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Category: Chocolatiers and Shops [Edit]
914 Heinz AveWe must of been one of the last groups through the FREE 1 hour factory tour before it was discontinued in January. So Sad...
My favorite variety of chocolate was the Milk, something Scharffen Berger just began to produce due to public demand. Even though we didn't see a river of chocolate or any umpa lumpas we still had a great time.
Tasty Tip: There is a retail shop and cafe on site and the breakfast & desserts looked good.
My family and I took a tour of the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Factory while we were in Berkeley. It's safe to say that it was one of the highlights of our visit to the bay area.
The highly informative presentation which kicked off the tour was fun and entertaining and samples of various chocolates were passed around. For those enthusiasts and appreciators of motorcycles I will now explain several of the Scharffen Berger chocolates in easily understood comparisons:
Hershey's Milk Chocolate = 1998 Buick Century (taste buds driving grandma's car)
Hershey's Special Dark = 1999 Ford Crown Vic (taste buds driving grandad's car)
Cacao Milk Chocolate 41% Cacao = Tricked-out Vespa (taste buds lovin' life)
Nibby Bar 62% Cocoa Semi Sweet with bits of roasted cocoa bean (nibs) = Harley-Davidson Low Rider (taste buds rumbled)
Bittersweet 70% Cacao = Moto Guzzi Monster (taste buds rattled)
Extra Dark 80% Cacao = Suzuki Hayabusa (taste buds smoked)
Mocha Bar 62% Cacao with Sumatran coffee beans ground in = Vincent Black Lightning (desert wind blows over taste buds as they cruise down ribbon of highway, wind in hair)
In short chocolate aficionado's, you will love this place and like me, find yourself searching out Scharffen Berger Chocolates wherever you are.
AZ residents, AJ's carries a good selection...
Here's what happens when a corporation takes over a beloved local favorite.
http://www.sfgate.com/...
I'm sure Hershey's will try to keep the integrity and quality people have come to expect from Schaffren Berger Chocolate but if they don't, I wouldn't be too surprised.
Now, I understand the financial justifications for the closure, but there's something intrinsically special about chocolate from a place you call home.
As with the other business closings (in this case facility), I hope there will be a big warehouse sale with such spectacular savings that I can purchase enough discount chocolate to melt and bathe in (aka chocolate covered fantasy # 315).
A chocolate tour? Free samples? Sure. Why not?
I just wish I had field trips to this place as a…
Read more »
Stopped by when I drove by. Super nice people reasonable prices. Much better than "CHARLES" down the street. Try this place before they closed up shoppe . Hershey the GREEDY bastards. If you have noticed. You are paying the same if not more BUTTTTTT the candy bars is getting 'SMALLER".
Check out the weight on the packaging. The thieves.
I'm super bummed that Hershey is shutting this plant down. It just seems criminal.
http://www.yelp.com/to...
It had long been a dream of mine to tour this chocolate factory. The husband and I finally lived… Read more »
Ah.....chocolate. Many cultures and many women swear it's the food of the gods. Scientists keep finding more and more health conscious reasons to indulge (endorphin releases, phenlethylemine production, flavonoids to protect your arteries, improved brain function). Whether you drink it or eat it, chocolate holds a special place in many people's lives.
Well, I work in the chocolate industry and I had to come here for work related purposes. The first aspect I noticed was the smell. Cocoa fills the air. This is especially notable because I CAN'T SMELL chocolate 99.99% of the time. It's a sad fact. Due to my job, I am constantly surrounded by the sugary brown stuff and therefore can't smell it. But here I could! I learned that an overwhelming amount of cocoa in the air smells like bitter espresso to me. Mmmm....espresso. While you are waiting for your tour in the lobby, look to your left near the stairs. There's a hot thermos filled with cocoa/ drinking chocolate with small cups to taste it.
Ok well, I had to sign up for the tour online and took John H. with me. I got my confirmation within 2 hours of making the reservation. You can also call in a reservation or show up, cross your fingers and hope for the best. As a member of this industry, I was duly impressed with the tour. The first part is a comprehensive overview of the history of Scharffen Berger and how the chocolate is made from farm to store. The lesson is dotted with photos and samples, from smelling the beans to tasting some of their confections. It's a good lecture and I'd actually recommended it to other folks in this business; they go in depth on topics like "blooming" and "butter fat separation" better than most employee manuals. I also give credit to our guide because she was newer and did a great job maintaining both her continuity and her enthusiasm of the lecture.
