Cocoa liquors, that is. They're unsweetened, barely processed chocolates that are used by chocolate makers to decide which cocoa beans to buy.

Nathan Royston of Theo Chocolate brought some from Madagascar and Panama -- along with a sweetly finished bar of chocolate with Caffe Vita coffee in it -- to this morning's tasting at Vita's Pike Street cupping room. I preferred the Madagascar, which Royston described as "superacidic" and "like sour cherries."

More than two dozen coffee enthusiasts crowded around Vita's cupping table to sample the chocolate and coffee. Vita always cups coffee above its roastery (upper left window in second photo) on Wednesday and Friday mornings at 10 a.m., and it looks like Theo chocolate will become part of the mix on the first Friday of every month.

Heather Ruiz, who manages Vita's store on Queen Anne, led today's cupping (which means "tasting" in coffee speak) and had a nice, straightforward way of describing the flavors from:

Ethiopia -- "rich, creamy," "hints of blueberry," "like cheesecake"
Guatemala (which, she pointed out, had roasted beans about twice the size of some others; what's up with that?) -- "super citrusy," "it reminds me of a lemon"
Brazil (where Vita folks are currently visiting coffee farms) -- "nutty" and "like toasted sesame seeds"
Sumatra -- sorry, I was on to the chocolate by then.