Chocolade Dromen Elite Event

First official Elite event and it was ah-​mazing.
Very informative for sure and a great introduction to Hotel Chocolat. Frankly, I never would have thought about shopping at a British chocolate company in the heart of Amsterdam. (Screams tourist trap doesn’t it?) Well… I was wrong and I will be back.
Chocolate like wine is complex and runs the range — and like wine — there’s a variety for everyone. Learned rather quickly that my taste in chocolate is very simple and my tolerance for chocolate is very low. Kind of like wine — hah!
The best part of the event was meeting the other elites. Such a wonderful community of friendly, genuine and downright funny people. It was great to have a face to the reviews and get a sense of the personality behind the words.

Yet another successful Flippie W. Production.
It’s like she took a sabbatical from an event management career to spread happiness around the little big city we call Amsterdam. 3 cheers to her and to her spirit. The world needs more awesomeness.
So, this is how the event went by — I arrived very early, and you know I am never early anywhere. Thanks, Obama. Anyway, we were all seated upstairs by little wooden tables for 2, furnished with wine glasses and the quintessential trendy Unilocal goggles. The hosts were wonderful. I casually skimmed through the other reviews to see if any ladies used enamoring words for them, but I’ll go ahead and say they were rather good looking (yes, I am in a good mood and gay pride is just around the corner).
We had intervals of more talking and less chocolate, but the end result was wonderful. Not to mention that it was so hot that weekend that my sweat even smelled of authentic 100% cocoa™. Good times were had by all, and Flippie won the IRL again.
Need I say more?

Had a good time here. Can’t believe how different chocolate from different origins could taste!
We really got to sample a lot and the guy that ran the talk seamed to know what he was talking about. I for sure learned some new things about chocolate.
Was also a nice surprise at the end to get a gift bag with Unilocal flair and more chocolate!
Was good to see everyone again (and meet some new people). I haven’t been able to make it to a Unilocal event in a while and this was a good «welcome back».

Such an amazing event! My first Elite event and boy was it a good one to start with.
I mean, who doesn’t love chocolate?! Anybody having doubts about the answer to this question is obviously a zombie and eats brains for a living.
Anyway, back to the event. Our lovely hosts Dennis and Joe were amazing, thanks so much guys! With me not being the chocolate addict in my household and being very picky about the quality of the chocolate I eat, this was a great place. And even though some of them tasted like manure (right ms. Friesland?) most of the chocolates tasted amazing! The quality was everything I ask for in my chocolates and it’s great to know that there are very little additives in the chocolate bars; great! With there also being less sugar in the chocolates here, it’s basically a superfood and should therefore be a staple in anyone’s diet. I may even allow my (diabetic) father to indulge in these chocolates every once in a while!
The tasting was also great because with the help of the tasting tree and other literature you really learn to understand the flavours in your bar of chocolate. (Really, who knew manure was one of them? Even though it wasn’t mentioned in the tree!) I thought it was great and will definitely be dissecting the flavours in the next piece of chocolate that I put into my mouth!
Overall it was a great experience. I loved the goodies from both Unilocal and Hotel Chocolat, thank you! And of course, I made a major chocolate haul from the store. Happy me!

That was a FANTASTIC Elite event! What a perfect way to discover a unique and luxurious little chocolate winkel in Amsterdam, by tasting — and buying — all of their dark, milky, fruity, filled and liquid chocolates. Mmmmmm-​mm!
And not only the tasting was fantastic, but the testing of cocoa butter body creams and hand lotions was a very nice bonus. The space upstairs is perfect for a small gathering — maybe a cocktail hour with chocolates, or a baby shower with chocolates, or a team outing for colleagues with chocolates, or … just a lovely, lazy Sunday afternoon with chocolates! Intimate, comfy and dreamy — with chocolates.
I normally wouldn’t spend much time in a chocolate store, asking questions about where the cocoa pods are grown and how the chocolate blends affect the taste of a chocolate bite — so it was perfect to have this presentation prepared for us and to walk us through the tasting. Thank you Unilocal and Flippie!

