When I first read about Ecila Choco Inc. in Yamato Magazine, I was both excited and intrigued to…read morelearn that there was a chocolatier in Canada who specialized in using Japanese sake in their products. Sake is one of the gluten-free alcoholic beverages that I am grateful for since my gluten allergy precludes me from enjoying the delicious Japanese-brewed beers these days.
Alice Ngan, the founder of Ecila Choco Inc., educated herself about sake by enrolling in various courses offered by the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) in 2017. Not only did she learn about the production methods that affect the style, quality, and price of sake, but she also came up with an idea of using sake in chocolate!
Nihonshu (Japanese sake) is a complex yet delicate-tasting alcoholic beverage and pairing it with chocolate seems like a great idea, doesn't it? Actually, Alice uses sake kasu or sake lees, which is the solid cake left over from the filtration process during sake production. It contains undissolved rice, yeast, and about eight percent alcohol. She obtains the sake kasu she uses in her chocolates directly from Izumi, a small sake brewery located in the Distillery District of Toronto.
I received my first order from Ecila today. It was the 36g box containing four small handmade chocolates and a hand-cranked bear music box. Cute concept but definitely not worth the $67 US I paid for the item plus shipping. I also ordered the same item for a friend in Tokyo which cost $78 US to purchase and ship. Aside from the cost, the chocolates were tasty, but not very impressive. The dark chocolate had the texture and taste similar to the Dove® chocolates you can find at any grocery store or pharmacy in the United States for a fraction of the cost. Further, the sake flavor was almost undetectable. I expected something with much more impact.
The bear music box was a cute idea, particularly if you were considering gifting someone with sake chocolates, however, that too was a disappointment. I think it would have been a better idea to make it a wind-up music box than a hand-cranked version. The music box is configured to play the song, "Kimi Wo Nosete" ("君をのせて") by Azumi Inoue, but because it is hand-cranked and not a continuous play mechanism, the music is not easy to enjoy.
In any event, my curiosity has been satisfied. I will most certainly think twice before ordering from Ecila again.