Zotter Tour

Yesterday we had one of our favorite experiences here in Austria.  We did a tour of the Zotter Chocolate factory.  Now Zotter Chocolate bars are sold here in Vienna and I've had a love affair with them for about 2 1/2 years.  It's an Austrian company (located outside of Graz) and they do tours that we heard are magnificent.  We were NOT disappointed.  To make it even more special... we were joined by some friends of ours in Graz and another friend here volunteered to watch Baby Christian so we didn't have to drag him around there!!  Could it get any better - chocolate, friends and baby break?!

Our friend Christian (who had been there before) gave us great advice.  In regards to sampling the chocolate, "go slow" because there is a ton to try.  He was SO right! 

There were a few Stages.  The first was an area where we tried the actual coffee beans from around the world.  We broke open the casing and ate the bean inside.  It was really interesting to see the various taste differences.

William & Christian trying some beans

The next stage was trying the liquid raw chocolate. 

This was very bitter, dark chocolate with no sugar added. 

Calvin was not a fan of the raw stuff

on the other hand, William was

Also - notice William's spoon above.  We were given these handy little spoons to use to taste the chocolate. 

The next Stage was sampling the chocolate powder.  It went from 100% chocolate down to 40% with white chocolate at the end.  Stages 3 & 4 were the same thing, except instead of powder it was solid squares and then warm liquid chocolate respectively.

The powdered chocolate hallway

the warm chocolate area... yep... molten fondue pots galore!

see how you just pull the pin out to try the sample?

This might be a good place to mention that there was no one around policing how much chocolate you could have.  This was completely indulgent and decadent. We were allowed to taste to our hearts content.

The next stage was sampling the actual candy bar flavors. Again - as much as you wish. There must have been 40-50 of these sampling stations available.

The next stage was one of my favorites!  It was the hot chocolate zone.  Around the perimeter of the room was a tiny "ski lift" that carried chocolate flavors to be added to hot milk.  Before you selected the one (or eighteen) that you wanted you could try samples of them.

Christian helping William "sample"

the "ski lift" with bars for making your chocolate...again limitless

William selected the Honey & Cinnamon flavor - my favorite too!

 Then you went to the bar and got a tray of hot milk and a stirrer and added your chocolate bar.

Super Yummy! (notice the ski lift behind us!)

And just when we thought we couldn't possibly eat one more bite.  We come to the next phase.  Chocolate covered walnuts, hazelnuts, apricots, etc, etc.  All in these little bowls along the wall.

And FINALLY the last inside stage... (no pics included) was sampling the finished product that came out continuously on a conveyor belt. I never thought I'd be sick of chocolate. I was wrong.

Lastly they have an area that is an edible garden.  We could sample different ingredients growing in season.

eating some blackberries

 A. Great. Day!