Explore the Zotter Experience World and Chocolate Theatre with us.
The Austrian chocolatier is located in a tiny village of Bergl, in the picturesque southeastern state of Styria. You will find their factory close to Austria’s second biggest city Graz.
Settled in a scenic location reminiscent of romantic movies, Zotter offers, besides being one of the world’s best chocolate manufacturers, a lot of activities on its large property.
We begin our tasting tour at the Chocolate Theatre. At first, learning about how cocoa grows and why the company is dedicated to fair trade. As we slowly progress, our eyes begin to spot the most important part of the whole manufacturing process – the cocoa beans.
Once the unprocessed cocoa beans are delivered to the factory, everything is made in-house. This makes Zotter one of the very few bean-to-bar chocolate producers in Europe.
Having the the opportunity to taste freshly roasted cocoa beans from many different countries, each with its own very distinct flavour, makes this experience even more unforgettable.
Raw cocoa mass: It looks like a chocolate, but it isn’t.
Have you ever tasted raw cocoa mass with nothing else added in? While the consistency and color resembles a rich, tasty melted chocolate, it actually tastes very bitter. With no cocoa butter and cane sugar: “It looks like a chocolate, but it isn’t,” we learn from the chocolatier.
Further along the tour we have the possibility of trying more finer tasting ground cocoa powder and get to learn about the responsible bean-to-bar
production process.
Did you know chocolates acquire different structures and tastes not only based on their region of origin, but also so-called conching times?
Put simply, conching is a process during which the cocoa mass is “scraped,” and the cocoa butter within the chocolate is more evenly distributed in order to make it more delicious for our tastebuds.
Of course, all these chocolates are vegan, as they only contain cocoa mass, cocoa butter and cane sugar.
If you would like to indulge in more flavours, the plentiful chocolate fountains offer a lot to choose from, including strawberry, vanilla and more. Most of them still vegan.
At this point we’ve already tasted a lot of chocolate, but the tour is far from being over yet. Let’s take a break in their mini garden, soak up some sunshine to get ready for more treats coming our way.
Here, any flavour combination, structure and form of chocolate is possible and within imagination.
Have you ever tasted a chocolate with coriander, cardamom or perhaps rose petals? Here, any flavour combination, structure and form of chocolate is possible and within imagination. Like cute, tiny and delicious “salad leaves.” We get to enjoy them with a stunning view over the adventure farm.
Naturally, chocolate is about technology too, so we let a robot arm serve us some mouth-watering bonbons.
Next up in the tour: a full line-up of pure single origin chocolates known as Labooko; and Mitzi Blue, a chocolate combined with nuts, raisins or even the rose petals. Whatever your tastebuds fancy can be found in the Zotter world, whether it’s the pure taste of chocolate or something more sweet.
Speaking of sweet, you simply can’t miss the Nougat Pumps with eight different flavours. You will find your most beloved one right away.
With the amazing world of Edible Zoo (more on that later) right under your feet, we get to taste one of the drinking chocolates, served on probably the
world’s smallest cable car.
As we move along, the nougat pumps have turned into nougat goodness. We get to try the finished product which tickles our brains with how good it taste.
Before the tour comes to an end we can try more of Zotter’s products, like the Balleros, tiny balls made out of dried fruit, roasted nut pieces and crunchy cocoa nibs that are rolled in their premium chocolate.
And now comes the grand finale, where tens of different hand-made chocolates in delicious flavours are presented on a moving conveyer belt. Pretty fun idea and not to worry – if you miss one, there’s still plenty of them coming up.
Before we decide on which products to take home with us in their shop, let’s enjoy some relaxing time in the Edible Zoo. Why “edible,” you ask? You can taste any of the fruits and vegetables that grow around the 27-hectare property.
Perhaps you would like to try some organic delicacies sourced directly from this beautiful piece of land? Look no further than their restaurant Öko-Essbar.
And when the time comes to exercise after all the flavoursome food and chocolate we had, there are a lot of activities. Whether it’s strolling around this beautiful land, having some fun with stationary bikes that pump water into the nearby fountain, or adoring the animals on the farm.
At Zotter you can experience an unforgettable day, filled with animals, organic food, bean-to-bar chocolate, but most of all – a relaxing atmosphere everywhere around you.
You can visit the Zotter Experience World all-year-round, including weekend. We highly recommend to prebook tickets online to guarantee your spot. Ticket prices start from 19.90 EUR per adult, and from 7.90 EUR per child.
Shop for their chocolates at https://www.zotter.at/en/
This article has not been sponsored or paid for by Zotter.
All opinions and views are our own.