The chocolate man

CMV Txokolat’s Christian Valdes is focusing on luxury chocolate that is distinctly Filipino

WHEN we bite into chocolate, we only get its taste, and it becomes easy to ignore all the processes that go into making a tiny bite. The chocolate that Christian Valdes, founder of CMV Txokolat, brings attention to all the work everybody else has done to bring the chocolate from bean to bar — for him, he’s simply the last link in a chain extending hundreds of years.

Recently, Mr. Valdes received his Level 1 and 2 cacao bean grader and taster accreditations from the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting (IICCT). The desire to earn a certification came from his studies in France under Chloe Doutre, one of the world’s best chocolate makers. “There were concepts that I unlearned the moment I walked through that door,” he said during an event with Moda Interni in November.

He cites learning more about fermentation, drying, and roasting: “If you mess up on one thing, you can actually ruin six months of growth.”

A box of his pralines can go for up to P2,400.

Mr. Valdes shot to fame with his unique chocolates in the mid-2010s because of his use of Filipino ingredients: he has a Gin Pomelo praline, one with calamansi (a Philippine citrus), another with santol (cotton fruit), then barako coffee, and our personal favorite, his gumamela (hibiscus) praline infused in a white chocolate ganache then placed in a dark chocolate shell.

Since he recently started working with the Department of Science and Technology (DoST), he can now be found going through fields and up mountains.

“They wanted me to be a point person to teach the farmers how to not only analyze the quality of their beans, but they also wanted me to be able to show them how to make tablea chocolate (chocolate used for hot chocolate drinks) — that way, they can not only taste the fruits of their labor, but they can also turn it into something, and create other revenue streams,” he said.

In other work he’s doing for the DoST, they are also trying to figure out where else cacao can be grown in the country. One of their concentrations is in Kalinga, in the Cordilleras.

“There are so many parts of the Philippines where cacao can grow. We are in that green spot. Now what I really want to be able to do is highlight the cacao in that area. I do find that there is terroir,” he said, using the term from the wine industry referring to the characteristic taste and flavor that is imparted to something by the environment in which it is grown. “Some of the flavors in the soil actually contribute to it,” he said of the cacao. “They’re trying to break free from the norm where they are just known for planting tobacco, rice, coffee, sugarcane. They want to be able to try bringing cacao in,” he said.

“That way, we can boost tourism, and also boost buying. That way, the farmers can earn more.”

Mr. Valdes grew up in San Francisco, California, and had a string of “boring” (his word) jobs before coming to the Philippines in 2010, and starting his chocolate business soon after. He remembers his first taste of really good chocolate — Scharffen Berger chocolates which his mother brought in a balsa-wood box. “Little squares about that big. It’s at 93%. When I bit into it, I was like, ‘holy shit; I thought that 93 was going to be bitter…’ I already knew at that point in time that I loved chocolate.”

He goes deeper into his love for Filipino ingredients, including the aforementioned gumamela: “It was really my way of remembering. I don’t have the best memory… but it was kind of learning about the Philippines; learning about my roots.

“I didn’t have a childhood here,” he said. He heard stories of his friends blowing bubbles out of the flower: “I never experienced this. It was like recreating what childhood is like here. It’s innocent, it’s fun.”

More importantly, however, he says that using Filipino ingredients is a way to break free from importation, and its effects on local farmers: “We’re importing so much of it that we’re losing our industry, and we’re not giving focus on the (people) who need it.”

Of all the industries he could enter, chocolate is the one he chose, because, “I love it. It reminds me of family. It makes me feel safe. It gives me comfort.  If it’s my safe place, and it brings me peace, that’s where I want to be.”

He’s taken what is a luxury product to something truly artisanal: asked about what all his studies in cacao and his work with farmers has taught him, he says, “It’s actually made me more humble. When I first started, I had this mindset — I’m doing this, it’s cool — but then, the more I learned, I realized that this is a profession for patience; a profession where you go and help other people. This isn’t a profession for ego and thinking you’re the best.”

CMV Txokolat can be found at https://cmvtxokolat.com/shop/. — Joseph L. Garcia