I like my beans roasted. That’s my preference. The roasting process just brings out a depth of flavour that I crave and have never found in raw chocolate. The texture, the mouth feel, nothing is quite the same with raw chocolate. But raw chocolate has a serious fan base and because of this, there is usually at least one hot chocolate spot in most cities offering raw chocolate.
We came across Coco Kyoto completely by accident (we were actually looking for tea, a change for me!). But I find it physically difficult to not stop when I see a sign that promises me a potentially interesting hot chocolate. So we stopped for a quick one.
The store right in the heart of Kyoto has an impressive range of products, from bean to bar chocolate, raw chocolate, and some beautiful bonbons many with seasonal flavours. They have most of their bars available to taste as well as cocoa nibs. There was a mix, some of their bars I really liked while others had a funny crumbly texture that wasn’t a fan of. They also offer all sorts of different products including chocolate spreads, chocolate lipsticks, cocoa powders and cakes. Apart from hot chocolate they also offer a cocoa tea.
The store advertises both raw chocolate and bean to bar but, probably just because of the language difference, it wasn’t clear to me where or how this happens and their website offers little information. We ordered a raw hot chocolate. They have a table in one corner where you can sip your drinks but despite this only offer paper take away cups for hot drinks.
They don’t add sugar to their chocolate and instead add other sweeteners including blue agave syrup and another natural sweetener I hadn’t heard of. Interestingly the hot chocolate I had tasted really sweet so obviously these sugar alternatives are doing their job well. It was very rich and creamy with a very think almost glutenous consistency. I wasn’t a fan, but that isn’t because it wasn’t necessarily good. If you are a fan of raw chocolate this may be your heaven which is why I wanted to share this post anyways.
Verdict: Coco is a beautiful and impressive little shop and worth a stop to taste their bars. Who knows, you may just fall in love with raw chocolate! Coco Kyoto, Japan.
