A-Tooch joined Miss Yunks in Boston and for a few hours we were two Foodies in one city! We searched for the perfect foodie activity to do together and were so excited when David from Boston Chocolate Tours offered us a complimentary tour in a neighborhood of our choice! We chose the Back Bay tour because it best fit our schedule and what better way to spend a Saturday morning than walking around Newbury St eating chocolate for 2.5 hours?
We proudly wore our VIP chocolate tags
The tour began at Hotel Chocolat. We were led to a private Tasting Room where we learned the history of Hotel Chocolat and how they make their chocolate. The company is based in the UK and the store is designed in a chic UK style. They don’t add a lot of sugar to their chocolate because sugar masks the taste of good chocolate. We tasted a dark chocolate square.
Before we were allowed to eat it, our host asked us to use our five sense to taste the chocolate. We rubbed the chocolate – it was smooth, we smelled the chocolate – smelled very rich, we looked at the chocolate – it was very a dark chocolate color, and we broke the chocolate in two pieces – it was a clear break, the sign of a top quality chocolate. Then, we were finally permitted to take a bite. Neither of us are real dark chocolate fans, but we were able to appreciate the quality of this chocolate and enjoyed Hotel Chocolat, where we were constantly referred to as guests, going along with the Hotel theme.
The store had several unique products, including Tiddly Pots and Smiley Pops.
Our second stop was Lush. Yeah, we were surprised too. Lush makes soaps, not food. Why would a chocolate tour go to a cosmetic store? It turns out cocoa butter is a common ingredient in Lush products and we sampled products that tasted good enough to eat. Ironically this is the only store I made a purchase. I bought a strawberry scented massage bar. It’s like body lotion in a bar form. It smells delicious and goes on smoothly.
Our third stop was the ever popular Ben & Jerry’s. We had the opportunity to taste cocoa beans; we both liked them, tasted like butter. We had chocolate covered espresso beans, milk chocolate cows, and coconut almonds.
We each got a peanut butter cup.
And, we sampled two flavors of ice cream: Phish Food and Give Peace a Chance.
The fourth stop was Teuscher. This adorable Swiss chocolate store is famous for their Champagne Truffle, and after tasting it we can see why.
At this point in the tour this truffle was my favorite sample. I love champagne and I love chocolate, so naturally I like them together.
The display case was filled with delicious looking truffles. I would definitely go back here if I was craving fine chocolates.
Fifth, we went to Sweet. Sweet’s cupcakes are among Boston’s best cupcakes, and I was so glad A-Tooch got to try them. The display case looks so perfect. I joke about this in every bakery, but at Sweet it would really be something special to go up to the counter and say, Yes I’d like one of everything please.
We each got a mini dark chocolate cupcake.
Needless to say, it was fabulous. The chocolate cake has a great chocolate flavor and texture. The regular sized Sweet cupcakes have twice as much frosting as cake; the mini ones have a much better ratio. The cupcake was my favorite sample of the day. A-Tooch’s favorite stayed the Champagne Truffle.
This is how Miss Yunks eats cupcakes. She breaks the bottom off and eats it first, then bites into the top cake + frosting.
Sixth stop was the Lindt store.
We tasted six varieties of chocolate bars: white chocolate, caramel, white & milk mixed, chili chocolate, sea salt chocolate, and currant chocolate. The currant chocolate had the strongest flavor so we ate it last. It definitely tasted like currants, which is unexpected in chocolate. I was a little disappointed the chili flavor wasn’t stronger. The sea salt was pretty good; sweet plus salty is a fun combination.
On the street, our guide stopped us to explain that Paradise Bakery has been voted the best chocolate chip cookies in Boston. To save time, we didn’t go to the bakery. Instead, our guides had individually wrapped cookies to hand out. We tasted one immediately. Whoever voted may be right; this cookie was amazingly delicious.
We both agreed it was a perfect mix of soft and hard and chewy, and the chocolate chips were delicious.
Our eighth stop was the Westin-Copley hotel. Before we got to the chocolate store in the hotel, our guides had another treat. We each got a sample of chocolate from Taza Chocolate in Somerville. They mix the chocolate differently so you can tell it’s different than any other chocolate. It tastes like the sugar was never dissolved and is grainy.
Inside the Westin, we went to Gourmet Boutique. We stopped taking pictures at this point, but we tried several varieties of chocolate. I think our chocolate haze was in full effect because now I can’t even remember what we ate, but I’m thinking something caramel. The store had a lot of chocolate and candy products in addition to chocolate bars and truffles. This is a fun little store if you’re looking for a unique chocolate gift.
Our tour guides Katie and Victoria helped to make our chocolate tour experience very rich. I also like that the tour provided a baggy to put leftover samples in so you don’t need to eat everything at once, a bag of pretzels to mix salty with the sweet chocolate, and a list of chocolate stores that offer discounts to Boston Chocolate Tour customers for 10 days after the tour. We had perfect weather for walking around Back Bay and eating way too much chocolate for 10:30 am. We definitely felt a little ill after, but it was worth it. One pizza slice from UpperCrust and we were almost back to normal.
Victoria also told us about Boston Chocolate Tour’s Wednesday evening wine and chocolate tasting event. This is a more relaxed event where you can taste wine and chocolate while relaxing after work. I am definitely interested in checking out this event!
Thanks to David for our tour tickets, and thanks to A-Tooch for visiting!
4 Comments
I’ve read about Paradise’s cookies before but I’ve never tried them. The one in your pic does look really good. And as for your Sweet cupcake fantasy, I got to do that once. I did a photo shoot at Sweet before CupcakeCamp and before I left, the sales associate asked if I wanted cupcakes to take with me and I ended up with one of each kind. It was pretty awesome.
So fun to have you guys on the tour! Glad you enjoyed yourselves, and hope to see you on the Dessert, Wine, and Chocolate tour some Wednesday evening very soon!
Yay Chocolate! You both were a pleasure to have on the tour and I am pleased you had such a wonderful time! Hope to see you all on another tour next time
A chocolate tour sounds AMAZING!!! Looks like you girls enjoyed your time together in Boston
One Trackback
[…] We were given the opportunity to chose events to attend. Because we already went on the Back Bay Boston Chocolate Tour in the Fall, Miss Yunks, the Boston half of TFAW, chose to attend an Evening of Chocolate and […]