Mast Brothers Chocolate- bean to bar producer out of Brooklyn, NY

Brady
@brady
04/22/08 09:59:03PM
42 posts
A group of four of us tried the the Mast Brothers origin bars. Three bars labeled Venezuela 72%, Ecuador 66%, and Madagascar 64%. Due to a lack of major buzz generated about this company, we tried these bars with little to low expectations. Very small company operating in a kitchen in Brooklyn. Starting from the beginning, the visual appearance of the packaging is very cool. Heavy duty paper with various prints from floral to musical notes. No ingredients label to hint at what's inside. The mold is basic but the bars all had a very nice appearance with few flaws and wrapped in foil. Although the thickness was noticeably uneven. Most importantly, the experience of tasting them surpassed our expectations. Smooth texture and even melt for each. Bitterness well controlled. They also had a pleasant and fairly long aftertaste. Each bar exhibited the unique flavors of their respective region. The Madagascar was fruity, Venezuelan had subtle notes of berry but chocolaty flavor quite noticable, and the Ecuadorian bar was spicy with a cinamon flavor and some coffee notes. The Ecuadorian bar was so impressive we were suspicous of flavors being added. None the less, these bars are worth getting ahold of. Only available at a few locations in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at the moment.
updated by @brady: 04/10/15 12:31:16AM
Clay Gordon
@clay
04/22/08 10:52:04PM
1,680 posts
Brady:Thanks for this intro to Mast Brothers. I first heard about them a couple of months ago but I seldom make it into Brooklyn so I haven't tried any yet. Do you still have the wrappers? Maybe you can scan and post them in a Photo album?


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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/
Brady
@brady
06/24/08 11:34:24PM
42 posts
I tried another Mast Bros. This time it was their Dark Milk 65%. TCL member Rumi had a dark milk tasting a couple days ago. We put the Mast Bros in a lineup w/ Pralus Melissa, Bonnat Java, Bonnat Surabaya, Domori Latte Sal and Weiss Chocolat au Lait Entier. Everyone seemed to like the Mast and I picked it as my favorite of the lineup. I thought it was quite complex. Very dark flavor, roasted, short spicy notes in the middle, caramel appeared toward the end with a pleasant coffee flavor in the aftertaste. It resembled a hot chocolate drink at times. Another bar worth getting ahold of.
Andrea Nadel
@andrea-nadel
12/22/08 08:02:01PM
3 posts
I love the Mast salt & pepper! Living in California, it's very difficult to get a hold of these bars.
Scott
@scott
09/26/10 12:49:23AM
44 posts
Word is that Thomas Keller is using Mast Brothers chocolate at Per Se and the French Laundry. Remarkable.
Nat
@nat
09/27/10 04:33:15PM
75 posts
There is now quite a lot of buzz about the Mast brothers, probably due to them being in the middle of the burgeoning craft food movement in Brooklyn, and near all the media makers in NY:The mast brothers chocolate makers from Brooklyn make the medium screen again, now set to sail beans from Dominican Republic to NYC: Interesting video on artisinal Brooklyn chocolate ground the hard way: http://www.coolhunting.com/food-drink/the-mast-brothe.php Craft movement in Brooklyn: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/dining/25brooklyn.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=mast%20brothers&st=cse
Duffy Sheardown
@duffy-sheardown
09/27/10 06:03:21PM
55 posts
Their bars are available in London at Paul A Young's shops. Very nice - try them if you can.
Scott
@scott
09/28/10 12:06:34PM
44 posts
Has anyone determined whether Mast Brothers has begun to sell only chocolate that they've made from bean-to-bar?If they're still remelting some, does anyone know (roughly) their proportion of bean-to-bar production to that using third-party couverture?
Scott
@scott
11/03/10 10:38:43PM
44 posts
Still curious if anyone has info about the proportion of Mast Brothers' bean-to-bar production relative to their re-melting.On a related note (i.e., to Mast Brothers' encroachment in some NYC restaurants), according to the NYT , Tcho is making an aggressive push to get into upscale restaurants, apparently succeeding with Del Posto.
Gretchen Tartakoff
@gretchen-tartakoff
11/07/10 06:07:05AM
7 posts
Mast Brothers aren't as completely as obscure as they sound because they welcome people into their 'factory' to reach their customers and fans. Taking the trip to see it is on my radar since I reached out to them to represent local bean to bar at the Bucks County Chocolate Show. It feels like they're paving a path similar to Taza.
Scott
@scott
11/09/10 09:28:10PM
44 posts
As far as I know, Taza has always and only been bean-to-bar. That's not the case with Mast Brothers. This can be confusing for those customers who care about whether the chocolate they're buying was made in Brooklyn or merely molded there.
Jeremiah Jeffrey
@jeremiah-jeffrey
12/01/10 08:48:10PM
2 posts
I first seen them on cooking channels foodography. Seeing them gave me my final push to start making my own chocolate (which I have yet to do. Getting my ducks in a row for it.)
ChocoFiles
@chocofiles
02/21/11 08:42:29PM
251 posts

Mast Brothers bars were among the most enjoyable of the bars I reviewed in 2010. They're doing fine work!

Here are my personal enjoyment ratings (on a 0-10 scale):

Venezuela 9.4

Brooklyn Blend 9.4

Domican Republic 9.1

I consider any rating >9 to be in my "Top Favorites"

My ratings can be found at ChocoFiles .

Scott
@scott
02/22/11 01:03:07PM
44 posts
For what it's worth, in a recent visit to the Mast Brothers shop in Brooklyn, I was told by Rick Mast that all chocolate used for all of their products was produced in-house from bean to bar.

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