The second part of the tour is a quick jaunt through the factory itself. Yes, you have to wear a silly paper hair net but it's worth it. Considering that most chocolate factories can't/ won't give tours regularly, this is impressive. (The insurance to do this is mind boggling.). One can see all parts of the process in action. Sorry, there are no Oompa Loompas but plenty of chocolatey good stuff and conveyer belts. You can take oodles of pictures of the machines and your friends looking doofy, which is also a plus.
The last part of the tour takes you back to the retail store. Not only do they sell Scharffen Berger here, but they also sell sister companies Joesph Schmidt and an organic brand based out of Southern Oregon. All are owned by Hershey's but don't you worry, the candy is not to be compromised. In fact, Hershey's created a whole new branch for these three companies named the Artisian Confection Collection. Super cool.
The whole experience takes an hour and is a good way to spend an afternoon with the family, a date, out of towners and kids past say the age of 8 (where they can sit still for 20 minutes without having to be shushed 900 times). Best of all its free! Right by the new Berkeley Bowl on Heinz and definitely worth a little bit of your time.
If you can't solve a problem it's because you're playing by the rules
Dark chocolate seems to elevate my mood and gives me a burst of energy. I usually eat some in the afternoon when my energy level wanes and I need a shot of something to get me through the rest of the day.
Chocolate's been around a long time. The Mayans took chocolate very seriously. They drank it, primarily, by grinding cacao beans into a paste and then mixing it with hot water and spices. They used vanilla, chili peppers, annatto, allspice, honey, maguey sap, sapote, flower petals, etc., as flavoring.
Dark chocolate is an anti-oxidant and, therefore, provides some health benefits. Some of the potential health benefits of dark chocolate include:
High ORAC value
High polyphenol content
Prevents blood clotting
Reduces cardiovascular disease
Anti-Alzheimer's component
(proanthocyanidin: flavonoid in chocolate protects brain tissue)
Chocolate also contains some natural chemicals that can be helpful
Caffeine
Theobromine
Serotonin
Tryptamine
Phenylethylamine
Anandamide
It's the caffeine and theobromine that provide the shot of energy. Serotonin and tryptophan are neurotransmitters that help regulate mood in the brain. Phenylethylamine (PEA) is a powerful amphetamine cousin that triggers the release of natural opiates in the brain that can bring on feelings of ecstasy. I guess dark chocolate is a cheaper, less intense, legal version of cocaine without the nosebleeds, heart palpitations, and paranoia.
My interest in chocolate took me to Scharffen Bergen Chocolate Factory in Berkeley, California. They offer a public tour of their facility, which is an hour long and is in two parts:
The first part of the tour includes a presentation about the history of cacao, how and where cacao is grown and processed, the history of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, and a tasting of Scharffen Berger chocolates. They also set aside some time for questions and answers.
The second part of the program is a brief walking tour of our factory.
The public tour is really well done. Scharffen Berger is not my favorite dark chocolate. But, it was definitely fun learning first-hand how the chocolate is made. If you can't make it to the public tour, check out a virtual tour of the facility through the following URL:
http://www.scharffenbe...
Boo hoo, 1/28/09 the Hershey company just announced plans to close down both Scharffen Berger's locations. They haven't set a date yet as to when they would close but maybe I can sneak in one more free tour....
Here's the article.
http://www.sfgate.com/...
This stuff is like expensive crack, so this is what you need to do.
Reserve your spot online for the free tour. Smuggle in a freezer size Ziploc bag in your purse. Sit in the back during the presentation and when they pass around the free samples, casually slip the plate full of chocolate into your Ziploc. Go home and stuff your face full of delicious chocolate.
The tour was great and it was really interesting to learn about the chocolate making process. I was disappointed to find out that the factory machines don't run during the weekend, but it's still definitely worth the visit.
