Brunswick Blog

Chocolate lover? Win a $100 Ratio Coco Roasters voucher this Easter!

Here at RH Brunswick, we’re self-confessed chocolate lovers.

You’re a chocolate lover if you can relate to any of the following:

  • 1 spoon of chocolate drinking powder isn’t enough for your hot choccies, try anywhere between 3 and 6 spoonful’s / you judge the quality of your hot chocolate by the darkness of its colour. Too light means not chocolatey enough
  • there’s no such thing as, ‘I’ll just have a two squares of chocolate and then put the block away’
  • you think it’ totally acceptable to eat chocolate for breakfast
  • it’s your first gelato flavour choice without thinking twice
  • it’s not unusual for you to have a hidden stash of chocolate in your home or office
  • you know all the health benefits of eating chocolate-antioxidants duh! 

So how did you score? Real chocolate lover too?…then read on.

Ratio Cocoa Roasters is the new kid on the Brunswick block that has everyone counting down the hours till their lunch break. They sell single origin, handcrafted, small batch chocolate that is to die for!!! Owner and creative behind it all is Debbie Makin & she’s said, Unfortunately not many people know the true taste of chocolate because everything is so heavily processed. We're here to show chocolate in its authentic and most delicious form”.  When you pop into this chocolate factory for the first time you’ll discover silky dark chocolate on tap is a real thing and so are vegan chocolate sorbet sandwiches. You’ve just got to try the house made chunky choc brownies, rocky-road and their tea-like hot chocolates made by pouring boiling water over the raw nibs-oh and they make their own marshmallows too.

 

We had a chat with Debb about all things chocolate…

Ratio is part of the very small and exclusive percentage of chocolate makers in the world who use traditional chocolate making methods. One bar of chocolate takes a minimum of 4 weeks to produce. Can you tell us more about what makes your method so unique?

It’s not really the method but the fact we actually make chocolate from cacao beans and hence know its true origins. We are only 1 of around 30 companies that make their own chocolate in Australia. All the rest comes in blocks from Europe, there is no such thing as Belgium or Swiss chocolate, that’s just where the brick is prepared. We hand sort our single origin beans, roast to suit the beans individual profile, remove the husk with our custom made cracker & winnower, stone grind for 3 days, age for 3 weeks then temper before hand wrapping.

You guys refuse to add any preservatives or additives into your chocolate because this masks the true flavour of the beans. Your most popular chocolate bar is ‘The Melbourne’…what are the flavour notes in this one & why do you think people keep coming back to it?

The Melbourne bar is a smooth blend of our Panama & Solomon Islands beans and we designed this to be an all rounder straight up chocolately chocolate tasting bar & our customers have agreed with us! This is what we have running in our chocolate tap and use as the base for our chocolate drinks. I think it’s the combination of getting to taste the chocolate out of the tap and the iconic Melbourne photos on the packaging that makes this our biggest seller.

We love that you offer ‘Chocolate Tasting Plates’. Here we discovered daring and interesting origins like your Trinidad & Tobago (Rum & Rasin notes) and our personal favourite, your citrusy Peruvian dark chocolate.

Deb what is your personal favourite out of all your chocolate blocks on offer? Personally I’m a sucker for anything Solomon Islands – dark 76%, milk 58% or our chocolate sorbet.

One of the things we love most about Ratio is you push the boundaries. Everything from the look of your factory , to the packaging of your chocolate (love the flat-pack Easter Eggs!) and shape of your chocolate blocks is so unique. Where do you draw your inspiration from?

Being a female owner and chocolate being a predominately female product I really wanted to have a feminine feel in the venue. We used blue instead of black, curved instead of pointing edges and added light wood and a skylight to soften the large space.

What can we expect to see next from Ratio Cocoa Roasters? Any new exciting flavours?

World Chocolate Day is on Saturday July 7th and we are currently working on a chilli chocolate bar and a 100% to launch on that day.

What do you love most about working in Brunswick?

The local support is just incredible, our opening day is still our biggest day as all the locals and business owners came in to introduce themselves and welcome us to the area.

To celebrate Easter we're giving away a $100 Ratio Cocoa Roasters voucher & 2 Chocolate Factory Tour passes so you can witness firsthand the magical art of making delicious, handmade, stoneground chocolate!  Head to our Facebook or Instagram to enter. 

186 Sydney Road Brunswick 3056

Check out Ratio’s website HERE & keep up with the latest by following them on Instagram HERE

OPEN

THURS-FRI 10-9

SUN 10-5

Love the RH Brunswick Team - We hope you all have a beautiful, happy & safe Easter weekend. 

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