Loco for Cocoa – A Boston Chocolate Walking Tour

Oddly enough, the first stop of the Boston Chocolate Walking Tour barely sells any chocolate at all. Instead, our group of 15 chocolate enthusiasts – a mix of curious locals, dating couples, and a handful of touristing friends – gathers outside of olive oil boutique O & Co. on Newbury Street, passes around a bag of roasted cocoa beans to sample, and gets our first lesson in the history of chocolate. Our guide, Margie (chemist by trade, chocolate tour guide by passion), artfully conjures up the Central American origins of drinking chocolate over 3,000 years ago, then leads us inside to our first sampling.

Big Name, Little Chocolate

O & Co.’s “The Extreme” is an olive oil-based chocolate spread akin to Nutella, but with a price tag ($20 for a small jar) that reflects its designer ingredients. Price aside, The Extreme, served on a sweet torta chip with a bit of balsamic cherry spread, is a tasty (if meager) beginning to this chocolate undertaking. Admittedly, I am confused as to why I end up sampling more truffle oil than chocolate, and happily migrate behind Margie to our next stop – an honest-to-goodness chocolate shop.

In which I once again get warm, fuzzy feelings about chocolate.

Outside of Teuscher’s traditional Swiss chocolatiers a few blocks away, Margie walks us through the European discovery of chocolate, the Spanish monopoly of the delicacy, and the spread of the chocolate arts across Europe. Inside the terrifically gaudy store, lined with glass cases full of molded chocolate, truffles, and all other manner of chocolate delicacies, chocolate expert Stefan tells us about the invention of the champagne truffle (by namesake Teuscher himself), and then, blessedly, we sample the goods. Now this is more like what I was expecting. Complex, enrobed in dark chocolate, and not light on the bubbly, the champagne truffles are delicate and delicious, and I make my first purchase to take home. I will definitely be returning to Teuscher for special occasion treats in the future.

A Back Bay Trifecta

The following three stops should be somewhat familiar to locals on the tour – we learn about cocoa percentages in front of the chocolate selection at DeLuca’s Market, discuss the differences between ice cream, custard, and gelato at J.P. Licks (again a bit off topic, and it’s awkward to split a bowl of chocolate ice cream with relative strangers), and we eventually end our tour staring at truffle upon bright truffle at Lindt Chocolate, the Swiss chocolate chain on Boylston. After being offered small samples of some of Lindt’s tried and true favorites, we’re left to wander the store and make purchases.

Being paid to write about chocolate is pretty awesome no matter how you spin it.

The Boston Chocolate Walking Tour is an interesting and amusingly told combination of chocolate history and trivia: Is chocolate healthy? What is “conching” and “bloom”? What actually qualifies as dark or milk chocolate? Is chocolate truly an aphrodisiac? (You may not like the answer to that one.) But it is also a bit lacking in lesser-known locations and the actual product, a.k.a. chocolate. Those looking for more chocolate bang for their considerable buck (tours run a rather steep $40) may want to consider reading a history of chocolate (alternately, iTunes offers a few podcasts on the same) and creating their own walking tour of the treat Montezuma valued more than gold.

Boston Chocolate Walking Tours offers tours along Newbury St. and in Somerville, bookable atbostonchocolatewalkingtours.com.