Review of World of Chocolate Museum & Cafe

My Florida coffee adventure was over all a total flop. I only got to go to one real coffee shop and it wasn't the best. Later in the day, our group was planning on going to World Chocolate Museum (http://www.wocorlando.com/). I thought that was strange, but what the heck, I was having fun with the family. It was a surprisingly good time. Coffee and chocolate have a lot in common.




We were the first to arrive at the Museum so I got to spend a little more time to inspect their wares. I was just recently introduced to the world of fancy chocolate. I was first instructed how to taste it during a wine tasting at Monticello, VA. I never knew chocolate had so many nuances. Then I went to Coffee Con and TCHO Chocolate was there. I may have snagged a few extra samples...then had my wife snag a few extra samples...then circled around the room and took my hat off, hoping they wouldn't recognize me taking more samples...any who... It was from them that I learned chocolate was influenced by the different regions it was grown in.

The shop in the front of the museum had a pretty good selection of different chocolates. I couldn't bring myself to spend $11 on a chocolate bar, but I did appreciate the pretty packaging. The little chocolates behind the glass were like works of art.

Since we were there early, I decided to treat my wife and I to a wine and chocolate pairing. The server brought out a neat little tray that assigned a specific chocolate to the wine. The server went over each wine and its profile as well as how to taste it with the chocolates. It was a wonderful presentation. (I just don't understand why I can't find presentations like that in the coffee world.) It was interesting to try wine with chocolate, but I wasn't particularly blown away by the experience. I did really like some of the wine though.


We capped it off with a doppio macchiato. The cafe served LavAzza. It is my general opinion that people serve LavAzza coffee so they can say they serve, "Italian Espresso." I have not been impressed by it at all.

On to the interesting part!

We finally started the museum tour. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and fairly entertaining. Right off the bat I started to see similarities between coffee and chocolate. The coffee belt is the same as the chocolate belt. Their flavors are determined by the region, type and processing. It has an interesting path across the world (chocolate seemed to really start in South America vs Ethiopia/Indonesia). I love the way chocolate got better through time as people made inventions and other discoveries that bring a small product to the entire world like it is. All I could think of was, "I've heard this story before."

Overall, if you can get the Groupon, like we did, then the museum tour is a lot of fun. The coffee isn't spectacular, but I may be the only weirdo going to a chocolate museum to drink coffee.