Semi-Sweet Saturdays at Lake Champlain Chocolate

Walking into Lake Champlain Chocolates is like entering the more sophisticated version of Willy Wonka’s candy factory, especially on Saturdays — free chocolate tasting day! Dozens flocked to the store to enjoy the delights offered by the company this weekend, nobody leaving without happily sampling the array of offerings.

While Lake Champlain Chocolates’ Pine Street location offers the tastings every week, they do not seem to have gotten old for either the staff or the tasters. The workers running the event were equally attentive with each new crowd of people, welcoming them with a smile and leading them through the offerings and activities of the day.

Instead of simply handing out free chocolate, Lake Champlain Chocolate has decided to make their tastings into an event by allowing guests to immerse themselves in the art of chocolate making. First, guests are invited to spoon four different types of chocolate chips onto their tasting plates, being reminded by colorful signs and supervising staff to notice the visual differences in each sample, including color, size, and even visual texture. The company then provided a small worksheet to fill out with educated guesses on which chocolate corresponded with each individual flavor profile. The flavor profiles were obviously simplified to allow for everyone to participate, but still included interesting tastes such as “lactic sour,” “earthy,” and “bitter”. The worksheet made sure to include a note that “A flavor profile consists of words used to describe how…