I think their generous chocolate samples are a clever ploy to get you to spend lots of money buying their chocolate. Because now I can't resist picking up a bar of Scharffen Berger every time I go grocery shopping.
Ok, you had more to drink last night than you've had in your entire life. You're experiencing the worst hangover. What to do?
Head to Berkeley for the Sharffen Berger Chocolate tour? Maybe not.
Roasting cacao smells like vomit. I wish someone had told me. Cuz when I smell vomit...
3 days later, when my hangover finally subsided, I used some cocoa powder that I picked on the tour to make the best cup of cocoa I've ever had in my life. The powder is totally snorting grade.
The only way to do justice to their hot chocolate is to write an entire opera about it.
This humble little post on Yelp certainly doesn't do it justice.
LA LA LA LA LA LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
What's not to enjoy? Free tour with a sampling of their chocolates. A knowledgable staff instilling the wisdom of how chocolate is made and then a stroll thru their facilities. I also got to wear a hair net ... which is now in my purse in case I ever want to whip it out for those dull meetings.
Gift shop has a great selection of artisan chocolates especially for the dark chocolate lover. They've got a variety of nicely prepackaged gift sets for those who are suckers for packaging.
But be warned, the gift shop smells ... almost acidic. You can definitely smell the chocolate, but more of a vinegar store room with notes of cacoa than Julia Child's kitchen with brownies in the oven.
Great chocolate. They do it right!
They have special chocolate buyers go to the best growers around the world. And they buy beans. The best beans.
So Californian ... too bad they sold out to the big boys. But they are still producing chocolate like it should be. Pure goodness and good for you.
5 stars for the best dark chocolate made in the USA. The tour is informative and it is a great way to learn how it is made.
My husband once spent $50 on Sharffen Berger chocolate to make my birthday cake. It was amazing ... it fed about 30 people and we all still rave about that cake with dark chocolate ganache. Perfection. It could not have been better!
We never make the tour.
We always have to walk by the cafe, and any desire to see how chocolate is made is weak to begin with. So we pretty much see some big, decadent slice of something delicious and rotten for us in the display, and forget about getting educated.
The patio out front is shaded and pleasant.
Scharffen Berger is awesome. My girlfriend and I took the factory tour last weekend, and we had a great time. I had no idea the company was such a small operation -- only been around for 11 years, and our tour guide knew all the staff by first name!
I'd highly recommend the tour to anyone -- especially it would be a great place to take out of town guests. They teach you to taste the chocolate like it's wine. I didn't realize that it comes from a fruit and therefore picks up the flavors from the soil the same way a grape would.
Dark chocolate is in these days -- the darker the better -- and no one does it better than Scharffen Berger. The prices are a little shocking, but they're understandable once you hear about the quality of their chocolate-making process. Besides, the tour is free!
I tried alot of chocolates, almost every single brand and type (milk and dark) you can find in wholefoods, trader joes, local shops, belgium shops, but I am only crazy about two brand of chocolate, Leonidas and Scharffen Berger. Let's put it that way, last time Scharffen berger sell their 4pk for $10 at costco, I bought uh..... about 150 dollars of chocolate and now I am down to my last pack.
Scharffen berfer's milk chocolate is the best. It is much less sweet than most of the milk chocolate out there. With 40% of coco it is not as bitter as dark chocolate and yet not as milky as milk chocolate. It has a very good balance between coco, sweetness, and milk. I have walked down the street in belgium, bought one piece of plain milk chocolate bar from each of the shop I walked into (many many many of shops). I did not find one single bar beats the scharffen berger milk chocolate bar. Leonidas chocolate truffle is in a different category, so it doesn't count. There is one store in beligium, I think it is called chocolate factory has a milk chocolate bar with 46% coco came pretty close.
Scharffen berger's dark chocolate is not the best out there. A little too ..... uh... nutty for me, not very smooth. Taste too much like tobacco.....
The milk chocolate with almond and sea salt ..... uh..... let's not talk about it.
Let's come back and talk about its milk chocolate bar. But by far, I have eaten more scharffen berger chocolate than any of other chocolate combined(milk, dark, truffles). I am an official scharffen berger addict. I admit, I cannot imagine a life without scharffen berger already.
