Sunny in London

A Florida girl's guide to finding SUN and FUN

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • FOOD and DRINKS
    • RESTAURANT REVIEWS
    • RECIPES
    • PUB CRAWLS
    • DRINKS
  • AFTERNOON TEA
  • THINGS TO DO
    • London Musical Tickets
    • Christmas in London
    • Experiences & Day Trip Tickets
    • London Sports Tickets
  • TRAVEL
  • UK vs USA
  • CONTACT/PR

October 31, 2014 by: Sunny London

Ho! Ho! Hotel Chocolat, a Tasting Adventure!

If you’re looking for a truly intoxicating date night, Hotel Chocolat offers the ultimate experience with their School of Chocolate! Mr Sunny and I spent an evening there captivated in metaphoric cocoa vaults. Here’s all the details for you, Sunny friends!

Through a two hour tasting adventure created for any passionate chocolate lover, we gained insider knowledge and tasting tips. And, we did this all right in London’s Covent Garden!

Hotel-Chocolat-Tasting-Adventure

Hotel Chocolat Tasting Adventure:

We arrived early so we could interview Natasha, an esteemed chocolatier of Hotel Chocolat. She started with the company as a part-time, seasonal employee several years ago. Now, she teaches the classes offered through their School of Chocolate. Quite simply, she’s a chocolate super star.

Two other couples joined us for the intimate experience held below the chocolate store. As part of the course, each person receives 2 glasses of prosecco. Each couple’s table had a plate of bread, cacoa beans, ground cacao beans and a delicious looking bowl of white chocolate.

Hotel-Chocolat-Tasting-Adventure-Covent-Garden

Well, that’s what I thought it was. Near the start of the class when I thought Natasha wasn’t looking,  I went to grab a sneaky piece from my table. Stealthy Natasha immediately looked over and said, “You probably don’t want to do that.”

She informed us the bowl was filled with cocoa butter, which is the fat contained within cocoa beans. It’s also used to make lipstick soft. I did grab bits and pieces throughout the night, but I rubbed them on my hands instead. Ahhhhh so nice.

Anyhow, back to the beans.

Actually, I should say ‘pods.’ Here’s how chocolate looks before the beans. Check out the giant orange pod on my Tasting Tree below…Hotel-Chocolat-Tasting-Adventure-Covent-Garden

All of us received a Tasting Tree, which helped us identify descriptive terms for tasting chocolate. The branches had these categories: Look/Sound/Colour, Flavour and Aromas, Mouthfeel and Taste.

It was so much fun trying to determine if the pieces we sampled fell under categories like: Umami, Claggy, Mushroomy, Metallic or Lavendar.

Hotel-Chocolat-Tasting-Adventure-Covent-GardenHotel-Chocolat-Tasting-Adventure-Covent-Garden

We learned to ‘listen to chocolate.’ This meant snapping a bar like the one above in half next to our ear. A quick, hard sound meant the chocolate was very pure.

Hotel Chocolat first opened in 2004 in North London. They grow their own beans on a plantation in St. Lucia. Further, Hotel Chocolat creates their own recipes and makes chocolate fresh from their beans in their cafes.

Hotel-Chocolat-Tasting-Adventure-Covent-Garden

Hotel-Chocolat-Tasting-Adventure-Covent-Garden

Natasha explained the entire process of how Cacao grows and becomes delicious forms of chocolate. We learned how cacoa is farmed and harvested. From giant pods, beans are extracted. Next, the beans are fermented, dried, roasted, winnowed and ground. Hotel-Chocolat-Tasting-Adventure-Covent-GardenThat, my Sunny friends, is the ‘conching’ process. It takes between 12-72 hours. It is when the mixture is kneaded and gently heated to develop flavor. However, it doesn’t taste very good at this point, at all!

Hotel-Chocolat-Tasting-Adventure-Covent-Garden

We each got to sample the mixture, which was at the 18 hour mark. Natasha warned us in advance to be prepared. It didn’t have sugar yet. Whoa! If you could’ve seen my face after that spoon was empty.

Throughout the evening we altered between taking notes and sampling one glorious piece of chocolate after another. Of course, we sipped Prosecco often to cleanse our palettes. And, finally, I received my greatly anticipated pieces of white chocolate!

Hotel-Chocolat-Tasting-Adventure-Covent-Garden

Hotel-Chocolat-Tasting-Adventure-Covent-GardenHotel-Chocolat-Tasting-Adventure-Covent-Garden

Hotel-Chocolat-Tasting-Adventure-Covent-GardenWe learned the best ways to get to know chocolate, how to taste it and what to look for. I highly recommend this experience as a fun date night or gift idea. You can book a Chocolate Tasting Adventure by contacting their Tasting Team at experiences@hotelchocolat.com.

We went to the Hotel Chocolat on 4 Monmouth Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9HB. The class is also offered at Aberdeen, Boar Lane (Leeds), Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Manchester, Rabot and York.

