City Walks Tour de Chocolate

There’s nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with chocolate.” – Linda Grayson

My best friend is pregnant… and you know what all pregnant women need!  CHOCOLATE!  I took her on City Walks’ Tour de Chocolate recently to make sure she names the baby after me. 

It’s easy to find the starting place for St. Augustine’s oldest walking tour company.  City Walks launches from Tour St. Augustine at 4 Granada Street.

Our Tour de Chocolate started promptly at 2:00- St. Augustine etiquette is to arrive at all walking tours 15 minutes early.  We met Alice, founder of City Walks, and JJ- our chocolate chaperone for the afternoon.

Now, I wanted to have full confidence in my guide, but his first stop caught me completely off guard!  Barley Republic Irish Public House!?!  An Irish Pub for chocolate?!

Yes!  An Irish Pub is the perfect place for chocolate!  Turns out the Irish were responsible for bringing chocolate to the United States in 1765!  Irish chocolate-maker John Hanan teamed up with American Dr. James Baker to produce Baker’s brand chocolate.  While JJ shared the history of chocolate’s initial import to the USA, we sampled Barley Republic’s double chocolate cheesecake and wine-based O’Mara’s Irish Country Liqueur {which I think I like more than Bailey’s!}.

Next we popped into Pop-n-Off for some homemade popcorn goodness.  This little gem is a from-scratch-family-business.  It’s tucked away on Cuna Street- you’d likely never find it unless a tour guide pointed you their way.  Not a local? Don’t worry, they do ship!  We sampled several flavors, I’m so impressed that they get so much flavor in popcorn!!  My must try: Cinnamon Bun!

Next, our dapper guide led us down uneven brick streets toward the breezy waterfront.  We stopped at the patio tables of Crucial Coffee and Gourmet Hut.

While other tables in the courtyard were worn concrete tables or simple iron ones, ours was set with a white tablecloth and fresh flowers.  This is one example of the relationship City Walks has built with local business owners and the extra perks we chocolate lovers receive as a result!

The perks didn’t stop at the tablecloth.  A German chocolate bar, homemade chocolate ice cream and a chocolate dipped strawberry made my eyes bulge!  These were paired with wine- I believe it was a Malbec- but red wine ruins chocolate {or is it the other way around? } so I stuck with the dessert.  My only complaint here was that the strawberry was frozen- so while it looked adorable, the frigid berry made it hard & unpleasant to eat.

I didn’t eat all of my dessert- the serving was so generous!  Then, just before we left for our next destination, the server brought over this adorable mocha saying it’d help us stay cool on the rest of our walk!  Wow!  I really got the sense that the folks in the kitchen were having a lot of fun preparing these treats for us, thank you Crucial Coffee & City Walks!

We next walked through a wine shop where we sampled chocolate wine- the espresso wine was palatable but I’ll take my chocolate in solid form, thankyouverymuch.

Then… the grande finale!  Claude’s Chocolate has been mentioned on my blog so many times Google is likely to start penalizing me in searches- assuming I’m planting the term.  No!  I just LOVE CLAUDE’S CHOCOLATE!!!

I’m so glad JJ took us by Claude’s- the Tour de Chocolate included *6* truffles!!  Oh, yum!!  After the tour concluded, Lynda and I lingered here- savoring a few truffles and saving favorites for later.  While it’s generally true that one can’t expect perfection from any restaurant, Claude’s delivers time and time again.

We tried some new places, ate chocolate where I never would’ve looked for it and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon in sunny St. Augustine.  After this yummy tour, I can’t wait to join City Walks on their Savory Faire Tour {post is up!}!!  When I make it out, I promise to share great pictures and tips for YOUR next visit to St. Augustine!

City Walks Tour de Chocolate
$36 for the 2 hour tour, tastings & gratuities at restaurants.
Please tip your guide.
Call City Walks at 540-3476, email info@staugustinetours.com or stop by and mention Simply St. Augustine for a discounted rate on their standard tours!

I’d like to thank City Walks for hosting me on this tour with St. Augustine’s original walking tour company.  Although we were invited on this walk as guests, all photos and opinions in this review are my own.