HOTEL CHOCOLAT, from the UK, has chosen to dip their toe into the ever widening pool of luxury chocolate in the U.S. market. Rather than dive in head first, with retail stores, they are making their presence quietly known through their sensuous website and a series of tasteful chocolate evenings in key cities - Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco - by inviting known chocolate lovers to become ambassadors for their brand. In the brief time since their arrival on our shore in September they have raised the bar for not only fine chocolate but for the entire chocolate experience. To check into Hotel Chocolat is to immerse oneself in all that is deliciously dark and sensuous about chocolate. This is chocolate for adult chocolate lovers who wish to relive their first time chocolate bliss moment again and again.
Hotel Chocolat is impressive for many reasons. They have a ‘No Nasties’ policy which means no hydrogenated vegetable fat, artificial colorings, artificial fruit or alcohol flavorings. They also use less sugar and more cacao whenever possible. The ‘Purist’ range of bars are the highest cacao percent they offer- including 100% cacao - and do not contain vanilla or soya lecithin (an emulsifier). I have fallen in love with The Purist Milk 62% Cacao. The beans for this bar, Trinitario rich in Criollo genes, comes from their own Rabot Estate on the island of St. Lucia in the West Indies. The high percentage cacao milk chocolates that I have preferred in the past have a sweetened condensed milk flavor - cooked milk with an almost but not quite caramel undertone. Milk chocolate with a nice flavor but not much personality. This Purist bar is packed with personality and character. This is a milk chocolate bar for the adventurous. Their skilled chocolatiers pushed the upper limits of where the natural sugars present in milk can be heated to produce a deep, rich, burnt caramel quality to the bar. And the mouthfeel is beyond luscious.
Hotel Chocolat is dedicated at all levels to accept the responsibility that the privilege of working with fine cacao has bestowed upon them. Their approach to cacao goes far beyond treating it as a commodity crop purchased from developing nations and shipped to Europe or the U.S. to be made into chocolate. The ENGAGED ETHICS program pays farmers on St. Lucia 40% more for their quality cacao crop than they received previously and they pay the farmers within one week. They are building a chocolate factory at Rabot Estate, where the benefits of cacao will be shared with the community through jobs revolving around the factory. READ HERE about how their work with farmers in Ghana has made a difference to hundreds of lives.
So, besides delicious chocolate and an ethical approach to the business of chocolate, what else sets Hotel Chocolat apart? They have brought the fun back into the chocolate world. The business of luxury chocolate has become much too serious for my taste these days. To see what I mean spend some time with their website. Go to PURE CHOCOLATE and check out their Giant Slabs, Mini Slabs, Peepsters and Purist Range.
Slabs is how Hotel Chocolat refers to their bars of chocolate. What makes them different is the free form shape they take - reminiscent of the shape melted chocolate takes when poured on to a cold slab of marble. They are also not segmented which helps to give you the feeling of ‘it’s all mine’ and damned the portion control. When you were a kid the last thing you thought about was portion control. To hold the House Milk Chocolate 40% Cacao or multi textured Rocky Road mini slab in your hand and to bite down brings back the joy of pleasure without boundary. A mini slab of the Rocky Road made me feel like kid as I held the slightly oversized slab in both hands and bit down. And a Giant Slab just brings a smile to my face when I think about the gasps of delight it will evoke from guests as we all sit around and break off pieces, licking fingers
Or how about the LIQUID CHOCOLATE packaged in bottles that hint at the pharmaceutical. Tonic for what ails us? A swig of these would be a great pick-me-up for the middle of the afternoon. Who needs a flask of brown liquor when you can have a bottle of liquid chocolate to mix and swig in the afternoon?
The PEEPSTER collections give a provocative peek at four different mini slabs in milk, dark and white chocolate. The ‘peepster’ notion plays on so many different levels. While it may officially be a sampling of four different mini slabs of milk, dark and white chocolate the design of the packaging with the bars peeking above a wall of black evokes images of a voyeur sneaking a peek at tender flesh exposed above the top of a silk stocking’s lacy black garter or decolletage.
If you love chocolate and love sharing it with sophisticated friends who just want to have fun I would highly recommend you check in to Hotel Chocolat and get all of your holiday gift giving done in one stay.
