Chocolate is next on the list of things for food snobs to start taking way too seriously, and San Francisco-based startup Tcho is leading the charge.

Tcho, which just opened it's first store in the Embarcadero, sources their cocoa beans as carefully as any specialty coffee shop, and their unique flavors (fruity, nutty, citrus and just chocolate-y) are constantly being redeveloped. The store specializes in nibs--roasted cocao beans broken into small bits--and also offers treats like mango bites drenched in dark chocolate.

Tcho, which was started by the founder of Wired magazine, is also billed as a sort of a Web 2.0 chocolate company: You can give the chocolate makers your feedback via their website, letting them know which flavors you like and how they should be perfected.

Related Stories:
· Tcho [Official Site]
· Chocolate coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Tcho]]]> BS 2008-11-14T12:30:12-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/15/182347/452

Is Berlin the new Amsterdam? Well, hipster enclave Prenzlauer Berg might be.

German cops have shut down a candy store in the notorious neighborhood in Berlin after discovering the 23-year-old owner was peddling chocolates and lollipops laced with magic mushrooms and marijuana.

"In the shop we found 120 pieces of magic mushroom chocolate and countless cannabis lollipops," said police, who confiscated around 70 sachets containing various drugs, about 20 marijuana joints, a range of pills and some jars of drug-laced honey

Sorry, we still haven't been able to dig up the address of the shuttered sweets shop!

Related Stories:
· Hallucinogenic Chocolates Doom Berlin Sweets Shop [Reuters]
· Drug Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: EuroMagic]]]> BS 2008-09-16T11:00:29-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/1/6598/34659

Jaunted's Amanda Kendle just got back from Melbourne. This week: Read all about it.

Melbourne might have great cakes, but it's got even better chocolate. With half a dozen excellent chocolatiers across the city center, it's hard to choose but once you've tried the chocolate mousse at Koko Black you'll be completely converted.

Koko has several locations across Melbourne and a store in Canberra now, too, but the sweetest shop is in the Royal Arcade off Bourke Street.

Head upstairs and order a sit-down chocolate meal with a smooth and steamy hot chocolate, or just buy up a selection of incredible truffles and other assorted chocolates at the front counter on the ground floor. Or do both.

Related Stories:
· Koko Black [Official Site]
· When in Melbourne: Must Have Cakes at Brunetti [Jaunted]
· Polish Cuisine in Melbourne: Borsch, Vodka & Tears [Jaunted]]]> amandak 2008-08-01T09:45:02-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/5/14/84128/2921

We admit we don't know everything about every destination in the whole world, but we sure are surprised that we hadn't heard of the Chocolate Hills until now. They're found in Bohol in the Philippines and have hit the headlines because they're in the running to be one of the new Natural Wonders of the World.

But before you book your ticket, don't get too excited: They're not actually hills made of chocolate, as we'd hoped. Instead they are a weird set of over 1,200 cone-shaped hills, all of a similar size, and because the green grass that covers them turns brown during the dry season, they were named the Chocolate Hills.

Two of the chocolate hills have resorts on them, and at one there's a special viewing station which is part of the Chocolate Hills Complex. They've also got a hostel, swimming pool and a restaurant: Here's hoping their menu features lots of chocolate.

Related Stories:
· Chocolate Hills Back in Race [Cebu Daily News]
· Can You Afford A Natural Wonder? [Jaunted]

[Photo: crazyegg95]]]> amandak 2008-05-14T09:30:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/2/12/141011/381

Don't count on Sweet Walks' Luxury Chocolate Tour to help you burn off those Valentine's Day-related calories. This isn't one of those walking tours that involves long, punishing distances, though you might break a sweat being chased by perfume hawkers at Saks Fifth Avenue on a Saturday. But if you like chocolate and want to know where to find the really fancy, top-of-the-line goods, the Luxury Chocolate Tour is a splendid method of whiling away a Friday or Saturday afternoon in NYC.

Our fun and knowledgeable guide took us to five different European chocolate shops on the Upper East Side in two and a half hours. At each place we sampled chocolates (included in the price!) and learned about the history of the store and the process of chocolate making. These stores are so exclusive and relatively unknown that, as our guide said, 80 percent of tour-goers are locals. (Can't say that about those double-decker buses.)

Our favorites? The buttery-caramel centers of the Rigoletto chocolate at La Maison du Chocolat (30 Rockefeller Center) and the spicy hot cocoa and adorable cocoa-butter-painted chocolates at MarieBelle (762 Madison Avenue).

Related Stories:
· Sweet Walks [Official Site]
· Chocolate coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: chrisglass]]]> egw 2008-02-12T14:47:46-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/1/10/74054/2317

Our parents always threatened to send us away to Timbuktu when we were naughty as youngsters, so it took us a long time to accept this African town as a genuine tourism destination. But we're still not sure if we can believe that two British men recently drove from England to Timbuktu in a truck powered by chocolate.

Yet apparently it's true. Two Brits in their 30s recently drove the 2,600 mile trip to Mali in a Ford truck and a Land Cruiser, vehicles which they would then donate to a charity in Africa. They used a special form of biodiesel that was made from waste chocolate.

Waste chocolate? We thought all chocolate was good, but if it can be used to power cars, it's probably not what we want to eat. The two crazy Brits who made the chocolate-powered Timbuktu trip calculated they saved 15 tons of carbon emissions, and they've set themselves a new challenge: flying to China in an airplane fueled by garbage. When are these intrepid travelers going to get a real job?

Related Stories:
· Choc-Powered Trip to Timbuktu [Ananova]
· New 7 Wonders: Timbuktu Nominated [Jaunted]
· Africa Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: phxpma]]]> amandak 2008-01-10T09:05:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/8/3/54416/01386

Wow, we nearly missed this one, but just in time we can tell you about the Chocolate Rush in Bendigo, south-eastern Australia. The rush isn't meant to make it sound drug-related; it's a play on gold rush, since that's how the town of Bendigo came to be famous.

Anyways, the Chocolate Rush is on this weekend (August 4 and 5) and it sounds pretty high-brow: it aims to "educate, indulge and challenge your palate". There are workshops on making chocolatey desserts or handmade pralines, demonstrations by renowned chocolate masters and, of course, tons and tons of chocolate to try and buy. The grand finale is the Australian Chocolate Championships. We wanna marry the champion!

Related Stories:
· Rush to Bendigo's Choc Fest [Jaunted]
· Bendigo Hotels [HotelChatter]
· Venchi Chocolates Both Therapeutic and Delicious [Jaunted]

[Photo: Daniel Y. Go] ]]> amandak 2007-08-03T09:18:12-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/