Chocolate and branding. They’re my drugs of choice.
It’s an obsession, like “50 Shades of Brown”….
So when I go to a city that I’ve not been to before, I find the best chocolatier in town.
This past weekend was Portland, Oregon. Lovely city. Made only more lovely by this one purveyor of chocolate: Cacao.
Winning the Chocolate Lottery
I was told they made incredible chocolate. When I got there, I found out they sell amazing artisanal chocolate from an exotic array of unique boutique chocolatiers versus making the stuff (except for their sipping chocolate).
They sell handmade truffles, their amazing European-style thick, decadent sipping chocolate with heat and spices (yum!) and an array of artisan chocolate bars to satisfy any chocolate snob. Per their own Website, they have this to say:
“Cacao features a hand picked selection of chocolate from around the world, including an extensive range of premium solid chocolate bars from small producers, select chocolate from the best local chocolatiers and makers, and our house-made drinking and hot chocolates.”
So while my wife was enjoying sleeping in, I strolled the streets and found Cacao. Once there, I spent about 40 minutes perusing every possible bar and maker, savoring my sipping chocolate, and spending a LOT more than I should’ve.
I brought my chocolate discoveries back to our hotel room overlooking the Willamette River, told my wife of my morning adventure and shot these to share with you.
And that’s just the collection of bars in addition to the handmade truffles I purchased ….
Why Skinny Dipping in the Dark Doesn’t Count
It’s the same as if you’re in a forest and a tree falls and there’s no one to hear it…. In other words, you have to have a witness. This blog post is my “witness” — my proof I did what I said I did.
So, here in no particular order are some of the details I admire about chocolatiers and the passion each of their brands offers chocolate lovers. Smaller companies embrace those passions and consumers can tell.
The folks at Holy Wood merge chocolate with hints of wood, and the taste is fabulous. Plus they seal each package with a wax seal. Whoa.
These folks bring chocolate from the island of Madagascar with some interesting taste profiles:
I’ve yet to sample this bar but the simple embossed package caught my eye.
Here’s a close-up of the embossed logo.
And for my friends who love chocolate as much as coffee, there’s Ka-Pow!
Then I ran across the new Dandelion chocolate bars. They just opened this month in San Francisco. Their packaging and use of fine papers from overseas really caught my eye as well as their attention to detail, such as signing the backs of each bar help them “raise the bar” (pun intended).
So, there it is. My chocolate confession.
May your chocolate adventures be as fun.
