TCHO’s Newest Chocolate Product
San Francisco’s only bean-to-confection chocolate factory is at it again with new goodies.
This time, TCHO has unveiled a Hot and Cold Drinking Chocolate. Its the latest from the company founded by a former space shuttle technologist, Timothy Childs; and overseen by CEO Louis Rossetto, former co-founder of Wired magazine.
A 300-gram tin of the dark chocolate crumbles is $10.50. Put a few teaspoons into a mug, pour hot water over, and stir. Or mix with warm milk. Add brewed coffee or not. You can enjoy the drinking chocolate cold in water or milk, as well. You also can make a simple chocolate sauce from it to drizzle over your favorite ice cream.
The drinking chocolate is a precise blend of three of TCHO’s chocolates: “Chocolatey” from cacao beans from Ghana, “Citrus” from beans from Madagascar, and “Nutty” with beans from Peru.
I’ll use my patented scale of 1 to 10 lip-smackers, with 1 being the “Bleh, save your money” far end of the spectrum; 5 being the “I’m not sure I’d buy it, but if it was just there, I might nibble some” middle-of-the-road response; and 10 being the “My gawd, I could die now and never be happier, because this is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth” supreme ranking.
TCHO Hot and Cold Drinking Chocolate: It looks a little like potting mix. But one whiff and you’ll know it’s premium chocolate all the way. I followed the directions to enjoy it hot: using about 5 teaspoons of the pulverized chocolate to about 7 ounces of hot water. Wow! Let me say that again: Wow!
I usually prefer water to milk in my hot chocolate drinks because I think water brings out the full chocolatey flavor more, while milk diminishes it and makes the overall beverage too rich. TCHO’s is not like those wimpy instant cocoa mix packets on supermarket shelves. This is one big chocolate taste in a small cup. It is rich, satisfying, soothing, creamy, and just coats your entire mouth as if an extraordinary dark chocolate truffle had just exploded inside of it. Rating: 10 lip-smackers.
Ooh that looks good! And I think I recognize that mug…
I can just imagine the smell coming out of that container of chocolate. Yum!
I love my hot chocolate with more chocolatey flavor too! This looks excellent!
Wonderful! This mug of hot chocolate looks to die for!
Cheers,
Rosa
Put a few marshmallows in there and I’m a happy camper.
Ok, I can definitely use some of that when I’m pms-ing. Looks excellent.
I’ve been using Trader Joes Drinking Chocolate as it was the only one I’ve found. I’ll have to give this one a try.
I never thought of water making for a more cholatey flavor than the milk – very interseting. I will definitely have to check this place out – thanks for sharing. As I recall, they opened up along the Embarcadero.
Look how dark and rich it is! Is that a molinillo? I’ve only ever seen pictures and none as ornate-looking.
Yes, Stacey, I do recall that you have the same mugs at home, since your Mom was the one who gave me my cute set. 🙂
And Tangled Noodle, you are correct. That is a Mexican hot chocolate whisk. I have to say that it really does the trick. I also tried making the TCHO hot chocolate drink by stirring it only with a spoon. It didn’t have that nice foam top like it does using the molinillo.
10? 10!! Mmmmmm, 10. Looks like I need some of this.
wow, yummy AND gorgeous! i also have those mugs!
I don’t suppose there are any calories whatsoever in that concoction either, right? Now *that* would shove it way off-the-charts 🙂
Carroll: I can’t speak to the calories. Nor would I want to. Hah. But dark chocolate is high in antioxidants. So you could say it’s good for you. You could….
Look at that colour! No wonder it is given a 10!
Done. I’m so there. I can’t wait to taste the stuff. I LOVE hot chocolate. And with spring coming, I’ve got a limited number of weeks before I have to drink it in front of a fan.
European drinking chocolate is normally made with water – It was us Americans who wanted more fat and started adding milk/cream. When using milk, the fats sometimes don’t play well with the cocoa fat (cocoa butter). If you are useing higher quality chocolate, you’ll find this more and more.
A lot of time people buy cocoa power marketed as ‘drinking chocolate’, like at Trader Joe’s when all it is is hot cocoa. Drinking chocolate, like the TCHO, has the cocoa butter in it.
I have seen this: “San Francisco’s only bean-to-confection chocolate factory” before. I know Guittard does a bean to bar… but I guess a bar is not considered a confection to some.
If you are ever in Ashland Oregon, stop by my shop, Enchanted Florist, I make a thicker and more rich drinking chocolate than most. This morning I made a 61% with Lavender and the other is a 72% with a slight chipotle finish on your throat.
Thanks for the great article and chocolate on!
Mmm I love TCHO’s whole approach to making chocolate I wonder how it compares to Cabaret’s brewed chocolate…
Brandon: You are correct that the wonderful Guittard chocolate company does indeed make chocolate from bean to confection. But technically, Guittard is located in South San Francisco.