Can I give it a six star? Leonidas chocolate truffle is in a different category, so it doesn't count.
Gotta love Scharffen Berger. Such a fun place to buy chocolate. Yes, Valrhona and other companies may cost more - but this domestic cocoa bliss is affordable and very good quality for both eating and baking.
Love it!
Try the hot chocolate. It cuts right through the fog! So yummy.
Last week, I had a hint what it felt to be Charlie from the Chocalate Factory. After a delightful tour of the Takara sake factor, my buddies and I skipped over to Scharffenberger, a premium chocolate maker. One step into the factory, I can smell the nutty flavors floating in the air.
The one hour tour is free and is followed by chocolate samples. After traveling to Belgium a few years ago, I can differentiate great chocolate from the bad. Most commercial chocolate found at the local convenient stores has a cocoa level around 10%.
The lowest Scharffenberger chocolate starts at 40% so the quality is high. Our energetic blonde tour guide talks more in details about the history of chocolate. A must try is the chocolate with nibs, with are shattered bits of cocoa. Instead of using Rice Krispies as crunch enhancers, the nibs provide a bitter crunch.
This place stinks of cacao all over. To some of you it may invoke a high, but it is stronger than dark chocolate or roasted coffee beans, has a bitter nutty sour and kinda like WTF pungent scent. Even the restrooms by Cafe Cacao next door reeks of it, which is kind of odd when you are taking a slash, a whizz, or a dump, and the scent of raw chocolato is in the air. Surely Willie Wonka is not sitting on the throne nearby and fanning his flames.
THE TOUR
The tours of the factory need to be made in advance and are good for team building exercises and even children of school age. I would caution against going when the weather is warm, as the room gets stuffy inside where you spend a good part of your time.
Our guide was very knowledgeable and had been working there on and off for 3 years. You basically get a history lesson of the company, from the story of its humble beginnings with two good friends, up and all the way past the Hershey Corporation purchase. Apparently the two original founders still show up in the factory quite often and if you are lucky you may see them on one of the tours. You also get shown visual aids, and some actual samples of the materials from the manufacturing process (a few are tastable and some are not edible), including tasting samples of their 3 standard chocolate bars. The most interesting sample (for scent only) are these mini vanilla sticks from Madagascar, that are purportedly in the four digit range for a small bundle. That stuff smelled so good, I thought it was better than the cacao and chocolate!
SB is the only known chocolate manufacturer that allows picture taking inside their manufacturing facility. If you've been reading a lot of Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, or saw Gene Wilder's version of the big screen flick, don't bother associating WW with SB. You'll be in for a massive disappointment. Before you venture into the processing grounds, you will be given ear protection (like the kinds at construction sites) and a hairnet. For some it is not too loud inside, but it can get a bit annoying.
THE GIFT $HOP
Two words, not cheap! There are a few chocolate bars and a few other things arguably not available at your local Peet's, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Target (yup, soon to be a purveyor of cacao porn) and the ilk, such as the limited edition blending of beans from the Carribean, or maybe a Got Cacao t-shirt for an infant. Unless you are a nut for this sort of thing, you might enjoy it more here.
The most unusual thing? Scharffen Berger lipstick with cacao butter and other ingredients. Let's see, the Yelpstick is free, but a SB stick of the same diameter and girth will run you $5 a pop. Go figure.
EDIT: I know many of you are uttering comments of BOO and HI$$$$$$$$$ at Hershey buying Scharffen Berger. In the words of the tour guide, Hershey saw an opportunity to aquire a dark choclate specialist and SB was supposedly one of 12 in North America doing it. Hershey wanted to go after the gourmet dark chocolate market, and since they had no capability of doing dark chocolate in house, they went after SB. Even if SB is now under a larger parent company, they still have the same number of employees, and the manufacturing process (from selecting beans to finished product) has not changed.
Now, I'm definitely a chocolate gal, so this was place to be!
Free tour at a chocolate factory with numerous samples? COUNT ME IN!
The hour long tour was really interesting. We actually got to walk throughout the factory inside, which was really fun including having to wear these hair nets and sharing a couple of chuckles looking around the room. The smell of chocolate = unbearably sweet.. in a good way!
