Craft Chocolate Tasting

River-sea Chocolate is a great local chocolate factory. Their chocolate is great and the owners are involved with and make a positive impact on the community. The chocolate tasting was very informative. We learned about how the cocoa beans are grown and harvested and saw how the beans become chocolate bars. Dave did a good job explaining how it all worked and answering questions. I recommend this tasting if you are looking for something fun and different to do in town.

My daughter and I had a great time at the chocolate tasting. The background from bean to chocolate in videos were amazing. Our tour guide knew so much about the chocolate-making process, and it was really cool to be able to see everything from start to finish, as well as taste everything from nibs to the melted chocolate before tempering, down to the final product. I’ve done several chocolate tastings in different places, but this one is the best I’ve ever done. Kudos to River Sea for hiring such talented folks!

A craft chocolate tasting at River-Sea Chocolate Factory is an experience not to be missed, whether you’re a DMV native or a visitor! The Chantilly location is tucked away in a quiet office park with signage to help you find your way into the store. One of the things that makes River-Sea so unique is that it is a sustainable business. Another thing that is special is their customer service. When we entered, we were warmly greeted by Danielle, who was assisting another customer. Melissa, our chocolate “tour guide” was setting up our chocolate flight, but also greeted us. Although we were early, Melissa invited us to get started as soon as she was done setting up. Melissa began our chocolate tour by showing us real cacao beans and images of cocao farms. She explained the process of sustainable chocolate making “from bean to bar,” which we found quite fascinating, as we knew little about it. Then came the chocolate tasting! It was fun and delicious! With Melissa’s knowledgeable input, we were amazed to be able to discern the different and varied notes in each of the chocolates in our flight. After our tasting, we had ample time to shop for our favorite chocolate bars in the store, as well as drink delicious craft hot chocolate made to order! If chocolate bars are not your thing, River-Sea also sells wine and truffles made with their chocolate. Other tasting options are hot chocolate tasting and chocolate-wine pairing tastings. A trip to River-Sea is definitely a great way to experience chocolate!

David was an amazing guide into the fascinating world of chocolate. The chocolate we tasted was from all over the world and absolutely delicious. I would recommend this tour for anyone!

Went to a chocolate tasting with friends and it was a wonderful small tour and experience. I’ve been before and the chocolates change each time so it’s not always the same if you come back.

Dave was great and very knowledgeable! All of us from 63 to 5 had a great time!

Dave gave us a fabulous tour of the shop and a great taste flight of several chocolates that they offer. It was a neat experience to learn about the different kinds of cacao pods, as well as the entire process. And the chocolate itself is outstanding! Well worth the trip!

It was delightful and very informative. Lovely way to spend the day! Dave was awesome.

Absolutely informative about sustainable chocolate production . Great products and fun little tour. Perfect for a kids tour or ladies day out.

Wonderful tasting and demo/education

We stopped by the Chantilly location for a chocolate tasting. This was an experience which included education and eating chocolate, how perfect! This bean to bar chocolatier is leaving a small carbon footprint while empowering native farmers and exhibiting mindful conservation techniques. And the chocolate is DELICIOUS! You don't have to sign up for a tasting to try the chocolate, but the education you get from the tasting makes you appreciate the chocolate even more. Lovers of overly sweet and uber milk chocolate may not like every bar, but dark chocolate lovers will really fall head over heels. I have a new found appreciation for tasting chocolate now. I have learned to savor and eat it slowly. I will recommend this place to everyone I know! I will also be back to pick up some hot chocolate and more bars. River Sea Chocolates is just a lovely place!

We learned about the history of chocolate and chocolate making and sampled several varieties of milk and dark chocolate. Host was very friendly and knowledgeable.

We came for a chocolate tasting and got delicious chocolate PLUS an eye-opening education. We were delighted to learn about their forest preserving practices and sailship cargo delivery! The fact that chocolates from different countries have different flavors was amazing, too. Thank you for the yummy experience!

The chocolate sommelier was amazingly knowledgeable about the variety of chocolates and chocolates were delicious. I also highly recommend the hot chocolate with espresso.

Went for the tasting and loved it. The chocolate was delicious. Our “guide” was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot about how chocolate is made. Fun thing to do with a group.

Very informative, fun facts, speaker very knowledgeable and helpful, staff were very friendly, nice quick tour

What a great experience! Our guide really knows her chocolate. It was fun to learn about the different types of chocolate, how the cacao bean is grown and then actually see a demonstration on how their chocolate bars are made. Any sampling 5 kinds of chocolate and comparing them made me think I was at a wine tasting event.

