Chocolate to the Max at Max Chocolatier in Zürich

The way to my heart is paved with chocolate - the key to my heart is made out of chocolate.

I have eaten a lot of chocolate in my life, but as we all know, there is chocolate and then, there is chocolate. I am now going to tell you about that time where I ate chocolate and learned that my taste buds have taste buds: It happened at Max Chocolatier in Zürich, a place that turns chocolate-making up a notch.

Chocolate in the Heart of Zürich

Max Chocolatier, founded in 2009, just opened a new boutique at Schlϋsselgasse 12 in Zürich. Tucked away between Bahnhofstrasse and Limmat, it is not difficult to find. But you should definitely treat yourself when you arrive and celebrate as if you just found a treasure chest. Which, let's be honest, is basically the truth.

If you like chocolate, you will feel like a kid in a toy store as soon as you enter the boutique. Your heart might even skip a beat - and not just because of the sugar: From chocolate bars to chocolate truffles, chocolate spreads, chocolate pastries, chocolate Santas, chocolate Christmas tree ornaments and chocolate covered whatever-else-you-could-possibly-imagine.

There are 16 different types of Grand Cru cocoa, and everything comes wrapped in beautiful packaging that takes the love for all things handmade and organic to the next level.

And of course, just like in a real paradise, you can try everything before you buy it. (If that is not a reason to visit, then I don't know what is.)

From Lucerne with Love from Max Chocolatier

Max Chocolatier's products are made in Lucerne. There are four chocolatiers, a.k.a. four wonderful people who make the world a better place by combining the sweetest of talents and the most heavenly of all skills with ingredients that are probably out of this world.

Well, that last part is not true - the ingredients are from right around the corner. Everything that is part of the chocolate concoctions is local, fair-trade, small-batch, award-winning, organic, seasonal, handmade, and extremely delicious.

Max Chocolatier also makes everything with more love than you can imagine. I am told that the little chocolate truffle that I ate - in two bites and somewhat slow 7.5 seconds because I felt bad for being all non-ladylike and wolfing it down in public - took three days to make.

Now, let that sink in: It takes three days and several chocolatey processes to hand-make a piece of heaven.

Delicious. Period.

Eating chocolate is easy - even if it takes longer than a few seconds. Writing about chocolate is hard, however. In preparation for this article, thesaurus gave me a list of synonyms for "delicious," and I definitely could use all of them. Yes, Max Chocolatier’s chocolate is delightful, exquisite, luscious, savory, tasty, and even mouthwatering. I would even go as far as throwing in a rather pretentious toothsome.

I could entertain you with sentences like "The piece of cranberry chili chocolate that slowly melted in my mouth was a truly delectable delight with an incomparable depth of flavor. Its composition oozed authentic artisanry and resembled a poem about a crisp autumn morning that touched all the senses and made me experience a heavenly connection with the universe while feeling the solace of life."

But I have no idea what I just wrote.

The chocolate was freaking fabulous. Simple as that. I want to live in the Max Chocolatier store or at least go there until I'm sick and tired of chocolate, which will probably never happen. So please, enjoy the pictures and rest assured that everything was about 923.45 times more delicious than these amazing pictures make it look.

Hard to believe - but trust me on this one.

(Photographs copyright by Maria Grazia De Francesco at MAREE. Photography and Visual Design. This article was supported by Max Chocolatier)