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Post by itsallaroundyou on May 26, 2011 11:24:12 GMT -5
Just learned about a cocoa shell tea, and was wondering if this would be safe to make at home (out of sterilized shells), or if commercially, the shells are treated to reduce lead content (or tested to verify low lead content), etc to make them ok for consumption?
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Post by reelchemist on May 26, 2011 23:05:17 GMT -5
It is really unusual and very nice, I have made it quite a few times. With or without milk is fine and I find honey is probably the best sweetener I have used. I only use the shells from the roasted beans I get from the growers in FNQ (Australia), they ferment clean. I wouldn't be and haven't been game to make it from stuff I get from third world countries, quite honestly they could have been anywhere.
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Post by Brad on May 27, 2011 11:49:45 GMT -5
Can you provide a recipe? I've made it several times and found it to be incredibly bitter. I too used roasted shells and all that seemed to happen was that it picked up the acidity from the outside of the shells.
Thanks in advance for your reply.
Brad.
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Post by itsallaroundyou on May 27, 2011 11:55:19 GMT -5
in the tea that you've made, did you find it to be very bitter? I made some that smelled incredible, but i tasted a tiny bit and it was very bitter and not very chocolatey.
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Post by jtoddm on May 27, 2011 22:45:46 GMT -5
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Post by reelchemist on May 29, 2011 18:36:00 GMT -5
Sure Brad, I use 7.5g of shell to 250ml boiling water and use a coffee plunger to strain. Then just sweeten to taste. The tea is a bit bitter but that is why I add honey and milk. The tea does smell amazing, which is the appeal like most teas, it is the aroma not so much the taste. The drink I make is pretty palatable though, everyone who has tried it and has been a tea drinker has loved it and wanted a bag full to take home.
The tea is probably quite high in theobromine, I think I read somewhere that the cacao shell is where most of the theobromine is concentrated. I do feel quite mellow after having one. Maybe psychosomatic though!
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inlo
Neophyte
Posts: 6
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Post by inlo on Jun 21, 2011 16:01:18 GMT -5
About shells... I read this article... By Manton 2010 called "Determination of the Provenance of Coaco by soil protolith ages and assessment of anthropogenic Lead Contamination by Pb/Nd and lead isotope ratios" in the journal of agricultural and food chemistry.... I'm not a food chemist... I'm a geologist as is the author.... And I may be over reacting after reading it. But there is some interesting information in it about lead and other heavy metal content in cocoa bean shells. It's really small quantities usually hundreds of micrograms per kilogram. So you would have to be ingesting large quantities of the shells, and the amounts differs based on lots of things, like the type of soils or materials the the beans are laid out to dry on, or if the cars driving by are using leaded gas, stuff like that. In this article the beans were tested from most cocoa bean producing countries and lead contents in shells ranged from less than 100 to 2925 micrograms per kilogram, except for their reference sample which was grown in a conservatory and dried etc. in a sterile environment - it had about 1 microgram per kilogram of lead.
And ... Incase your worried- nibs have basically no lead- its just in the shells.
Anyway - after reading this I stopped drinking tea from the shells... And I got better about sorting the shells out after roasting and cracking... Cause even if it's a small quantity I figure I don't need any extra lead in me... Other people might interpret this differently - and if others have read other articles - i'd be interested. I don't mean to scare anyone- I just thought this was some interesting info.
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Post by Sebastian on Jun 21, 2011 16:28:12 GMT -5
Don't forget the mycotoxins or ochratoxins. or cadmium. or pesticides. I can think of a hundred reasons why you would not want to do this.
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