80 gram disk - Italy

Deep, dark chocolate, rich and smooth, covered with whole roasted hazelnuts from Italy. You can't go wrong! Perfect size to stuff in that stocking!

In 1969 Luciano Slitti, opened Caffe Slitti, a coffee roasting shop, on a provincial highway outside the village of Monsummano Terme, with son Daniele taking care of the roasting. Monsummano Terme lies in the north of Tuscany between Lucca and Pistoia, not far from Florence. Their obvious mastery the art of buying, blending and roasting beans, developing quite a following for the roasting house.

Young Andrea, Luciano's second son, was often employed to deliver the coffee to regular customers throughout the area, mainly caffes, pasticcerias, and confectioners. Coffee and chocolate are great companions and it was during this time that Andrea came under the spell of chocolate making.

In 1986 the roasting house moved to a larger space and Andrea's father added a caffe. Extra space allowed Andrea to set up a workspace of his own, for chocolate. Thanks to his passion for the careful selection and roasting of cocoa beans, and his completely homemade production methods, Andrea has gained a worldwide reputation for his chocolate. Andrea Slitti's chocolate making ability has accustomed professionals and chocolate fanciers alike to delicious and beautiful creations.

His extra bitter bars are the ultimate chocolate-without-distractions experience. He also creates chocolates filled with classic and innovative creams and topped with pale yellow decals.

Since 1993, the self-taught Andrea has been winning international awards for his chocolate creations, gold medals and first place prizes that is. Chantal Coady's "The Chocolate Companion" ranks Andrea among the best chocolate handcrafters in the world.

He is an advisor to magazines and has many requests from schools that offer him to teach, but Andrea doesn't like to leave his laboratory where he spends most of his time. Being a great master in working chocolate, he always astounds us with his artistic creations and deliciou products.

Choosing his cocoa beans is just the beginning; it's the roasting and blending that make Andrea Slitti the master of dark, bittersweet chocolate, as his Gran Cacao bars demonstrate. With 73%, 82%, and 100% cocoa content respectively, these bars will be the benchmark for the discriminating chocolate aficionado and the chocoholic alike.

This is Slitti's embarcation point for the "dark side" of chocolate, the line where most chocolate makers are forced to stop. The richness of the cocoa expresses itself fully in this propriatary blend of beans with the sugar playing a support role. This roasted almond dark chocolate disk is fine alone, but it really shines with a rich cup of coffee.

These delicious disks combine Slitti's delicious dark chocolate with lightly toasted almonds...a match made in heaven. This roasted almond dark chocolate disk is a great size to serve with coffee after a dinner party with 5 or 6 friends. That is, if you can bring yourself to share.