Hotel Chocolat Experiential Events:

We also learned that Hotel Chocolat offers other experiences for chocolate lovers of all ages. Their ‘Bean to Bar Experience’ shows you how to make chocolate entirely from scratch. They also have Children’s Workshops! In these classes kids make their own chocolate. Apparently that class is appropriately messy too!

Hotel Chocolat In-store:

If you haven’t popped in Hotel Chocolat (which I’d find hard to believe), they have thousands of unique chocolate products. I especially like the boozy rows below…

Hotel-Chocolat-London

Hotel-Chocolat-LondonAnd they have locations just about everywhere. I almost grabbed a few chocolate treats at the Waterloo Station store the day I went outlet shopping at Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth.

Hotel Chocolat WaterlooHotel Chocolat Waterloo

Hotel Chocolat Christmas Gifts:

Here’s a few Christmassy treats they already have in the store, Sunny friends:

Hotel-Chocolat-Christmas

However, if you can’t make it, their website it really fabulous. I picked out a few more items for Mr Sunny’s Christmas stocking and put them below.

They’re the: Advent Calendar (£12.50), Christmas Jumper Slab (£5), 12 Portly Penguins (£7), A Bag of Christmas Stars (£16), Christmas Mess Selector (£3.75), Butterscotch Puddles (£5.50), and Jolly Santa (£7). All Christmas stocking fillers are £7 each, or 3 or more for £6 each.

Let me know what you think!

Hotel-Chocolat-Christmas

Here’s another tip for you… if you order a box of chocolate or two, make sure you check the box for the menu before you eat them!

Mr Sunny and I had a blast the night after our class when we opened one of our boxes and tried to guess all the chocolates. We didn’t find the paper indicating their names until we finished eating the box. Even though we got them all wrong, we still love Hotel Chocolat!!!

Hotel Chocolat (31)

My absolute favourite piece I tried is Billionaire’s Shortbread. It was previously named Millionaire’s Shortbread. When so many Tasting Club members voted it as their favourite (yes, they even have a chocolate club), they upgraded the name to reflect its elite status.

Hotel-Chocolat-London

Thank you, Hotel Chocolat for the complimentary evening. You’ll continue to see a lot of Mr. Sunny and me.

Oh! I almost forgot my final tip… Don’t call Hotel Chocolat to make an overnight reservation in the UK! It happens to them a lot. They only have one hotel- on the island of St. Lucia.

Sunny friends, we kicked off ‘Chocolate and Champagne’ week on Sunny in London with Belgian Chocolate and a trip to Brussels. If you haven’t already, check out the Choccywoccydoodah, Christine, Eye Candy and a Golden Ticket feature where I explore a bespoke chocolate shop in Brighton that has its own reality show.

And, if you’re a London blogger, we popped a lot of champagne corks celebrating the announcement of the next very, very bubbly #LDNBloggersTea. Join us!

 

THEATRE, TOURS, EXPERIENCES

best-things-to-do-in-london-sunnyinlondon
Lancaster London launches the next #LDNBloggersTea!
5 Reasons to go to Bunnychow- NOW!

Comments

  1. Lucy says

    November 2, 2014 at 12:30 pm

    You really are having quite the chocolate adventure. Chocolate week is a favourite as it is a good excuse to eat lots of yummy chocolate. Hotel chocolate in Covent garden is a favourite they have a little coffee shop downstairs. The liquid chocolate has a wonderful smell but the taste is more bitter. I wish you could bottle the smell. Lucy x

    Reply
    • Sunny London says

      November 2, 2014 at 12:47 pm

      Hi Lucy! The class we took is actually in that lower level. It really was super delicious! Thank you for reading!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

SUBSCRIBE TO KNOW:

weekly-email-sunny-in-london-download-pocket-restaurant-guide

BEST BRITISH FOOD TO EAT

FOOD THINGS TO DO IN LONDON

food-things-to-do-in-london-guide

PLANNING FOR A TRIP TO LONDON

local-travel-guide-to-london-trip-planning

THINGS TO DO IN LONDON

best-things-to-do-in-london-guide

AMERICAN AND BRITISH DIFFERENCES

major-differences-in-american-and-british-cultures-guide

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL TIPS & TRICKS

trips-international-travel-tips-and-tricks
best-things-to-do-in-london-sunnyinlondon
Expat in London

LONDON DAYTRIPS

Archives

THE ESSENTIAL FIRST TIME GUIDE TO

American-guide-to-London

HARRY POTTER

harry-potter-guide-visiting-london

YOUTUBE

sunny-in-london-youtube-news-american-expat
  • Home
  • GUIDE TO LONDON
  • FOOD DRINKS
  • THINGS TO DO
  • TRAVEL
  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 · Fun Genesis WordPress Theme by, Pretty Darn Cute Design

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

SAVE & ACCEPT