Chocolate Tasting and Tour @ Kakao Chocolate

Definitely my favorite event in a while! Big thanks to Brian for inviting us out to his shop and giving us a tutorial on chocolate as well as the inner workings of his passion. Thank God he decided to quit the corporate life for chocolate! Never go back, Brian!
We sampled chocolates from around the world to open our view of what chocolate is and what it can be, and then we got a taste of a few of Kakao’s sweet treats — including truffles and a marshmallow pie (omg!). I could have eaten my weight in it all.
I did somehow manage to actually give the chocolates I got for my parents as a babysitting thanks, but the two packages of bark… well, they disappeared far too quickly. I’ll be back!

This is probably one of my favorite events in a while. I LOVE chocolate and this event made me love chocolate even more.
The owner walked us through different darkness and origins of chocolate as well as showing us the plant and what one would get out of the plant. Very educational.
He then let us try different TRUFFLES! The smoke truffle blew my mind! It was so smokey but well balanced. He then told us what it was made from and now I have to seek out that ingredient and try it on my own. SO AMAZING.
And the marshmallow sandwich… that was great too.
At the end, there were some chocolate pieces left over so i took some home and shared it with my friends. I love how chocolates from different places taste just a little different. Talk about chocolate being like wine!
I can’t wait to get back to Kakao and eat more of their yummy truffles.

An evening of Kakao Chocolate and glasses of red wine. Can life get any better? I don’t think so. This was one of the most perfect Unilocal events and it wasn’t even exclusive to only Elites. It was compact, intimate, interactive, personable, informative and most of all fun.
Brian P. the owner and founder of Kakao was our host and lecturer of the night. He made learning about chocolate fun. If my college professors made learning this fun, I may be smarter today. He truly is the Willy Wonka of Saint Louis. As he educated our minds, he teased our taste buds with examples. Through out the night, there were pop quizzes. With each sampling, there were questions of discussion and I must say we were a smart group, we nailed all the correct answers. Or perhaps we all are just a bunch of chocoholics and should start a support group.
After the event, we all shopped for sweet treats to take home. Of the treats I took home, the Mexican Papaya was my favorite. Another one that rocked my world was the Peanut Butter Bön Bön, it was so rich and creamy.
My two take aways from this event are:
1) Chocolate you buy at a gas station is not «good» chocolate. (Like i had to be taught this.)
2) My next SO will be a chocolatier, so I can have easy access to my sweet desires.
Being able to attend this event, truly was winning The Golden Ticket.

Out of all the «official» Unilocal events, this was my favorite! How can you not love an evening of sampling chocolates and wine. Brian, the owner of Kakao, lead us through a crash course in the preparation of divine creation. I learned several tips about chocolate and can now justify a big increasing consumption. Who knew it could be so good for you? I especially enjoyed the side by side taste comparison of chocolate from Honduras, Venezuela and Madagascar, but it was the samples of Chai Tea Truffles, Marshmallow Pie, and Chocolate Covered Salted Caramel that stole the show for me. I’ve been a regular consumer of Kakao’s Mexican Bark, but this event gave me the opportunity to try new treats and has ensured many return visits on my part. I’ve also been told that you can reserve your own tasting event at Kakao for a special occasion, so i’ll be keeping that in mind for the future. Great job Aaron and Brian. Thanks for a 5 star event!

I couldn’t sing higher praises for Kakao if they sent me free chocolate for a year. I could probably try, though… in case that’s a challenge they wish to accept.
Worth a shot.
I was fortunate enough to attend the private event with the Unilocal community and Brian, Kakao’s owner, last night and it didn’t disappoint! I’m a long time patron of Kakao, even adding it to my annual «Dessert Tour» that I attend with friends each fall. I’ve always been a fan of their product and even had a few run ins with Brian on previous visits, getting a little info here and there of his business.
This event allowed us to get an even more in depth look at how he began his journey, as well as where they get their chocolate, how it’s made, and some future plans. (A new location!!) While we sipped on some tasty wine (thanks, Aaron!) we were able to sample some truffles, an amazing marshmallow concoction that I later purchased and some various chocolates from around the world.
It was informative and delectable and I’m so pleased to have been involved with this one. Thanks so much to Aaron and Kakao for hosting such a top-​notch event!

