Hotel Chocolat

I recently had the pleasure of attending a chocolate tasting at Hotel Chocolat, situated in Midtown Manhattan, close to Grand Central. Lisa Saraceni, the store manager, gave me 8 different chocolates to try and walked me through each one.

We started with the darkest plain chocolate first, and worked our way down to milk, and then white. Lisa got us to smell the chocolate first, then break it in half. Different varieties have their own unique ‘snap’ to them. Then we placed it on our tongue and allowed it to melt, while taking in all the flavours that came to mind. Quality chocolate contains complex and intriguing flavours that are not typically associated with chocolate (berries, floral, coffee, spice, citrus, caramel, etc).

Once we were done savouring the plain chocolates, we moved on to the flavoured chocolate. One was infused with coffee, another with peppermint. The last two chocolates are known as ‘confections’. One was filled with an amaretto mousse, and the other was a lemon cheesecake. Upon guessing this last one, I incorrectly thought it was lemon meringue pie. But as I concentrated more, I could pick up on the different components that married so perfectly together. The cheesecake flavoured mousse, the tart lemon curd, and cookie crunch, all enrobed in a white chocolate.

Single Origin Chocolate

Lisa then explained what ‘single origin’ chocolate means. The cocoa beans used to create this chocolate come from a single source/origin; in some cases a single estate or plantation; but in most cases a single country. Hotel Chocolat creates single origin chocolate in order to focus on the terroir of that specific bean. This is special as most chocolate is made using a blend of beans from many different countries. Chocolate’s taste is partially determined by the environment in which it grows in. Cacao beans from different countries have their own distinctive flavour.

Hotel Chocolat is a United Kingdom based chocolate manufacturer and has outlets in the UK, the USA and Japan. It is committed to preventing acts of modern slavery and human trafficking within its business and places these same high standards on its suppliers.

Originality, Authenticity and Ethics

These are the three key beliefs that Hotel Chocolat has, and they strive to stay one step ahead of the competition. Every month, the chocolatiers craft brand new recipes in the Cambridgeshire inventing room for their Tasting Club members.

Hotel Chocolat has an Engaged Ethics programme, so that the cocoa farmers are treated with respect and receive a fair deal. Reducing waste is important, therefore every part of the cacao bean is used, even the shells, and any misshapen chocolates are placed in ‘Ugly but Good’ bags.

Angus Thirwell founded Hotel Chocolat in 2004 with his business partner, Peter Harris. They had two specific aims for their chocolate: to excite the senses and for it to be widely available. Angus was inspired to grow his own cocoa after a customer sent him a book about cocoa-growing in the West Indies. Angus had spent much of his childhood there. After an intensive search, Angus and Peter bought the Rabot Estate in Saint Lucia in 2006, where they lead the rejuvenation of the island’s oldest cocoa plantation. The company has an Engaged Ethics programme, and the rare Trinitario cocoa variety grown on the estate quickly won a clutch of awards.

The hotel and restaurant is born

In 2012, Angus and Peter decided to put the ‘Hotel’ in Hotel Chocolat, and opened the boutique Boucan hotel and restaurant in the grounds of their plantation. The hotel has 14 stylish guest rooms, sits 1,000 feet above the Caribbean Sea, and overlooks Saint Lucia’s iconic Piton Mountains.

In 2013, Hotel Chocolat became the world’s first chocolatier and cocoa grower to create a singe côte chocolate (made from a single terroir-defined grove of cocoa trees known as côte). This propelled Britain to the forefront of the highly competitive chocolate market. Later in the year, Angus opened two cocoa cuisine restaurants; Rabot 1745 in London and Roast+Conch in Leeds. Most people associate chocolate with sweetness, but in their restaurants, Angus and Peter’s team have come up with innovations such as spiced cocoa nib ketchup, white chocolate horseradish and even cocoa gin.

In 2014, Hotel Chocolat created ‘Supermilk’, a chocolate with at least 65% cocoa that boasts robust cocoa depth, the smooth creaminess of milk, and even less sugar than a typical dark chocolate.

In 2015, the School of Chocolate opened in Copenhagen, as well as a cookbook ‘A New Way of Cooking with Chocolate’, and a ‘refuel station’ café opens in Cambridge.

In 2016, Hotel Chocolat won 18 Academy of Chocolate awards, including 3 Golds. In 2017, Supermilk Pure is released, a no-added-sugar milk chocolate. 80% cocoa and organic milk, with no artificial sugar substitutes.

More cocoa, less sugar

Hotel Chocolat’s mantra has always been ‘More Cocoa, Less Sugar’. British chocolate has focused heavily on sweetness since the price of sugar dropped. Today, a typical bar of milk chocolate contains twice as much sugar as cocoa. Hotel Chocolat’s milk chocolate is between 40% and 50% cocoa, with the white chocolate at 36% (well-above average). The balance of cocoa to sugar is crucial, as high amounts of sugar dull the taste of the cocoa itself. It also masks the quality of the cocoa so that poorer types can be used.

Chocolate Drinks

As well as the chocolate tasting, I also chose a chocolate drink from the menu. Since I’m a big hazelnut fan, I went with the iced Hazelnut Chocolat. Made with pure chocolate and milk, this drink is decadent and rich, without being sickly sweet. It has a real depth with the quality of chocolate, and the hazelnut flavour really shone through. Other flavours include Salted Caramel Chocolat, Milky Chocolat, 70% Chocolat, 85% Chocolat, 100% No Sugar Chocolat, and Chili Chocolat.

The Velvetiser

Coming in November 2019, The Velvetiser enables you to make café-style chocolate drinks at home with the touch of a button. No powders, no syrups, just chocolate. The Velvetiser melts the chocolate flakes at precisely the right temperature, whisking and folding into dairy or plant based milk. It comes in copper, matte charcoal or white for $129 plus shipping.

Chocolate and spirits pairing

If you are interested in attending a chocolate tasting at Hotel Chocolat, they take groups with a minimum of 6 people at $20 per person. There is also a chocolate and spirits pairing, where the attendees bring their own choices of spirits, also at $20 per person.

Hotel Chocolat New York City: 441 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10017