flavors surface. 

The finish has lost the bright acidity and maintains the nut notes with a touch of that interesting astringency. 

This experience reminds me of the red wine made in Malaga. Bold, a bit spicy, usually a touch dry, and always interesting. 

The smaller bar is the same origin as the above bar but has mango pieces added.  

The aroma is the same with sweetness of mango added. 

Small dried mango pieces on the back. Out of temper which  is probably my fault, traveling does that.  Lack of temper results in a chocolate that melts extremely quickly. Compared to the bar with no mango, this bar seems much sweeter than what the addition of mango would add, and tasted as if perhaps milk was added?  As I check the ingredients I see a bit of salt added. That tiny bit of salt (.01%) plus the mangoes completely changes the bar. I would almost mistake it for a milk bar. Flavors all match up very well, mango is a bit chewy and plays the melt because of the tremors however I suspect even if in temper the chewy mangoes would outlast the melt. Delicious

Kaitxo Chocolate Madagascar Sambriano 70%

This was the classic Madagascar profile with a slightly heavy roast  it reminded me of deep dark cherries grilled on a summer bbq (the roasts notes) , followed by orange and mandarin flavors. For many people new to craft chocolate, this is the origin and flavor profile that lures them down the craft chocolate rabbit hole. If you are new to craft chocolate tasting, welcome to the party.   

Maychoco https://maychoco.es/

Kaitxo https://kaitxo.com

https://kaitxo.com

https://kaitxo.com

https://kaitxo.com

Golden Tips location:  https://maps.app.goo.gl/vbs7qQR7XeZsSaAr5?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy