Shens P’irs Shakari – Sugar to Your Mouth

It’s October 2017 and there is a subtle chill in the air, after a brief pit-stop in Ukraine we finally make it to Georgia, a country nestled up in the Caucasus mountains, just north of Armenia.

He is a tall fellow, and he greets us, leaning on his cane. He is not old, but something in his face tells me his experiences take him beyond his years and life on this earth. Any mention of the word ‘chocolate’ brings a cheeky sparkle to his eyes. He is Gella Kuprashvilli, from Tbilisi, and he is Georgia’s only bean to bar chocolate maker!

Among other things, I’ve come to Georgia to learn about his chocolate journey, and share with him some amazing chocolates I’ve discovered from around the world. Georgia is a Eurasian country that although part of Europe, is also very much part of Asia and a significant point of the former silk road trading route. This remarkable place, a feast for all the senses on every corner, is also a part of my heritage, of which I am very proud and fascinated by as I yearn to discover more. But we’ll get to that in another post. This post is dedicated to Gella, and his humbling and inspiring chocolate journey.

The conversation flows relatively easily. His English is not perfect, as he points out himself, but who am I to judge with my non-existent Georgian? As we drive out towards Tbilisi centre, Gella insists he has us stay in his friends upmarket hostel, Fabrika, and no, we are not paying, it is his treat and there is no arguing about that. We arrive just as dusk has begun to creep its way into the city, and once checked into the hostel we explore the delightful little boutiques, cafes and barbers come bar in the courtyard below, all lit up with festoon lights. We are introduced to Gella’s friends who immediately treat us like family, or long lost friends just returned from some far away trip.

Georgians are a fiercely strong people, stoic and deeply passionate. They have also endured for decades under Soviet rule. Gella and his friends grew up during this occupation, and whilst there are those in Georgia who see the Soviet era as the golden era, many do not. With the fall of the empire, Gella and his friends took this opportunity to explore far and wide beyond the iron curtain. Gella ventured to the Baltics, graduating from a Vilnius art school with clothing design and returning to Georgia in 1993 to conduct three international avant-garde fashion ensembles alongside many other renowned creatives, including London-based artist Andrew Logan. Not long after the third show Gella headed to India, remaining for 7 years to practice Buddhism and becoming affectionately known by the locals as Hanuman – the Monkey God.

But numerous fashion shows, Buddhism and extensive exploring around Europe and India were not enough to quell the wanderlust, so he left for further travels around West Asia and a tragic road trip involving a life changing car accident in Iran that he was lucky to survive. The aftermath of this took its toll on Gella, the resulting injury requiring multiple surgeries leaving his leg full of metal and him needing a cane. This slowed the wanderlust a little, but not for long. The Georgian winters were harsh, the bitter cold causing intense pain in his injured leg that no amount of visits to the Tbilisi Sulphur baths – Chreli Albano – could resolve. Gella was on the road again, this time somewhere warm and on another continent, South America to explore cacao in Amazonia in Atacames on the West coast of Ecuador. It is here he discovers his favourite cacao and eventually, a little further along the coast, he reaches Calceta in the province of Manabi, living for a while and studying cacao under the careful guidance of chocolate guru Signor Rolando. Many a challenging hike with a small backpack and cane took Gella deep into the Ecuadorian jungle to find the finest cacao, learning the farming practices, flavour profiles, regions and of course, the chocolate making process right from the bean itself!

After several months in Ecuador, Gella finally made his way back to Georgia, began exploring making chocolate with other origin beans including Haiti, and eyeing an opportunity to bring chocolate, real chocolate, to Georgia. Eventually word reached one of Tbilisi’s most notorious entrepreneurs and hoteliers, who expressed an interest in having Gella working as chocolate maker and set up a chocolaterie and cafe in one of the hotels – Stamba. Of course he would, and it just so happened that in the early days of these discussions an English girl turned up with her partner, Sam, excited to meet Georgia’s first and only chocolate maker, and keen to share the chocolate magic from around the world. So there we were, that first evening and the next day of our Georgian adventure, heavily engrossed in tasting some of the world’s finest, and some of Georgia’s first chocolate bars, comparing tasting notes, and reveling in the magic that chocolate and heritage had brought us together.

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Since Georgia’s independence in 1991, the country had begun to take steps towards the culture of its Western neighbours, not just in the fashion sense, but culinary as well. The traditional khachapuri, badrijani nigvzit, mtzvadi and other classic Georgian dishes, along with the wine, still firm favourites in the nations’ cuisine began welcoming the likes of pizza and coffee, with little pizzerias and cafe’s opening up especially around Tbilisi. Sam and I were lucky enough to sample many of these delicacies on our trip and I soon realised this delightful country was in the perfect mindset to welcome a dynamic and inspiring chocolate maker such as Gella.

Back in 2017 this chocolate journey was only just beginning for Gella, and gosh the world has changed a lot since then. But Stamba Cafe and the amazing work Gella does there continues to go from strength to strength. I can’t wait to return for part two of this Georgian chocolate adventure.

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“Shens p’irs shakari – Sugar to your mouth” . I always like to choose a fitting title for each of my blog posts, and this one seemed particularly special. This saying is popular in Georgia; history tells us that it hails from Medieval times, when it was considered a polite action to reward messengers carrying good news with a sweet treat for the journey home. One could say that Gella is continuing this tradition, by creating sweet treats for his customers on their own journeys home, spreading the sweet treats of chocolate around the streets of Tbilisi and beyond!