Boston Chocolate Tour – A Review

A couple weekends ago, I was able to enjoy the beautiful weather by walking around the South End eating a bunch of chocolate. You can’t go wrong eating chocolate and enjoying a perfect Boston summer day.

I had contacted Boston Chocolate Tours to see if they would be interested in a giveaway for my lovely readers. Instead, they offered me two tickets to any of their chocolate tours in exchange for this review. I decided it was a fair trade and invited another blogger, Sophie, to join me.

I chose the South End tour because David mentioned that it was his favorite so I figured why not. We started our adventure at Code 10 on Washington St. Sophie and I were the first ones there and we were able to chat with our tour guide Katie for a few minutes. Katie gave everyone a little goodie bag that included our pass for the day (a small tag on a lanyard), a small bag of pretzels in case we needed something salty between all the chocolate, and a couple printouts. One had a listing of various VIP deals we can get showing our pass. The other was a listing of some of the places that the chocolate tour would take us.

Once 2:00 rolled around, we were still missing a couple people, but we went ahead and got started. Code 10 sells baked goods from Rosie’s as well as various deli sandwiches and snacks. Here we tasted a frosted brownie called Chocolate Orgasm. It was a dense fudge-like brownie with a smooth frosting on top. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

After eating our brownies, we all headed outside where Katie had us all go around and introduce ourselves. Katie mentioned that she had been a tour guide since the company opened last November.

Then we headed across the street to Flour Bakery. We didn’t go in because it was pretty packed, so Katie ran in to grab our goodies. Here, we tasted Oreos. They were pretty fantastic and apparently they sell out pretty early during the day, so if you want one, call ahead. I was able to grab an extra one to take home to Hubby and he really enjoyed it as well.

After our Oreos in the sun, we headed over to Tremont 647 and Sister Sorel. They were in the midst of their pajama brunch which they do every Saturday and Sunday. The food smelled amazing as we walked through Tremont 647 to get to Sister Sorrell.

Once we got there, we had the whole bar to ourselves. They gave us each a chocolate martini which included their own in-house infused vanilla vodka. We also had a small piece of chocolate cake. The chocolate cake was very light and fluffy and not overly chocolatey.

While we were sitting there, Katie explained how chocolate is made. I’m not going to go through it all here because I wasn’t taking notes. She also explained how to properlly taste chocolate. Then we got to try out our tasting skills by tasting a piece of Taza chocolate. It was good and had a gritty texture because of how they make their chocolate.

After that, we went to Appleton bakery. We walked by Chocolee but they were closed due to air conditioning failures. Apparently a couple weeks ago all of their chocolate melted! How horrible is that?!? At Appleton, we were able to taste two brownies. One was a walnut brownie and one was a cream cheese brownie. I didn’t try the cream cheese brownie because of my lactose intolerance, but I heard it was divine.

Next we went to a cute little place called Picco. It had a nice outdoor seating area and they’re known for thier pizza, ice cream, and beer list. Sophie and I agreed it would be a great place to grab lunch on a nice day. Here, we tasted some chocolate sorbet. It was very creamy and delicious. You definitely would have thought it had tons of heavy cream in it.

After our sorbet, we went to a shop called Aunt Sadie’s. They have a bunch of scented candles including a chocolate candle (they also had tomato, chicken noodle soup, and some other really unique candles). It was a cute little shop, but no chocolate tasty there.

Last, we ended our tour at the South End Buttery. We were in the back room and got to taste an espresso milkshake (I passed on this too) and a mini chocolate cupcake. The cupcake was good and the frosting was to die for. I loved that frosting.

The chocolate tour was a fun way to see the South End, learn about some of the great restaurants and shops in the area, and enjoy some tasty treats along the way. I was originally expecting it to be more of tasting chocolates than eating things with chocolate in them. I think the chocolate tasting that is offered is more in line with what I had in mind…

The price of this particular tour is $48/person. I have to admit that if I had paid $48, I might have felt a bit like I got the short end of the straw. Don’t get me wrong, Katie was extremely knowledgable and fun to hang out with. And all of the chocolate treats we tasted were delicious. I just think a price closer to $36 is more reasonable for what I experienced that weekend.

If you’d like more information about Boston Chocolate Tours, be sure to check out their website – they also offer chocolate tastings, workshops, and private events. A big thanks to David of Boston Chocolate tours for letting Sophie and I experience this tour! If you’ve ever been on a chocolate tour anywhere, I’d love to hear about your experience.

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17 Responses to “Ten Baking Tips from a Professional Baker”

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    Vicki — September 23, 2010 at 12:39 pm

    My friend and I took that same pizza class with Susan Miller in April. She is so sweet and such a great teacher. So much fun. We didn’t want the class to end. Hoping to do another class at KAF this winter. Love your blog!

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    Fun and Fearless in Beantown — September 23, 2010 at 12:57 pm

    Great tips!

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    Krystal — September 23, 2010 at 2:40 pm

    Awesome tips, and it looks like a lot of fun at the KAF…how cool is that!!

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    We Are Not Martha — September 23, 2010 at 2:42 pm

    I guess I usually cook my veggies before putting them on pizza, but I never thought that you had to! VERY good to know. Also, I need to go smell my whole wheat flour ASAP. Great tips 🙂

    Sues

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    Kris @ everywhereorange.com — September 23, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    fantastic tips!!! i just smelled my flour and threw it out!!! thanks so much!!!

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    Eliana — September 23, 2010 at 3:15 pm

    What a great batch of tips! Thanks for much for sharing.

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    Megan — September 23, 2010 at 4:39 pm

    Wow. You remembered so many awesome tips! It’s surprising to look back and see how much we all learned and picked up on in such a short time. I love this list.

    Did you get to watch Just Desserts last night? Drama, drama, drama!

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    theblogisthenewblack — September 23, 2010 at 5:29 pm

    Wow, thanks or these great tips!

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    nutmegnanny — September 23, 2010 at 5:48 pm

    Awesome tips 🙂

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    Kerstin — September 23, 2010 at 8:56 pm

    What a cute idea for a post – love it! Just voted for you too 🙂

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    meghan — September 23, 2010 at 10:47 pm

    This is a great recap. I feel like I learned more last weekend than I have in awhile. . . or maybe I was just more interested in baking than most other things! 🙂

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    Shannon — September 24, 2010 at 1:46 am

    thanks for passing along the tips!! i was bummed i couldn’t make it 🙁

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    WizzyTheStick — September 24, 2010 at 11:02 pm

    All great tips! I love the first one so simple but really useful

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    The Small Boston Kitchen — September 25, 2010 at 2:17 pm

    LOVE IT! This post was great. Such a fun weekend, great job summing it up!

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    Sarah — September 25, 2010 at 8:23 pm

    I love these tips! Thanks so much for posting them. And thanks for the info about KAF’s baking help hotline – I will DEFINITELY be using that!

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    newlywed — September 25, 2010 at 10:13 pm

    That is an interesting tip about whole wheat flour!

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    Daisy — September 27, 2010 at 1:45 am

    such a great post! very nice recap and photos of all the tips we learned.

    I’m glad you and your girlfriends enjoyed The Abbey this weekend as well! new restaurants are so exciting.

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