Chocolate Ecstasy Tours luxury London Chocolate Tour
So you have just made a ton of female friends very quickly…What did someone say girls like chocolate …what more than !! ….
STOP! STOP Michael this is a family show ….
Chocolate is just one of those amazing subjects…yes it is …as children we adore …yes in everyone’s family photo albums (showing my age I know) there are usually photos of children with chocolate smudged around their face. I famously dipped chocolate fingers into tomato ketchup as a child, something that I d0 not do anymore I should add, then there is the famous moments in Romantic Comedy films such as Bridget Jones Diary when a box of chocolates is devoured. There is a list of historic chocolate commercials from Flake to the famous Black Magic ones where he ski’s down a mountain. And I could go on and on, but you get the picture not only is the chocolate business massive but its social, historical and emotional factors are pinned across our lives.
At 1000 o’clock one morning a small group of 6 people meet outside Sketch on Conduit Street in London. None of us know each other…. Along bowls Jennifer who runs www.chocolateecstasytours.com who is charming but as I am about to find out is passionate beyond belief about the subject and sits on several judging panels and chocolate organisations.
My background is a Television Producer so I have worked with many presenters and experts over the years and Jennifer definitely has a natural ability to organise, communicate and importantly make people feel at ease.
We all sit round and introduce ourselves, Jennifer tells us some chocolate background information and we all reference one of our favourite chocolates.
I am not going to spoil the surprise by telling you all the chocolate shops we visited but they number 6, starting on Conduit Street weaving our way through Mayfair, into St James and then up into Soho where we end up at the crème de la crème of top British Chocolatiers.
The lovely thing was I like chocolate, well quite a lot but I am not a crazed fan … think of The Beatles and One Direction and their fans, well CHOCOLATE has been having hits for years and its fan base is devout and very loyal! So I can comment from a slightly different perspective.
I was slightly nervous to start with as I wondered how eating so much chocolate would make me feel and I suffer from high blood pressure. So I raised this and interestingly enough a Doctor was on the trip and I was informed, backed up by separate people that high quality chocolate lowers blood pressure whereas low quality chocolate raises it. As mentioned I am not a Doctor but several people have told me the same. Indeed it seems chocolate has many health qualities and vitamins which is probably why the beauty industry uses chocolate as part of treatments.
I did not feel sick by the end, far from it, but I particularly enjoyed the very leisurely walk through a very pretty part of London learning lots of new things both chocolate related and about the history of the area.
If you a visiting London either from abroad or the UK this would be perfect….. for a quirky business event …. Eat chocolate and then discuss work as you walk….. But to me I think the perfect occasion would be with your girlfriend or wife which you could do as a group or a private tour…. then end up in Soho where you can have a leisurely lunch and catch an afternoon movie.
Jennifer Earle Chocolate Ecstasy Tours
Tel. 0203 432 1306
Tel. 07981809536
[email protected]
www.chocolateecstasytours.com
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Chocolate Ecstasy Tours is the original sweet tour company in London. Founded in 2005 by Jennifer Earle. The relationships with the tour partners visited are valued and nurtured and, most importantly, the guides guarantee that guests will be completely “chocolate-ed out” by the end of the tour. The tour includes an indulgent hot chocolate, lots chocolate sampling, discounts, an introductory chocolate education, historical walking tour of london’s loveliest areas – a gentle walk of less than 2 miles and no more than 12 guests per tour.
Chelsea or Mayfair Chocolate Ecstasy Tours or Notting Hill Chocolate & Coffee Tour
Did you know…..
Fine quality dark chocolate should
– Only have cocoa mass/liquor, cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla & lecithin in the ingredients list (vanilla & lecithin are optional)
– Be a minimum of 60% cocoa content
– Be shiny and an even shade of brown (not black) and without white spots
– Make a crisp, snapping sound when you break a piece
– Melt at body temperature and leave no oily residue on your skin (if you have not licked it off already!)
– Smell deliciously chocolatey and possibly of fruit, spices, earthiness, tobacco, flowers, coffee or leather, but never burnt and always of chocolate
– Taste amazing
Coming up in June is the Brighton Tour and by Christmas the tours will be offered in York, too.
About Jennifer Earle
Since starting Chocolate Ecstasy Tours in 2005, Jennifer has worked as a Food Buyer, Food Developer and as a consultant. She writes about food for various websites and is a judge for the Academy of Chocolate Awards and the Great Taste Awards and is on the Grand Jury of the International Chocolate Awards. She travels regularly in pursuit of more chocolate knowledge and experience, most recently visiting Vietnam and Australia and is off to explore Zotter’s chocolate factory in Austria this month.
www.chocolateecstasytours.com/faq
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