As someone who adores chocolate and history, I have often wondered why drinking chocolate houses went out of fashion. I also thought Utah was the perfect place for a drinking chocolate house. FINALLY, my wish has come true! Knoops has a wide selection of chocolate blends and single origin chocolate options. None of that is going to matter to the average dirty soda and sugar bomb cookie person, but to those who know a bit more about chocolate and what they like, these things are nice to know. For the average person, it can get confusing, even with the descriptions...because taste is a bit subjective. Will you taste the caramel, hazelnut, or raspberry? Maybe. Maybe not. Palates are complex. What I can say is if you are one of those lovers of dirty sodas and you aren't a fan of dark chocolate, don't even attempt the 43% milk chocolate. It will be too dark for you (it was palatable for my milk chocolate loving partner only because he ordered it with "the works" marshmallow and whipped cream, which added additional sweetness. Meanwhile, I ordered the 100% single origin chocolate from the Philippines with notes of caramel and raspberry with the works. It was the fruitiest single origin chocolate I've experienced. No notes of caramel, but quite nice! But, not something I'd recommend to people unless they love dark chocolate or a nice red wine with jammy toasty notes. I have brewed cacao with milk and no sugar every morning so the sweetness from the whipped cream and marshmallow was an extra treat for me. For most dark chocolate lovers, I'd probably recommend staying in the 72-85% range if you want some sweetness, but I can also see plenty of dark chocolate lovers who will find that too rich and that's where the options between 45-65% fit. They have plenty of great options in that range.
They also have a few baked goods to enjoy with your beverage! We loved their chocolate chip cookies. Nice and chewy and very flavorful. Not too sweet. My partner pretty much only likes his grandma's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies so the fact he enjoyed his cookie is high praise.
My one complaint is their hot chocolate takes a long time to make. We were there on a slow Friday afternoon in September. Saturday afternoon in December? They will need a better system to get those hot chocolates out the door. I visited Dandelion Chocolate in San Francisco and had their decadent European-style drinking chocolate. The two places are comparable for drinking chocolates. Prices are comparable, but you get more at Knoops (and it isn't as thick). BUT, Dandelion Chocolate had my orders ready in under ten minutes each time I went, even when others were ahead of me in line. The cold drinks at Knoops were obviously made faster and customers after us got their cold drinks and were out the door while we waited. It was roughly 20 minutes for our hot chocolates. I don't know how Dandelion Chocolate manages to make theirs faster from scratch, but getting hot chocolate out the door quickly in the winter will make or break Knoops around here. I genuinely hope they get it worked out because when I need a decadent hot chocolate fix, I will drive out of my way to Knoops. In fact, every time I'm in the area (usually up at Huntsman's or the U Medical Center), I will be stopping at Knoops from now on as a reward so they need to stick around. In fact, I'm hoping to hear they will open a West Valley location in the near future. Preferably on 3500 S between I-215 and Granger High. A girl can dream! read more