The Art of Tasting. Chocolate and Watercolor.
Join us for an easygoing evening of chocolate, watercolor, and good company. You will taste beautiful craft chocolate and paint simple watercolor impressions with chocolate maker Charlene Kent. Charlene is from Trinidad, and her family has been working with cacao for generations. Her grandfather fermented cacao and tonka for plantations, and her family has stayed close to the land and the craft ever since. Charlene brings that respect into every bar she makes. She sources cacao from around the world, and we will taste several of her single origin chocolates.
We will use Taste With Color, a flavor mapping method created in London by my friend and Fever Tree food scientist Hazel Lee. Think of it as paint and sip, but instead of wine you get chocolate that farmers and makers worked very hard to create. You will taste four chocolates from different origins and use the flavor map to paint simple watercolor expressions of what you taste. No pressure. No perfection. Just curiosity, color, and chocolate.
This event is especially meaningful because Charlene, the chocolate maker, will be with us. This is a very rare opportunity. We also have another special guest. Sarah Bharath, an ethnobotanist and specialist in cacao fermentation and soil health. Sarah is also from Trinidad and has spent years working with cacao farmers and teaching the science behind great chocolate. She is known around the world in craft chocolate for her work supporting the work of farmers and chocolate makers. If you have ever wanted to understand cacao and chocolate more deeply, this is a rare chance to learn from people who know the process from the seed to the finished bar.
In addition, many at Fabrik have sampled Kessho chocolate. Liang of Kessho will also join us.
We will taste chocolate from four origins. We will paint. We will learn. We will enjoy a sensory experience that reminds us that chocolate connects us.
Nettie Atkisson
Nettie Atkisson is an author and certified chocolate educator who leads hands‑on chocolate tastings for corporate teams, leadership groups, and community organizations. She trained with the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting and completed a cacao masterclass in the Dominican Republic. Nettie presents on chocolate history at festivals, and designs events that use chocolate as a simple way for people to connect and learn together.