It’s true chocolate makes anything better, even more so when it comes to Unilocal events. Luckily I was able to attend the Chocolate Tasting and Tour @ Kakao Chocolate and enjoy a great evening with both new and old Unilocalers, and yes Chocolate!
I arrive slightly early to find Aaron and others chatting over a glass of wine before the event. Shortly after several others started to arrive and the event was off to a start. Our gracious host, and the owner, Brian started off our evening with Chocolate 101, I learned a lot about chocolate that I never knew. Now thanks to Brian I can now use the excuse that «technically» chocolate is a vegetable. I am sure that one will come in handy at some point in the future. We were able to sample several varieties of chocolate all while learning about what makes them unique, we then moved on to the tasting of some of the unique creations from Kakao. We started off tasting some of the unique creations prepared by Kakao, personally I enjoyed the Chai Chocolate Truffle, the amazing Salted Carmel covered in chocolate, and the even equally amazing Marshmallow Pie. I am still torn on the Smoked Chocolate Truffle, it was a unique smoky flavor that was good however it was really unique in the way the smoky taste mixed with the chocolate.
Overall this was a great event, I mean what could be better than an evening with friends, wine, and chocolate! Big thanks to Aaron and Brian for putting together such an amazing event.

Unilocal Events keep getting better and better! Kakao Chocolate and multiple selections of red wine, could it get any better than that?
I don’t even know where to begin with this review since there are so many highlight from the evening. Let me begin by saying thank you Kakao’s main man, Brian. He made this event educational and fun. I would also like to thank Aaron for arranging such a great event.
When Jon B. and I arrived we were greeted by Aaron. Yes, I was super early, but I don’t care. I didn’t want to miss out on anything. We arrived and Aaron so graciously offered me some red wine to begin the evening. A few minutes went by and other Unilocalers began arriving. Brian M. arrived and in true Unilocaler fashion I had to introduce myself to him. It’s nice to make new friends.
By the time all of the other Unilocalers arrived it was time to begin the night. We were all asked to take a seat so that the chocolate tasting could begin. The first thing we did was learn about where chocolate came from… and it does come fro a tree, so «technically» it is a vegetable. The cacao pod was passed around for us to feel and shake. The chocolate was inside. Then we passed around the beans themselves to smell and touch. Finally, he passed around the ground up beans for us to taste. It was nothing like chocolate and in fact, it had a «nutty» taste to it, but it was still pretty good because I knew we were getting closer to the real chocolate.
Eventually chocolate bark was being passed around for us to sample. We tried samples of milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and bittersweet chocolate. Brian had us sample 3 different versions of the same chocolate and we had to give our feedback on the differences, but I think we all passed.
Now it was time to learn about the «confections» made at Kakao! Brian had so many samples for us to try, but my 2 favorites were the Chai Truffle and the Salted Caramel… yummy! As each piece was being passed around we all enjoyed the flavors and I could tell many of the other Unilocalers were just as happy as I was. A really interesting sample was the marshmallow pie sprinkled with confectioners sugar! Brian had mentioned to us that he makes it with caramel and peanut butter as well, but that night we had the original flavor.
Throughout the night he was teaching us about how the chocolate was melted and how some of the candies were made. They have a very small kitchen with pots and pans that all have in our kitchens, nothing gigantic. Each piece is made with «love» and in order for the chocolate to «love you back» it to eat a truffle in at least «2 bites’; I made mine last for a 3^rd!
Thanks to our CM, Aaron and to Kakao’s very own Brian for allowing us this opportunity to enjoy a sweet night with educational tidbits about chocolate. I will enjoy my truffles even more from now on.

This event was pure awesomeness. It was great having the very founder of this company lead us on a chocolate tasting tour and educate us along the way. Getting to see (and eat) some of the more raw cacao products was really cool.
Of course the chocolate was delicious. Chai Tea truffles were absolute flavor explosions. If you want to make someone like you very much, give them a couple of these. And there is nothing better to cleanse your palate for chocolate tasting than various types of red wine.
We are definitely lucky to have such a gem of a company in St Louis. Good luck on the Clayton expansion!