Susan Fine’s Chocolate Path is a sweet dream come true.
Chocolate Path is calling all chocolate lovers! Susan Fine started Chocolate Path 12 years ago because she, like many others, wanted access to delicious dark chocolate. Fine originally opened stores in the Montclair area, but four years ago she switched over to all online business to accommodate her international customers. Fine sells the delicious, dark and decadent hard-to-find chocolate she buys from all around the country and world.
“I immerse myself in chocolate,” said Fine.
Chocolate Path offers chocolate tasting services in addition to the yummy products. Fine has hosted tastings at homes, fundraisers and banquet halls. Private tastings are fun, sweet ways to spice up a group date night or a ladies night. Fine can also recommend wines to pair with the chocolate she brings to the tasting.
“I bring six or seven different chocolate bars, with cocoa from different countries. We try different percentages of cocoa and learn about the process and history behind each one. It’s so much fun,” said Fine.
It also offers “Origin Bars,” chocolate that comes from specific places, like Guatemala, Belize, Peru or Ecuador.
“It’s so cool to explore how the cocoa is grown and how it tastes. Cocoa beans from the Phillippines make this earthy, nutty taste, but beans from Madagascar can create this citrusy undertone in chocolate,” Fine said.
Fine is a self-educated, passionate dark chocolate lover herself. Before Fine opened Chocolate Path, she traveled to Belize on a chocolate immersion trip. Fine stayed in a lodge in the rainforest to observe the chocolate process from beginning to end. She helped harvest cocoa beans and followed those beans all the way into their final form: a chocolate bar.
Its popular items include a dark chocolate bar with 70 percent cocoa, a thin layer of caramel in the middle and sea salt drizzled on the bottom, and pieces of caramel coated in thick dark chocolate. Another fan favorite is a s’mores bar with graham cracker and marshmallow.
Chocolate Path offers Tasting Kits for the indecisive chocolate lovers. The kits come with 16 pieces of chocolate with cocoa from five different countries. The tasting kit is perfect for a birthday or “just because” gift.
Chocolate Path will be at the Walnut St. Festival in April. If you can’t wait until then to start down the Chocolate Path, visit chocolatepath.com.
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