The Andrews and their Indi products at 2020 Winter Fancy Food Show
Serendipitous discoveries are our favorite aspect of the giant Fancy Food Show. We missed a session on pairing tea and chocolate so stopped by to meet the presenters, Indi Chocolate. It turns out the tea/chocolate pairing is a sideline to a very robust chocolate business that was named as one of the 24 best chocolate shops in America by Eater.
Erin Andrews got involved in chocolate by going to Belize and sourcing cocoa butter for skin lotions. She branched out into fine eating chocolates and cocoa nibs which are now offered in innovative combinations including spice rubs with chocolate and teas with chocolate nibs. Their Pike Street Market store in Seattle offers classes, a café, specialty chocolate processing equipment and fortunately a website where you can order the products.
We tasted a chocolate chai at the show and it was excellent: quality, carefully chosen black tea with a bass note that was both bitter and sweet: chocolate. They sent us home with samples (loose, creatively wrapped, alarming to TSA inspectors) of their mole spice rub and orange tea with chocolate, which a local restaurant uses for tea-smoked duck served with fermented blueberries. Both the spice rubs and the teas can be ordered in individual flavors, or as an assortment.
If there is a chocolate lover in your life, an Indi gift box might be a good idea. They are just all over chocolate in the same way a pork producer (I think Farmer John?) claimed to use every part of the pig except the squeal. And if you happen to find yourself in Seattle, a single-origin drinking chocolate with a house-made marshmallow (50 cents extra) would not be a bad idea. Their shop is at In Pike Place Market on Western Ave. next to Old Stove Brewery and Honest Biscuits.
