Back Bay Boston Chocolate Tour: A Perfectly Delicious Use of a Saturday

Can you think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than strolling around Boston sampling gourmet chocolates with other fellow-chocolate lovers? I can't either....and for me, this Saturday was the day my dream turned into a sweet reality.

After picking up heavily discounted tickets to take a Boston Chocolate Tour (thank you, Rue La La), I treated my mom to their Back Bay tour this weekend. The weather was gorgeous and the agenda (nine stops all within a mile boasting the best of the best in espresso, truffles, skin care and cookies) was more than appealing.

The tour was informative, fun and filling - we were stuffed with cocoa by the end of our journey! Our tour guide and other tour members were wonderful, too. What a special day to share with my Mother - the woman who passed down her chocoholic genetics unto me.

What an amazing holiday gift this would make for someone you really care about.  What better gift is there than a chocolate-filled day of memories? Gift certificates to the Boston Chocolate Tours are available on their website: Boston Chocolate Tours

A recap of our travels is featured after the break:




Nespresso Boutique 
77 Newbury Street
Boston, MA 02116
Nespresso.com

Nespresso is a capsule-based espresso machine company (think Keurig, but for espresso) owned by Nestle.  Their store on Newbury street not only displays their sleek and pricey espresso makers but also hosts a tasting roundtable for guests to taste their signature and limited edition flavors while also testing out their most popular machines.  Their espressos are ranked by intensity, ranging from 1-10. I tasted their seasonal cherry flavor which was perfect (when paired with two sugars). We each received a piece of chocolate to enjoy with the espresso with the drink bringing out the best in the chocolate & vice versa. Each individual flavor intensified the other.  This was the perfect caffeine-kick start to our chocolate journey! It seriously made me consider buying an espresso machine & buying stock in that cherry flavor.


Hotel Chocolat
141A Newbury Street
Boston, MA 02116
hotelchocolat.com

To begin with, Hotel Chocolat is an actual hotel located in St. Lucia and yes, I am considering it as a honeymoon destination. If the Hotel Chocolat flagship US store on Newbury Street is any indication of what the St. Lucia location is like, I would consider the Boston location heaven and the hotel as Utopia.   The store has its own private tasting room where their resident chocolate expert taught our group the differences between milk and dark chocolates as well as how to experience chocolate using all five senses. We also had the opportunity to sample some special holiday flavors - cinnamon eggnog and gingerbread truffles.  The store is designed with clean lines, tonal chocolate color tones and is tantalizingly aromatic. On top of it all, as members of the tour group, we were offered a 10% discount to shop! I left there with a bag full of goodies and gifts (yes, I'm giving some Hotel Chocolat confections as Christmas gifts - family and friends, you will thank me later) including my most recent addiction - a gift to myself -  caramel cheesecake truffles.


Paradise Bakery
Prudential Center Foodcourt
paradisebakery.com

Paradise Bakery provided free chocolate chip cookies to our group and a coupon for a free cookie of our choice.  My mother and I both chose white chocolate chip & cranberry cookies as our freebies which were moist, savory, sweet, light & decadent all at the same time. These cookies are made with no preservatives so they are best enjoyed the same day they are baked, which isn't hard to do since they are basically irresistible. 


Lush
166 Newbury Street
Boston, MA 02116
lush.com

Lush is a 100% vegetarian hair, bath and body product line that uses natural ingredients to create items that are meant for primping, pampering and relaxing.  The lovely ladies of Lush allowed our group to try several items in their line that contained either coca beans or cocoa butter including body lotion, bath soaks and an exfoliating (and edible!) lip scrub.


Ben & Jerry's
174 Newbury Street
Boston, MA 02116
benjerry.com

Of course, we were all familiar with Ben & Jerry's, but their ice cream was a lovely and welcomed stop on our tour (it was in the mid 60's on Saturday - perfect ice cream weather)!  The store manager shared one of Ben & Jerry's newer, chocolate-packed flavors - Milk & Cookies - with our group. This flavor has a vanilla ice cream base, a chocolate cookie swirl and bits of chocolate chip & chocolate chocolate chip cookies mixed in. The manager also outlined Ben & Jerry's plans to buy all of their ingredients entirely from Fair Trade farmers by 2013 - nothing I like more with my ice cream than a little social activism.


Teuscher
230 Newbury Street
Boston, MA 02116
teuscher.com

 

Teuscher Chocolates may not look that fancy from the outside, but on the inside there is a lot going on. It is adorned with Swiss-made holiday decorations that cover the ceilings, walls and individual gift boxes for their decadent and world famous chocolates.  All of the chocolates are imported directly from Zurich on a weekly basis including their world-known best selling confection, the champagne truffle. This truffle comes in both milk & dark chocolate varieties and each has a center infused with real Dom Perignon champagne.  It is creamy, decadent and all the things you love most about champagne are enhanced and complimented by the flavor of their high quality chocolate. This is a Newbury Street must visit and a luxury you must treat yourself to.

Sweet Cupcakes

225 Newbury Street

Boston, MA 02116

sweetcupcakes.com

 

Sweet Cupcakes has three locations - one on Newbury Street, one in Harvard Square and one in Downtown. This was my first time at a Sweet shop and I must say, I was impressed. The chocolate on chocolate cakes we sampled were moist, delicious and decked with sickeningly sweet frosting. Sweet Cupcakes proudly offer many unique flavors & confections - most notably their "pup"cakes (yes, cupcakes for dogs made of  oatmeal and applesauce) and their notorious frosting shots (sometimes you just don't need the cake).  I left their with my chocolate cravings sufficiently satisfied and their cookbook in hand (great stocking stuffer - buy it here)!

Lindt

704 Boylston Street

Boston, MA 02116

lindtusa.com 

Lindt chocolate is a household name, so the store didn't necessarily show me anything I didn't already know.  Highlights were trying chocolate infused with chili peppers (spicy, spicy) and discovering that Lindt now makes an ice coffee flavored chocolate bar which is undoubtedly (and obviously) incredible and a Caramel & Sea Salt bar which mirrors the definition of chocolate perfection.

Gourmet Boutique

10 Huntington Ave

Boston, MA 02116

gourmetboutique.net

I had walked by the Gourmet Boutique a hundred times before and never knew the treasures that existed within! Tucked away within the Westin-Copley Plaza, the Gourmet Boutique houses hundreds of unique sweets from all over the world including dark chocolate infused with stout beer and caramel, pancake mixes boasting exotic flavors, chocolate bars with bits of bacon in them, special teas, truffles and even foie gras. The lovely boutique offered a 20% discount to all tour members and the staff was excited to have us and to suggest products based on our distinct and specific chocolate needs.