Tag Archives: Dandelion chocolate

Dandelion Chocolate’s Bloom Is A Beaut

The makings of an artisan root beer float at Bloom cafe inside Dandelion Chocolate factory in San Francisco.

The makings of an artisan root beer float at Bloom cafe inside Dandelion Chocolate factory in San Francisco.

 

There are ladies who lunch.

And then there are ladies who chocolate.

Count me in the latter category. And from the looks of a recent weekday afternoon at Bloom Chocolate Salon, I am hardly alone.

The spectacular chocolate salon by San Francisco’s Dandelion Chocolate certainly provides plenty of eye candy. Melding industrial with a chic European aesthetic, it is a chocoholic’s Shangri-la come to sweet life.

Established in 2010 by techies Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring co-founded Plaxo, San Francisco’s only bean-to-bar chocolate factory expanded big-time in April — spending five years on construction to turn a 107-year-old mattress and printing factory into a chocolate factory, retail store, and chic dessert salon.

The historic warehouse.

The historic warehouse.

Customers filing in for coffee and pastries.

Customers filing in for coffee and pastries.

Enter the brick building, as I did recently when I was invited in as a guest of the cafe, and on your right is a store with shelves loaded with pottery, books, and Dandelion chocolate bars (with sample cups holding broken bar bits to try).

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‘Tis the Season for Chocolate

TCHO Drinking Chocolate makes for an exquisite cup of chocolate goodness.

TCHO Drinking Chocolate makes for an exquisite cup of chocolate goodness.

 

Really, what would the holiday season be without some fine chocolate?

Not nearly as sweetly satisfying, that’s for sure.

Here are some recent samples that I’ve enjoyed trying that would make ideal stocking-stuffers for the chocoholics in your life.

TCHO Drinking Chocolate Crumbles

They look like little dusty pebbles of chocolate, but what’s in this canister of TCHO Drinking Chocolate Crumbles holds the key to one of the most luxurious tasting cocoas around.

Made by San Francisco’s TCHO chocolate company, this product is made from cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, lecithin and vanilla bean. Just add a couple of tablespoons to an espresso cup of hot water, and stir. The result is an incredibly rich, deeply chocolatey drink that will make you swoon.

You can enjoy the drinking chocolate either hot or cold. You can even use it to make a chocolate sauce to top your favorite ice cream.

A 250g canister is $11.95.

Brazilian Brigadeiros

Brigadeiros are almost like the chocolate truffles of Brazil. No wedding, birthday party, convention or holiday in that country is complete without them.

Brigadeiro.me has brought that traditional sweet to San Francisco. The company makes them with butter, condensed milk and Belgian chocolate. Choose from an assortment of flavors including lemon zest, pistachio, vanilla cookies and coconut.

A beloved Brazilian sweet comes to San Francisco.

A beloved Brazilian sweet comes to San Francisco.

They are quite soft and creamy. Less dense than fudge, the texture is almost like that of a very thick mousse.

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