Can a chocolate tasting online ever replace a "real" one?

On a typical Berlin evening, chocolate lovers and those interested in chocolate came together regularly to discover and discuss fine chocolate flavors together! But in March 2020 this changed abruptly when “normal” life came to a standstill due to Corona. But just as cocoa trees adapt to their environment, the Theyo team quickly adapted to the new reality: from now on the chocolate tastings were digital! - Read here: an experience report and interview with our co-founders Madita and Moritz.

Chocolate tasting suddenly from home

"Similar to wine tasting, chocolate tasting is about talking shop together and having a good time," says Moritz, founder of Theyo. “By March we were already missing interaction with other chocolate fans and started thinking about how we could create this feeling digitally. That’s why we started offering digital chocolate tastings on platforms like Google Meet and Zoom early on.”
While virtual chocolate tastings don't involve the usual logistical considerations like analog tastings - e.g. enough space for everyone, assessment of overbooking and no-show rate and much more. – online tastings come with completely different challenges. "Even the smallest technical problems can stall the fun of chocolate tasting," says Moritz.

Theyo goes global: chocolate tasting as an online company event

On the other hand, the virtual aspect has given the Theyo team a whole new reach. While we at Theyo have previously mainly addressed Berlin teams, companies and private individuals with tastings, we now reach chocolate fans from Australia, India and the USA with our digital team events . Moritz and Madita select the most interesting chocolates from thousands, our team organizes the worldwide shipping and finally guides you personally through the virtual tasting.

Chocolate as a social glue

"Chocolate is unique in its ability to connect us to our senses, the present moment and community," says Theyo founder Madita. "Our tastings are - like our chocolate blog - instructive and immersive." They are therefore a great opportunity to spend a good time with teams and friends. We notice again and again that the physical enjoyment together also shrinks the digital distance Tasting participants from all over the world take a similar view to us:

A huge thank you from our side for the wonderful event last week.
Everyone was absolutely delighted!
Laura, Salesforce

Thank you for the event - it was a complete success, the team really liked it and enjoyed it! 😊
Nicola, SAP

We would like to thank you again for the good cooperation and the interesting insight into the world of the cocoa bean.
The participants really enjoyed this little break.
Sabrina, Porsche Engineering

Weeks later, our directors were still raving about the chocolate and the event! Thank you for that too!!
Christiane, Office of the Ministerial Commissioner for the Realschulen in Swabia

Thank you for the great organization! We got great feedback from our colleagues 😊
Aleksandra, The Boston Consulting Group

Thanks a lot both!! It was really awesome!
I appreciated all the detailed information about chocolate and especially about the brands, fair trade, etc.
Looking forward to the next event :)
Daniel, Google

Thanks again for the great session on Friday! I got positive feedback from the team, everyone is enthusiastic about the workshop and we all definitely look at chocolate from a different perspective.
Hey, Google

Thank you very much for the appointment, it was really very informative and structured and everyone had a lot of fun.
Silke, Telefonica

Absolute recommendation and not only delicious and surprising, but also highly informative.
And: Sustainability is a top topic for customers anyway. Splendid!
Mike, Google

Thank you again for the great tasting, everyone really, really liked it and enjoyed it 😊
Wiebke, The Boston Consulting Group

Really great! Thank you for arranging everything so well. Great success amongst the team :)
Jolijn, Google

You can find even more voices from enthusiastic chocolate fans on our chocolate tasting page ...

The future of (digital) chocolate tasting

Moritz is also certain that the format of the chocolate tasting will also change after Corona: “We are currently planning with a hybrid approach. Corona has opened up completely new communication possibilities and a whole new understanding of chocolate has emerged. We have been able to observe a much more critical examination of topics such as fairness and sustainability.” Whether online or analog: at Theyo we therefore hope that this new perspective on (fine) chocolate will continue after Corona.

Craving for chocolate? Take a look and see which offer could be exciting for your team or company . Or simply make yourself a chocolate gift !