Today we visited Sibö Chocolate and learned about the history of chocolate making, their sustainable practices, and most importantly, tasted some delicious chocolate. What stood out to me today was the tasting tour and the model they use to engage the crowd and persuade them to pay attention and buy chocolate through psychology. Sorry if this blog sounds more like a Google review, but I was thoroughly impressed and ended up purchasing multiple chocolates from them. They welcomed us with hot chocolate and sat us down at a table with a variety of chocolates in front of us, relaxing us and building anticipation for the tasting of the chocolates. George brought out a table with various cacao beans, tools, and pictures, preparing to give a performance and tell a story, an effective way to keep the audience engaged throughout the tasting. I think the most impressive of all was how the actual tasting was incorporated in the story. It quickly became clear that each part of the story would lead into the tasting of the chocolate, and the history would help us understand why each chocolate tasted how it did. In addition, George used priming by having us close our eyes and telling us about certain notes we should be tasting and how we should be tasting them in the chocolate. By telling us the stimulus we should taste, our brain is able to better associate what we taste with the certain spice or notes he told us about. Without this priming, I think that many would not be able to notice certain notes or, at the very least, put a name to the particular spice or notes within the chocolate. The assortment was also a nice touch as I know that I thought about which specific chocolates my girlfriend or sister would like and heard some of my peers saying the same about their families and friends, leading us into buying chocolates at the gift shop. Lastly, George was a good speaker and used humor in a natural way within the tasting tour.

I think that the tourist-friendly tasting, along with the sustainable practices, allows Sibö to compete with larger companies such as the large coffee plantations. The clear effort to prioritize sustainable practices and packaging is attractive to many buyers, especially younger generations, as George explained. I think the tasting tour in particular shows differences with other chocolate tours, such as Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. It goes hand in hand with the history we learned about, with eaten chocolate marketed toward children in particular. The Hershey tour has rollercoasters and theatrics, all meant to appeal to children and only children. The Sibö tour is educational, historical, and involves delicious chocolate; all of this can be enjoyed by all ages. I feel that the tour sets Sibö apart from the competition.

This was my favorite tour out of all of the ones we have been on, and it was fun and interesting to learn about the history of chocolate and the tasting tour in general. I loved all of the tours, but I’d say we definitely ended on a high note.