Not only do you learn about how chocolate are made, but how many different types of cocoa beans are used, etc. You also get to sneak a couple of them in your purses for a souvenir.
Their chocolate is really delicious, because they're made from special beans and have a fraction amount of sugar added compared to all the other chocolatiers. My favorite is the coffee one!!
The tour is lots of fun. Perfect for families!
Stopped by the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Cafe today around 3:20 pm. Thought Jen L. and I could enjoy a hot chocolate and a pastry, but we were rudely turned away, saying that they were closed. The sign on the door said coffee & pastries Sat 11-4...it wasn't even 4 yet! And if you were closed then turn the sign on the door to say closed and lock it!
I like Scharffen Berger Chocolates, but now I don't want to buy it anymore!
Sooooo much fun. I still can't believe their tour of the chocolate factory is free. Being walked through the whole process of creating chocolate and sampling the product at every step of the way was thoroughly interesting. It's a pity the factory doesn't run during the weekends, so I've never been able to watch the bars actually get made. If you can, go during the weekdays.
The Scharffen Berger factory tour is always one of the things I do with any out-of-town visitors that visit the Bay Area. The white hairnets make for great Laverne & Shirley-style pictures, hur hur.
+1 star for free tours (with online sign ups!) and samples
+1 star for us being the only 2 people on the tour on a sunday afternoon and them not canceling it
+2 stars for the cool guide who allowed us to compare the scents of different cacao beans from the bins on the floor
-1 star for the cafe having weird hours
-1 star for the fact that the attached shop prices things more expensive than elephant pharmacy or andronicos
So Scharffen Berger Chocolate does a free tour of the factory, accompanied by small samples.
**I highly recommend you go online and book reservations if you plan on going on a weekend****
We booked reservations for 1:30 on Sat afternoon. Everything after that was already full. But we happened to get there early and squeezed into the 12:30 tour instead even though it was full as well.
I use the term "tour" lightly because they don't really offer much of a tour of the factory. You spend most of your time, 45 minutes maybe, sitting in a room while a guide talks about Scharffen Berger chocolate - the history, what it's like - as well as how chocolate is made. You get samples of different chocolates. Examples of the cacao in different stages of processing get passed around. Pretty informative.
Then for the last 10 minutes you get to walk through the factory. No explanation or reiteration of the machines or process is provided. You're just left to oggle everything and figure it out.
So while I really liked the information presented, it was a pretty subpar tour.
***PS Don't expect a bargain on the chocolate here just because it's at the factory. It's at or above the price at any decent grocers.***
FOOD:
-Type: Free samples of the chocolate
-Variety: lets you sample a variety of the chocolate which were all excellent in my opinion (I'm a fan of very dark chocolate, even their 40% cacao was great!). The store offers a large variety of flavors, local ice cream, tourist gifts.
-Quality: excellent
-Quantity: little, they are free samples after all
-Price: $$$$ because it's so fancy but it won't break the wallet but this isn't a place you come back often, it's more of a once in a while thing.
SERVICE:
-Employees: quick and efficient, helpful, full of smiles, knowledgeable
-Timeliness: quick
ENVIRONMENT:
-Location: industrial area, tucked in the back
-Ambience: comfortable, casual, clean, quiet
-Decor: cafe was trendy. The factory was...a factory...
-Cleanliness: very clean
OVERALL: Great for chocolate lovers to learn more about dark chocolate.
-Would attend again? It's a one time thing. If you don't like learning the history of chocolate or getting small samples of chocolate then don't go. Otherwise, do go. It's a quick little tour.
You could go here and take the tour. Or you could buy an assortment of chocolates from Godiva, Teuscher, Cocoa Bella, XOX, and Joseph Schmidt, pick up a few bottles of big red wines, and rent Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. My vote goes the way of option number 2. But this is because when sitting classroom-style and listening to someone talk for around 40 minutes (even if they are talking about chocolate), all I hear is "bla-bla-bla-bla-chocolate-bla-bla-melted-bla-bla- bla-nibs-bla-bla-bla...and so on and so forth...
