While Bittersweet is a Northern Californian chain, you wouldn't be able to tell from the charming interior and intimate quarters. When you first walk in you're surrounded by an authentic coffee shop kind of atmosphere - abstract art, bright colors, communal wooden tables , and an offbeat hipster kind of staff. There were a lot of interesting things on the menu, but I chose to get the Spicy! hot chocolate, because I absolutely adore the combination. The hot chocolate was good. Very spice heavy, but not as chocolatey as I'd like. I think that with the perfect spicy hot chocolate, you'd get the chocolate first and a little heat in the back of your throat after. With this hot chocolate, you get spice first and last which isn't ideal. But it was still good. (My favorite spicy hot chocolate is actually from Cocoabella, a chocolatier in San Francisco which I highly recommend!)
Bittersweet also offers an interesting collection of chocolate bars, which I really enjoyed. Lined up against one side of the room, the bars are divided into three sections: "dark," "milk," and "surprises." After carefully perusing the "surprises" section, I chose two to take home: a chai tea milk chocolate bar from Theo Chocolate's 3400 Phinney line and a dark chocolate pink peppercorn bar made by Dolfin, a Belgian chocolatier. While the interesting flavors were the main reasons I decided to purchase the chocolates, the packing certainly helped. (I'm a fool when it comes to things that are aesthetically beautiful...)
Chai Tea Milk Chocolate Bar:
The chai bar was exactly what you'd expect: an instant hit of warm lingering spices. The chocolate was milky, creamy, and delicious. The 3400 Phinney line is well known for being fair trade, organic and creative, which makes it a nice way to indulge in chocolate with a clean conscious. While Bittersweet only had the chai bar, Theo Chocolates also offers interesting flavors like coconut curry milk chocolate, fig fennel and almond dark chocolate, and bread and chocolate dark chocolate which seems really interesting. I really take texture into account during different eating experiences, and actually consider it the second in importance, after flavor.
Dark Chocolate Pink Peppercorn Bar:
While the packaging is obnoxiously pink, it's actually pretty interesting. It looks like normal packaging, but upon closer inspection, it's a laminated trifold that unravels. The chocolate is kept in a sealed package within the envelope. Great idea to keep the chocolate fresh. Theo's Chai Bar led with spice and this bar was the complete opposite. The dark chocolate was really the dominant flavor, while the pink peppercorns offered a subtle pepper flavor that really complimented the richness of the dark chocolate. Not to mention that the pink peppercorns were a nice add that helped the texture.
A couple of days after I went to Bittersweet, I found a couple of other Dolfin bars at Rainbow Grocery, one of the best grocery stores that San Francisco has to offer - given its selection of interesting products. Organic, fair trade, functional, ethnic, you name it Rainbow has it. The two bars were actually on clearance because they were a part of the Holiday collection. The first bar, Sweet Harmony, had nougat and honey. I absolutely LOVED this bar. It's very similar to a toblerone bar, only with a very strong honey flavor and better chocolate. The nougat definitely gave it a nice texture and the chocolate was smooth, creamy and delicious. Exactly how I enjoy my milk chocolate. The other flavor I purchased was the Winter Emotion Rooibush which I hated. While Rooibus is becoming a more mainstreamed trend in the tea and chocolate world, this is not what I expected. RooiBUSH it was. The eating experience was so unpleasant because of the particulates within the bar. While you really got the sweet floral flavor of the rooibus, a granular, getting leaves stuck in your teeth experience is the last thing you're looking for when you're enjoying a bar of chocolate. ;)
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