Flavours from Eastern Europe

Kehrwieder Chocolates – Tallinn, Estonia

Chocolate runs in my veins, which means whenever I am out and about – whether in my hometown, or a new city or village, I always have to find chocolate in some form. I wouldn’t call it an addiction, more a necessity, like breathing.

Last year my partner and I took a trip to Finland, and, realising Estonia was only a short ferry ride away, decided to hop across to Old Town Tallinn to do some exploring. For a full debrief on Tallinn, please click HERE, or to read up on my Finnish adventures, hope over to this LINK.

This post is dedicated entirely to flavoured chocolate bars, using unusual flavours I came across whilst in Tallinn.

Down a small alleyway near a church right in the middle of Old Town Tallinn we discover Kehrwieder, a delightful little coffee shop who also make their own chocolates.

We tried three, the first being their dark bar, blended with pieces of honey comb and sprinkled with a light dusting of bee pollen. Divine. Despite being quite sweet for a dark chocolate, the honey detracted well from the sweetness, giving that subtle nectar like flavour, with the bee pollen giving it that familiar floral taste.

Next up was white chocolate and Hemp (Kamp in Estonian); now I’m not normally a quite chocolate fan as I find it too sickly, but I did say I would review all chocolates made with cocoa butter (so that does include white chocolate). Here goes.

The hemp gives off a strong smell, that earthy, plant-y smell you often get from the dried seeds or hemp protein powder if you’ve ever tried it. Almost a faint whiff of cannabis (well, they are related!). It’s actually a plesant distraction from the heady over-sweetness you get from a plain white chocolate. However I can see this would not be everyone’s cup of tea. The flavour is (to be expected) unusual – very sweet with a very earthy distraction – rather like a hippy version of a matcha white chocolate. I’d say if you’re up for being adventurous, definitely give this one a go!

Lastly, another white one with an interesting twist – Kama. Smells kind of like a mix between caramel and coffee with a touch of some sort of soft sweet spice. Such a subtle and unfamiliar flavour that can only work with a white chocolate as, despite the sweetness of white, it does not overpower and distract from the flavour like a full bodied dark chocolate might do. It’s left my testebuds strangely wanting more. After a conversation in pidgin English blended with some Estonian with the owner, we finally managed to work out that ‘Kama’ is not a spice, but more an ingredient, made of several other ingredients – basically a blend of flours: barley, rye, oat and pea. A quick Google search confirms that is correct. But who thought such an odd combination of grain and vegetable flours combined out of necessity during Soviet Era food shortages could taste quite so amazing and now be used in delicacies such as cakes and chocolates? It is apparently traditionally consumed as a drink – blended with buttermilk – but we were advised against trying it as it ‘tastes like sand mixed with funny milk’.