The Guardian Word of Mouth Chocolate Tasting Event

WoM Choc Tasting 3

Last week I joined a group of Guardian Word of Mouth readers for an ‘Easter egg taste test-cum-festival of chocolate-celebration’. Like the children who followed the pied piper we followed the call of chocolate and the scent in the air all the way to deep inside the Guardian offices. We came out of the goodness of our hearts and, as Jay Rayner pointed out, completely selflessly, only for those enticing people of the Word and Mouth team to force feed us chocolate all evening. It really isn’t on you know…

…OK, so it wasn’t quite like that.

WoM Choc Tasting 4

WoM Choc Tasting 1

WoM Choc Tasting 5

We were greeted with samples of Courvoisier and Cockburns, chosen to compliment the chocolate we were about to sample. I was particularly taken with the Cockburns Late Bottled Vintage 2003 Port; deeply fruity and chocolaty. When we entered the room where the chocolate tasting was to take place the delicious smell of the chocolate in the room hit us straight away. There was every kind of Easter egg for us to sample; from low through mid to high budget, from white to the darkest chocolate. We made notes as we tasted but unfortunately had to hand in our tasting cards and, believe me, there was a lot of chocolate to taste so it’s difficult to recall all of the findings. Luckily though my friend Nicole took some separate notes as she tasted: Drinking Courvoisier after tasting Green & Blacks dark chocolate gave a tingly sensation on the tongue; Lindt was one of the best, melting almost instantly; Thorntons white chocolate was very sweet and sugary; the Hotel Chocolate strawberry sensation had a really good strawberry taste and even had the texture of strawberry; the Marks & Spencer white egg was a favourite.

WoM Choc Tasting 6

The Paul Young chocolates were a big hit, particularly the Guiness and the basil truffles, as was the Mayan Magic chocolate and the chocolate making kits, containing natural sweetener (agave nectar), butters (raw cacao and coconut) and powders (raw cacao, lucuma and carob); all the ingredients you need to make your own chocolate. Also on offer were samples of Choc Star chocolate brownies, which had a fantastically texture and lovely taste.

WoM Choc Tasting 8

WoM Choc Tasting 9

WoM Choc Tasting 10

WoM Choc Tasting 7

One of the biggest surprises of the evening was Nicole’s admission that she’d never had a Cadbury Cream Egg. Yes, really. I couldn’t quite believe it and insisted that she try one then and there. And her verdict? I think her face says it all:

WoM Choc Tasting

P.S. For more on the event take a look at this Word of Mouth video with an adorable little star and the Twitter feed, and be sure to look out for the Word of Mouth write-up next week.

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21 Comments

  1. Douglas Blyde
    April 5, 2009 / 9:00 pm

    2003 was a heatwave, hence the fuller figure of your preferred port…

  2. Julia
    April 5, 2009 / 9:24 pm

    Interesting…thanks for that Douglas. It was really lovely; I’ll certainly be looking out for it.

  3. Springtime
    April 5, 2009 / 9:34 pm

    I’m really intrigued by the Guinness and the basil truffles!

    It looks like it was a heavenly event!

  4. Anya
    April 6, 2009 / 3:48 am

    Gosh. It looks like so much fun I dont even know what to say! *LOL*

  5. Anne
    April 6, 2009 / 8:42 am

    Sounds like chocolate heaven!! Am drooling over all the lovely pictures!

    I really wanted to sign up but already had plans for that evening, best not to let the mother-in-law down, even for chocolate 🙂

  6. ♥Rosie♥
    April 6, 2009 / 1:43 pm

    Ooooooh this sounds like choccy paradise to me – just look at all those wonderful pics …..

    Great post Julia and thanks for sharing!

  7. Mark
    April 6, 2009 / 7:13 pm

    Wow, so much chocolate! But what you really want with that is some strong coffee stout or imperial stout, not port or brandy 🙂

  8. Krista
    April 6, 2009 / 7:16 pm

    What a lovely event! Um, I’ve never had a Cadbury Cream Egg either…

  9. Sam
    April 6, 2009 / 9:26 pm

    I really wanted to go to this, it looks like chocolate heaven!

  10. delphine
    April 7, 2009 / 10:13 am

    Groan,groan, I have high sugar levels, and you have me drooling and dreaming of chocolate, it’s bad enough here in France with every shop ( even bakers) displaying the chocolate magic of Easter–ooh where is that cereal bar,have to munch on something!!!!

  11. Jeena
    April 8, 2009 / 8:59 pm

    Hi Julia, looks like you had a great time, we also like to eat the cacao nibs and beans.

  12. Holler
    April 9, 2009 / 10:17 am

    That sounds like seriously good fun! Lucky thingm although I bet you couldn’t face chocolate again for a day or two after that!

  13. Antonia
    April 9, 2009 / 1:19 pm

    Well that certainly looks like fun, Julia. I was tasting chocolate this weekend too and I ate so much of it that I can hardly even look at the stuff now! Hopefully I’ll get back in the mood by Easter Sunday!

  14. sunita
    April 9, 2009 / 2:58 pm

    Ooooh! I’m so envious!!!

  15. Little Miss Random
    April 10, 2009 / 1:19 pm

    I was there too and had a great time, although it made me crave chocolate for the next few days.

    Could I ask what camera you used to take those photos? The images are amazing sharp.

  16. Alisa - Frugal Foodie
    April 10, 2009 / 3:57 pm

    Oh you poor thing .. force fed chocolate? I have never had a Cadbury Cream Egg either, but appreciate Nicole’s honest review!

  17. Maureen
    April 10, 2009 / 5:50 pm

    I bet that was a lot of fun. I’m craving chocolate now after looking at all your great photos!

  18. Dave Jones
    April 11, 2009 / 4:01 pm

    snapshots of chocolates are astounding…mouthwatering…looks like you had a great time.

  19. uk chefs forum
    April 18, 2009 / 9:05 am

    Looks fab – photos are amazing too….my mouth is watering!Thanks so much for sharing

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