We were ushered to the second floor of Heavenly Chocolates along Roces Ave. where Choco-vangelist Marga Manlapig was going to hold the workshop. I didn't even know there was a second floor inside the tiny café.Marga started us off by sharing the history of chocolates. We were surprised at how cacao beans was once used as currency in South America. In fact 4 beans could buy you a rabbit for dinner, 100 would get you a slave, and 10 would get a man a wife. Hmmm... luckily we did not live during those chauvinistic times.
We were served two tiny cups of hot chocolate to taste, the first being a single-origin Mexico. Single-origin simply means that the chocolate was made from beans in one region. The Mexico hot chocolate was okay, a tad on the sweet side but definitely a lot better than those instant powder variety we get from the supermarket. Next up was the much hyped up single-origin Ecuador, which is actually what I'm holding up there. Marga told us that Ecuador chocolate is the bad-ass of chocolates since it doesn't have any sweetness and carries a bit of nicotine flavor. The reason for this being tobacco and cacao grow side by side in Ecuador, so the flavors kind of rub off on each other. I actually liked the Ecuador hot chocolate better than the Mexico hot chocolate. I felt it tasted just right -- deeply rich and not too sweet. 
Marga whipped out Mendiants au Lait avec Cardamome next, which is actually Ghana milk chocolate with cranberries, pecans, and almonds infused with cardamom. These are traditionally made in France as a Christmas dessert, but we all got to eat a piece. She proceeded to tell us how much the Japanese love and hoard Ghana chocolates, which is actually one of the sweetest varieties.
Marga then started to get ready for a chocolate truffle-making demo. She was going to make vodka-infused truffles.
A tray of coffee-flavored Sachi Nama Chocolates was passed around for us to try as Marga started rolling out truffles. Sachi Nama Chocolates can give Royce Nama Chocolates a run for the money as they are just as smooth, rich, and creamy yet cost over a hundred pesos less than Royce per box.
We watched as Marga rolled out one truffle after another.
I had one big vodka-infused truffle and stopped there. I was driving after all and Marga warned us that we could get intoxicated. Besides, I'm not really into alcohol since I'm allergic. Thus ended our Chocolate Appreciation 101 workshop with Marga Manlapig at Heavenly Chocolates. :)
Heavenly Chocolates
127 Roces Ave. cor. Tomas Morato, Quezon City
666-2208
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