Philippine Gourmet Chocolate

Move over Belgian chocolates, we have a new king in town! Give a warm welcome to something I'm very proud of-- PHILIPPINE gourmet chocolates.

A few days ago, we featured Ralfe Gourmet, a Cebu-based chocolate company in an event featuring Philippine gourmet chocolate.

Ralfe Gourmet started in the business selling tablea. Its founder, Raquel Choa is an amazing chocolatier who got her love for chocolate from her grandmother. The business is only 4 years young and has just recently moved past selling tablea to creating the most sumptuous locally made chocolate creations.

Now they carry pralines, truffles, alfajores, tartufinis, and other delectable artisan chocolates. What makes these special is that not only are the cacao locally grown (from Cebu and Davao), they are also hand crafted with love. Amazing!

I personally love the chocolate pralines with cacao nib. Cacao nib is the cacao bean without the shell that is roasted and  fermented. When you bite into it, you get tiny hard bits which reminds me of coffee beans. It is very interesting!

Another favorite is the chocolate with rice crispies. I like this because you can have it two ways-- on its own or drop it in a hot mug of milk for a really tasty chocolate drink! Perfect for kids :)

They even have chocolate pandesal! Which I believe would go perfect with tablea (of course!)

Ralfe offers flavored tableas. They pride themselves in having perfected the tablea so you won't have that grainy texture common in grocery-store tableas. If you're too lazy to melt your own choco drink, you may want to try these powdered versions instead:

The most amazing-- and I mean AMAZING-- thing about these is that they are flavored! There are twenty flavors to choose from like strawberry, cherry, green apple, hibiscus, the list goes on! The flavors are all natural so apart from drinking premium chocolate, you also know that everything you're taking in is good for you as well.

I had such a great time manning the booth at the event (no, I don't work for Ralfe). It's a good feeling when you market something you also believe in. I am no chocolate fan but Ralfe Gourmet has made me appreciate good chocolate. And they have also made me feel very proud to be Filipino. Can you believe we have our own chocolates now? They're super tasty too!

Ralfe Gourmet is based in Cebu and will be opening their first store at the end of November. I can't wait to see their business grow. Truly, this is another proof that we Filipinos have so much potential and talent, worthy of competing in the international market.

Congratulations Ralfe Gourmet! Congratulations Raquel, Alfred and Ed! :)

For more information, check out their website at www.ralfegourmet.com