Our curious group kept Natasha busy with questions and comments. She was knowledgeable, patient and very gracious. You don't have to be a chocaholic to love this tour. It is informative, fun and tasty. Recommend highly!

Our host was energetic with lots of great information on where their cocoa beans are sourced. Each sample had its own flavor profile from cherries to flowers to mocha. We enjoyed watching the process from beans to bars in the production area. Would highly recommend this fun and informative experience!

Very interesting presentation and the chocolate was the best I ever tasted. I highly recommend recommend this!

Had a great experience, and earned a lot about chocolate! Friendly staff too. Bought some goodies to take home and enjoy.

Dave, who runs the tour for the chocolate factory, is outstanding and entertaining and quite knowledgeable! This was a fun and worthwhile hour with plenty of chocolate tasted, a lot of knowledge passed and just a good time had by all! I highly, highly recommend it!

This was such a nice experience, the instructor was very knowledgeable and professional, and the chocolates were great! I will say that the facility was kind of hard to find only because we were expecting a traditional “factory” building but this place is in a business plaza next to a brewery & bbq restaurant. Also, the “tour” isn’t you actually walking around to the stations it’s just you standing at the front and the instructor telling you what each machine does. Overall it was very informative and a nice start to the rest of our day. PS : get the raspberry rose hot chocolate!

This was a great experience and the chocolate was delicious. Dave was a great tour guide the staff were all so helpful and I would definitely recommend.

Great experience. Delicious chocolate!. I would do it again! I loved the salty caramel and got some great history about chocolate

Dave was so knowledgable and the chocolate was delicious! The videos of the cocoa bean collecting were amazing. Really great that they support local charities as well. Awesome experience!

Very informative Converted me to dark chocolate lover Knowledgeable and pleasant staff Recommend if in the area

This chocolate tour was my first “tasting” experience and I was very impressed. The guide was very knowledgeable and allowed the more talkative members of our group time to joke and ask silly questions. I HIGHLY recommend.

We accidentally came on the wrong day for our tour appointment but the staff took us in with open arms. Each worker was passionate and knowledgeable about the origin and process of chocolate. We truly appreciate the love for what they do.

Great tour! I learned a lot and the taste testing was amazing. Dave was a great tour guide! Yummy chocolate which I’ll be back for

Good tasting, pure chocolate made from ethically sourced chocolate. Nice earthy tones and flavors! The tour guide was informative and answered all questions.

My husband and I crafted our own dark chocolate bars! It was a fun experience. We were tempted to buy some other bars to take home.

This was a great time. Our guide, Ryan, was very knowledgeable and was able to handle all of our questions. The chocolate was fantastic.

The most memorable part of our tour was the stories of all the ways in which River-Sea utilizes each aspect of the cocoa beans in the process of making delicious chocolates.

We were fortunate to book our tour on the day they were making chocolate. It was very interesting. The chocolate tasting was delicious 😋 Learned quite a bit about growing, harvesting the beans. Would highly recommend this tour and tasting.

My family booked this to celebrate my birthday. It was a great experience. The chocolate is DELICIOUS and the tour very informative. It definitely made me appreciate the chocolate even more. Highly recommend.

What a wonderful experience, Eli our tour and information guide was amazing and very knowledgeable. Everyone needs to go and learn about cacao,

My grandson and I took the Chocolate Tasting tour at River-Sea. It was a good experience. For many years, we've gone to Hershey Park and really liked it. Surprisingly, I learned something new about cacao on this tour. I appreciated that the company believes in fair trade, considers the environment, and overall, I believe they make the chocolate as organic as possible. I normally don't like dark chocolate, but the Tanzania dark chocolate was so delicious, I could taste the fruity flavors right away. It was definitely a unique tasting experience. We were also able to try the chocolate Gelato which was very tasty. Finally, it was a 20-minute drive for me, so I plan to do this tour again in the future. Really enjoyed it.

It's absolute fun! Our tour guy was personable & funny along with informative. The chocolate tasting was delicious & supporting local business owners was a bonus.

I have gone here twice with a group of friends for the chocolate tasting and tour, and we all had a wonderful time. The tasting includes several videos explaining how River-Sea selects and buys their chocolate beans and how they ship them to help preserve the environment. Then you and your group are helped by a staff member to taste and understand several different flavors of chocolate produced here. You can ask questions, and then you can view the workroom where the candies are made. You will probably want to buy some of their fabulous chocolate to take home!

Great experience with great chocolate. In detail of how chocolate is harvested to wrapped. Very informative.