when it comes to the good things in life, björn olaf royd cocu has pretty much done it all. he wasn’t happy with just being one of the best (wine) sommeliers in the netherlands, a barista, and a tea sommelier, nope – he had to top things off with doing his diploma in the art of ice cream making in bologna, italy. in the spring of 2014, less than a year ago, he took those skills to eindhoven to start his own ice cream parlor – which, you guessed it, doesn’t do justice to what he does and offers at intelligentia, his deliberately easy-going parlor in it-area strijp s.

cocu’s most recent venture: a choice of 24 sorts of chocolate in flavors the choice of which was based on a popular understanding of a number of primary tastes and colors and – well, it’s all really complicated, but the flavors include tantalizing combos like pineapple and rose pepper, strawberry and marc de champagne, grapefruit and orange chili, or gin tonic and cucumber.

of course, cocu doesn’t get any less fancy with his ice cream. blackberry and lavender, yoghurt and lemon curd, strawberry and rosemary, or the latest creation – goat cheese! – were but a few of the flavors i was lucky to taste, and they were all perfectly composed in terms of structure and melt. oh well, they were all absolutely delicious as well!