On this tour, I learned that I don't really care how chocolate gets from the tree to my belly as long as it gets there and it's delicious and on the pricey side. I also learned that I do not like drafty factories or industrial machinery, no matter how pretty the building they are housed in and no matter what kind of delicious confections they produce. It's just me. I'd rather fantasize about Charlie and his adventures with that crazy Wonka man than get out of my pajamas and make the trek over the dreaded Bay Bridge. Plus, they frown upon drinking alcoholic beverages during the "tour".
If you are a chocolate lover and interested in the production of said delicacy, this is totally the thing for you. Our tour guide, Robin, was great and of course it is not Scharffen Berger's fault that I have the attention span of a common house fly and that the smell of chocolate gets me jonesing for a big glass of cab. We mostly went because friends were interested and we all had fun together. That is what counts. But I'm pretty sure that next Sunday will find us in our PJ's singing along with the oompa-loompas, tipsy by 1 p.m., faces covered in melted chocolate. That's just more how I roll.
Hershey is evil and makes me cry! RIP Sharffen B. factory.
Not only is the chocolate delicious and wrapped nicely in muted orange, blue, yellow, and green… Read more »
We scheduled a private tour for yesterday that was fabulous.
Our tour guide, Sinclair, was on his game, quick, funny, a good judge of his audience, with very viable stage presence. He really made the tour and event. Scharffen Berger did real good by hiring him.
Sorry this review is so short; I've still got a chocolate hangover (When Sinclair wasn't looking, I did a "Grandma Ettie" and shoved all the left-over chocolate samples in my purse)....
Wow. WOW WOW WOW. Not only amazing chocolate, but the only chocolate factory in the country that allows cameras in on tours (from what we were told). Chris and I had a total blast here, enjoying the explanations from our entertaining tour guide, and tasting some of the most incredible chocolate produced right here in the Bay Area! No matter that they are actually owned by Hershey, for it is because that parent company that allowed them to not only continue to create the great confections from roasting the cacao beans to the shiny completed treats, but also open up another factory using the same old-world machinery in another factory in New York State.
After a short talk and tasting during the approximately one hour tour, each guest is given a fashionable, protective hat (and for the facial hair-endowed, even more special protective gear) to don during the walk through the factory. Surprisingly small for the volume Scharffen Berger cranks out, but more surprising is the quality for the large batches.
While I don't consider myself a complete connoisseur of fine chocolates, I know enough to tell and appreciate such a confection. Very nice to find out the milk chocolates from this fine establishment actually has a higher cacao content then many a "dark chocolate" (of course per USDA standards). My favorite? How dare you make me pick!
Oh, and there's a fine cafe around the corner that we'll have to try at some point, especially for brunch with the banana-chocolate pancakes. mmmm hungry already! What a way to celebrate three months with Chris!
I took my friends along to take this tour. We were a few minutes late and were still invited by the host.
The host (whose name I didn't catch) was very entertaining. You could tell he was really into what he was saying and also had pride in his occupation.
As a chocolate enthusiast and hardcore lover, I was informed on how chocolate is grown, made, and manufactured. It was a very interesting tour and was excited to do it.
We also got some free pieces of chocolate so you can't beat that. We went into the factory and surprisingly, it wasn't that huge yet they make so much chocolate in that small little place.
I was hoping that the machines were working that day (Saturday) but it wasn't. I would have jumped into the chocolate mixer like from Willy Wonka. I could dream can't I?
Oh and we also got to wear these awesome hairnets, too bad I can't grow facial hair since I wanted one for the face to look like a ninja. Oh well.
Overall, fantastic place, great tour, and FREE pieces of good-ass chocolate!
Went here on a Sunday looking for something inexpensive but fun. The tour is free and during the winter holidays as we went, the entire factory is closed down for 3 weeks so call ahead to confirm.
Weekends the factory is closed so you will not get to see them in actual production but still walk the line. Our tour guide was the new manager of the shared store and was very excited and jittery from all the chocolate she's exposed to (and she admitted which was kind of funny). You get to sample almost all the chocolate they make there and understand the process behind making chocolate.
