Boasting more than 1,000 cocoa trees across its estate, Jade Mountain Resort is Saint Lucia’s only bean-to-bar, organic, single-estate boutique chocolate maker. Three years ago the resort opened a dedicated chocolate laboratory and began handcrafting Emerald Estate Chocolate on-site.
Today, guests are invited into the lab to create their own chocolate treats and take part in immersive sweet experiences, including:
- Chocolate Sensory Tasting: An exploration of cocoa and chocolate flavors, beginning with a cocoa bean tasting that ranges from mild to intense notes and finishing with a sampling of freshly made truffles.
- Discover Chocolate: Building on the sensory tasting, this hands-on session teaches basic chocolate techniques and tempering. Guests make their own fudge and craft a personalized chocolate bar to take home.
- Emerald Estate Tree-to-Bar Tour: A tour of the Emerald Estate that covers the history of chocolate in the Caribbean and the bean-to-bar production process, including fermentation, sun drying, and bean polishing. The experience continues back in the chocolate laboratory, where the host demonstrates how the perfect chocolate bar is created.
These experiences highlight the resort’s dedication to sustainable, small-batch chocolate production and give guests a direct connection to the cocoa that grows on the property.
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