#tableya

How tablea or tableya is made... in #baybayin infographics!

As an amateur chocolate enthusiast, I thought I should start documenting more of the chocolate I eat, so let's start local.

Yesterday my relatives brought us some tableya from San Roque, Sorsogon, Bicol. Tableya, or tablea, is Filipino chocolate. You may know it as a ball of chocolate in plastic bags at your local pasalubong shop. It is markedly different from your typical, Western chocolate. Tableya is very dark, pure cacao. It has a distinct smell, almost like a roasted scent. Some of my classmates say that Davao tablea is the best, but I've only eaten Bicol tablea myself. (I have eaten Davao tablea once but not the tablea itself. I ate it as a cold choco shake.)

Typically, our relatives from Bicol or Leyte send us tableya balls (one time my cousin and his friends made tableo and pressed it into pretty shapes, I can't remember what exact shapes though). I normally just eat it by the ball--a ball will last me a whole day at home while I do homework. But I don't recommend trying this if it's your first time eating tablea. Like I said, it's very dark and often sends one's pulse racing.

It's more common to turn tableya into hot choco for breakfast. Which is how I woke up today, to a kaserola of melted tableya.

If it was your typical hot chocolate from the store, or melted from a bar of Western chocolate, then I could have easily downed 2 cups of the stuff in succession. But just a sip of tableya will have your heart racing.

I added a bit of cow milk to my tableya which softens the roasty taste a bit. It almost reminds me of candy (or the aftertaste of suman, for some reason). Still, it has the earthy taste that tablea is known for, and little, powdery bits of tablea are left behind on my tongue while I swallow the liquid down. The aftertaste of tableya with milk makes me want to try mixing tablea with coconut milk.

Honestly, this is a better way to wake up than coffee. You're super awake and you get to eat chocolate. You don't even have to drink a lot. You also get to hear news about your relatives that brought them home, which may or may not be a good thing.

1. I love to eat it as a fruit when I was young (with no idea at all that chocolates are made from its seeds).

2. My grandfather used to plant it just beside his house.

3. My cousin farms, buys, sells, and processes cacao.

4. The "Cacao World" welcomes me with open arms.

5. It unexpectedly lead me to my dream.