It's great for couples/adults, kids might get a little lost in translation from all the verbage but will have fun with the samples. Scharffen-berger chocolate is not exactly my cup of tea but I give it up to them for their tours. The cafe attached I heard is supposed to be really good but they closed early on us even when we just offered to get something to go.
Their attached store sells all Scharffen Berger related paraphernalia for anyone interested in gift ideas.
I went here for a tour this past weekend for my friend's birthday. We had a great time! The tour is very informative, and the tour guide was great! He was knowledgeable and funny. The factory tour itself wasn't too long, but the first part of the tour, where you're sitting in a room (classroom-style) learning about the chocolate making process was great! The tour guide passed around samples of three different types of chocolate (bittersweet, semi-sweet, and milk), and explained IN DETAIL where the chocolate comes from, how it's made, and how it differs from other chocolate brands. After the tour, we spent some time in the gift shop, which has lots of chocolate, and a few gifty items. The chocolate is super-expensive, but totally worth it.
I give the tour, the factory, and the gift shop 5 stars! :)
I think the tour is quite informative, and it is funny to laugh at your friends in the ridiculous white paper hair caps you have to wear, as it is equally fun for them to laugh at you. However, if you are going to place me inside a facility that manufactures some tasty chocolate, the old fashioned way, for a full hour you best give me more than 3 small samples of chocolate. Did you really think we all come JUST for the education?
The wife made reservations for the free tour offered at the Scharffen Berger factory. "SWEET," I thought. Sorry, bad pun but I had a pretty good idea of what to expect when going to a chocolate factory. Heavy machinery, free samples, chocolate waterfalls, Oompaloompas. I'm a big fan of all these things.
The first thing I noticed when getting there is the sweet and pervasive aroma of chocolate. Seriously, they should make air fresheners, cleaning products and perfumes to smell like chocolate. It's fucking HOT. Our tour guide was a very excitable bespectacled young lady who seemed to be under the influence of massive doses of chocolate. That's cool, I find glasses and dorkiness to be charming. (I'm still waiting for myopia to set in on the wife. She's already got the dorkiness down. BOOYAH!)
We were led to a room where we were given a detailed history of Scharffen Berger and the chocolate making process. Interspersed in the lecture were samples of chocolate. If only high school were like this I may have tried harder to remain conscious. The factory itself is quite small and since it was a Sunday the machines were not in operation. So the actual factory tour part was relatively brief and we ended our tour in the gift shop, where, after talking about chocolate and being teased with samples, we were compelled to buy a $7 bar of single origin limited batch chocolate.
There's also an adjoining restaurant called "Cafe Cacao" and while I didn't sample the food they do have the good taste to serve Peet's coffee.
Sadly, there were no Oompaloompas. Something about immigration laws. Fuck La Migra!
A perfect way to spend a rainy saturday afternoon for zero money. The tour lasts a little over an hour and is very informative. I really dig pointless facts, for whatever reason, and I learned a lot about chocolate.
If your in town and have the time, go for it, if your out of town... make the trip. plenty of free taste testers.
learn to be a chocolate snob
totally free
also play it safe, call ahead, get reservation
fellas, perfect free date.
also if you want to continue free tasting, make your way down to stone house olive oil, for olive oil tasting.
-t
The tour is awesome and very informative! The chocolate is divine. Quick go check it out before those bastards at Hershey shut it down in the next few months.
A MUST-SEE TOUR. The amazing thing about Scharffen Berger is that they are one of the only places in the world where they will show you how they make chocolate from bean to bar. I'm not exaggerating -- most chocolate makers are extremely secretive about their equipment and processes.
Plus the chocolate -- which you'll get to sample on the tour -- is very good, though due to its anisey undertones I like it more for baking than for eating straight. Their milk chocolate will be a revelation if all you know is Hershey's, or even the usual Swiss/Belgian crap.
By the way, the cacao nibs ROCK. They go great in ice cream too.
Note that most of the common items in the gift shop are more expensive than what you could buy at retail stores in the area like Andronico's. However, there are a few unusual things that you can't find elsewhere, such as varietals and large baking bars.
Sadly, the gift shop has become much less interesting since Scharffen Berger was acquired by Hershey's. The shop used to have a wide selection of books, but now mostly shills SB product, including the inferior products of Dagoba and Joseph Schmidt (also owned by Hershey's).