i had heard about the Chocolat Hotel but had never had the chance to check it out. Then there was a chocolate elite tasting here… what a perfect way to visit a store i’d never been to. I was initially impressed with the whole store design/​lay out and the café design upstairs (aptly colored browns with a modern touch). I ran just a bit late so i didn’t get a chance to even look at the chocolates in the store before going upstairs for the tasting. I have to say the first thing i zero’d in on was the HUGE tv screen in front of me with flashing visuals of their Hotel in St. Lucia. I sat there in a hypnotized state dreaming about being in this lush tropical setting.
Ok now onto the chocolate. We initially tasted an assortment of dark chocolates. I’m a HUGE fan of dark chocolate and i enjoyed all of them except for one (sorry forgot the name) that was maybe 80 or 90% dark but it had a smoky taste that i didn’t care for. That was the only one i didn’t like but nevertheless was happy to taste it. Then we moved into more of the milk chocolates and ones with fillings. Out of these my favorite was the berry and dark chocolate. (Thanks AJ for giving me yours!)
I can easily say I’m a fan of Hotel Chocolat. When we went downstairs to do a little shopping i bought the salted caramel chocolate covered almonds. They were DELISH!!! I also enjoyed the chocolates that came in our goodie bags and of course all of the Unilocal paraphernalia, especially the thick socks that i know my feet will enjoy 80% of the year here.
Thanks Flip and Hotel Chocolat! I’ll be back :)

I have been a true Hotel Chocolat fan ever since they opened! I come here often to buy gifts and of course to buy the delicious chocolates for myself as well! So when I heard the next Elite Event would take place at this place I was absolutely in chocolate heaven!
The chocolate tasting was delicious, fun and usefull and I really learned some things about chocolate. We were supposed to taste different chocolate with different percentages of cocoa and describe the taste. At first I thought; «Will I taste any difference? Chocolate will be chocolate, right?» But during the tasting I tasted how different chocolates can be and how they have different structures as well and even different sounds when you break a bar in half.
I loved the combination of the prosecco with the chocolate! And how friendly and helpful the shop manager and other staff was. I learned a lot about the process of making chocolate as well, which was fun! Also had a bit of hot chocolate with chili, which was really good and you should all try, especially in winter.
It was also fun to be together with all the Elites, we have such a nice group! Also big thanks to our dear Flip who arranged all of this and to the lovely Hotel Chocolat! I loved the chocolate in the goodie bag and I loved my Unilocal goodies as well!

CHOCOLATE!!!
Fin :)
No, but seriously, this event was awesome. I love chocolate, milk chocolate, but I hate exaggerated sweetness (maybe that’s also the reason why I like snide and sarcastic people… hm.), so go figure.
The presentation was helpful, informative and interesting and the chocolate, for most of the time, when it didn’t taste like manure, or. no. wait, that was a good thing, was a yummy. I especially liked the dark chocolate with chili and the 2 milk chocolates with high cocoa concentration! The compensation was sugar! Good! Begone vile ingredient, you! I really liked number. uhm. don’t remember! But it was the pungent milk chocolate with cocoa beans from Saint Lucia! It initially was a burst of flavors and then faded into a soothing mild flavor. A big bar of one of those bad boys costs € 9.50 though and a small bar € 4.50.
Thank you guys at Hotel Chocolat and Thank you our pretty FLIPMEISTER! You’ve outdone yourself, yet again.
PS I LOVE my Unilocal Socks! They’re red! My favorite color! Ask Ricardo why: P

Less sugar more cocoa… a good motto that everyone should live by, right?!
Chocolate spitting cups? What is this, a wine tasting event? Heck no, it’s all going down… I’m savouring every last bit! Half way through though, change of heart: at a chocolate tasting, nibbling is the way to go! Nibble it, just a little bit…
Generally I like my chocolate the way I like my men, dark & intense. Ok, the 100% pure cocoa bar without sugar was a bit too emo. Poor vegans & diabetes sufferers, they always seem to get stuck with the raunchy stuff.
Anyways, was already familiar with Hotel Chocolat’s dark range, having socked up on a bar of Saint Lucia and Madagascar a while ago. But surprisingly discovered that milk chocolate can be amazing too, sewiet!
So does Hotel Chocolat have the best chocolate in town? Perhaps not. But I’m a fan of their dark (and now also milk) chocolate bars and I like their range of chocolate truffles. Indeed unique combinations, different from the mehhh pralines usually on offer at other stores.
Saint Lucia’s Boucan hotel is calling my name!!!
Ow goody, goodiebags. The Unilocal socks are bada$$! Guess what I’ll wear to Anna’s if the weather permits…