Last Friday I was able to visit the Zotter Schokoladen (chocolate) factory in Riegersburg, Austria. It was such a unique and unforgettable experience. Josef Zotter is the creator and founder of Zotter chocolate, and has been making chocolate in his factory since 1987. Immediately upon entering Josef's Schokoladen factory you are thrown into his intriguing and peculiar mind. He's a chocolate-making genius who relishes nonsense.
There is a small theater where you watch a short video about the history of Josef and his chocolate factory before you're allowed to start the tour and taste chocolate. They provide small spoons that you carry around throughout the entire tour, so you can eat and endless supply of whatever chocolate you want! They also provide you with small a small audio guide that is translated to multiple languages. A cool feature is that you will hear the actual voice of Josef Zotter talking about the process of making his chocolate if you listen in German!
The tour includes the entire process from bean to bar. This means you can taste the cocoa beans from Peru, as well as several other locations where Josef gathers his bean supply for his chocolate. They are all extremely bitter, and in my opinion the really sweet and tasty stuff is in the middle and towards the end of the tour.
Not only can you eat chocolate to your hearts content, but you can also visit a zoo outside of the factory! I was able to see alpacas, bunnies, cows, chickens, pigs, and ostriches. It was definitely worth visiting.
After the chocolate factory visit I went with my fellow classmates in the iLab to a heurigen. This is a very typical Austria restaurant on the countrysides of Austria. They make their own wines and juices, as well as serve the popular brettljause. The sunset was incredible, and the view literally stole my heart. It was the perfect ending to an amazing day. I‘d highly recommend visiting a heurigen — it’s an experience that’s one for the books!
Here is the link to the Zotter Chocolate factory’s website: https://www.zotter.at/en/online-shop/product-overview.html
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