LOVED THE TOUR!! It was packed on a Saturday at 11:30am and there were probably around 30 people on the tour. I was originally signed up for the 12:30pm but I got there early and they were glad to switch me to the earlier time.
DANNY IS THE BEST TOUR GUIDE! He was very funny and charming and made our entire experience quite enjoyable. In the beginning, you have to sit and listen to the history of Scharffen Berger and how their chocolate came to be. It takes about 30 minutes or so but it went by pretty fast. We got to taste three kinds of chocolate during that time: bittersweet, semisweet & milk (my favorite).
Interesting Facts:
-their milk chocolate contains less sugar than their dark chocolates; the milk in the milk chocolate is where most of the creaminess/sweetness comes from
-there needs to be a minimum of 34% cacao in order for the chocolate to be considered dark
-Scharffen Berger also sells Joseph Schmidt & Dagoba chocolates
-Scharffen Berger is owned by Hershey's
The actual walking part of the tour doesn't last very long because the factory isn't that big. They make you wear funny looking hair nets & beard nets to prevent any extras from falling into the chocolate. The best part about all this... it's FREE!
To truly enjoy a fine piece of chocolate you should put a small piece in your mouth and roll it around on your tongue, gently sucking it as it melts and coats the entirety of your soul. You savor it, pay attention to each of its flavors, textures, and characteristics. You are thoughtful about it. You allow it to consume you as you consume it, and then you thank god for its very existence and appreciate that you are given the opportunity to enjoy and love the incredible nectar of the gods. Kinda how you should enjoy and treat a truly beautiful example of an exceptional woman.
In this day and age we are consumed with speed and convenience. We forget how to really appreciate life, not to mention a good piece of complex chocolate. We rarely eat just an oz. of chocolate in a minute and a half. Usually we cram a cheap candy bar in our mouths in a matter of seconds while we sit in our cars, racing off to god knows where to do god know what.
The Scharffen Berger Factory Tour reminded us, no, allowed us to take the time to absolutely taste their chocolate. Now, I have had their products many times having spent a third of my life, maybe more, working with pastry, but I have never been given permission to fully understand and appreciate it.
Our tour guide, a spunky nerd of sorts, explained that there are 50 something flavor profiles in an extremely fine wine and two hundred something flavor profiles in a fine piece of chocolate. I loved hearing about the history of the company and the brief overview of the history of chocolate in general. I loved the samples and most of all I loved that it was free, meaning it's available to anyone. No exclusivity, or mystery here. They are happy to share as much with as many people who are willing to investigate learning more about them.
It was a fabulous experienced and I highly recommend that you take the time to slow down and have an unforgettable romance with an amazing piece of extraordinary chocolate.
I was DUPED! I don't mean cloned or copied or doubled. I mean TRICKED, SWINDLED...CONNED!
I never liked DARK chocolate.
Never cared for it.
Never touched it.
Never bought it.
Never thought i would EVER like it.
BUT NOW, after going through the FREE Scharffen Berger chocolate tour, I SUDDENLY like the taste of dark chocolate melting on my palate. CONNED I'm tellin' ya. I was taught HOW TO eat dark chocolate. Whaatt? Yeah, that's what I said.
The short tour entails listening to a spiel on the cacao bean to chocolate story, whilst sampling a small selection of dark and milk chocolate. Myself, I'd like to see the lecture jazzed up with some PowerPoint and multimedia. And a Cacao Bean Mascot, but that's just me.
Next comes the donning of hair nets for a walk-through the production area. Look above you, see what the ceiling is made of? Brick. A brick ceiling. They don't make them like they use to.
There aren't any production workers on a Sunday. Check the place on another day if you want to see the assembly line in full motion. The tour ends at the gift shop where more chocolate samples are distributed.
The free tour is a nice treat to bay area living.
Neighborhood: Embarcadero
Category: Chocolatiers and Shops
Emeryville, CA
Category: Candy Stores
Neighborhood: North Berkeley
Category: Chocolatiers and Shops
Berkeley, CA
Category: Wineries
Burlingame, CA
Category: Chocolatiers and Shops
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