5 out of 5 Stars

This visit was a last-minute thought. We already pre-booked the Port Arthur Ghost Tour for Sunday at 9pm, leaving the day free, so we decided to travel from Port Arthur back to Hobart for the day. Federation Artisan Chocolate is only a 5-minute walk from Hobart’s Waterfront. There is on-street meter parking available and it is free entry to the store. We didn’t make any bookings but willing to pay for a tour, however their Head Chocolatier wasn’t there – as we arrived at 10am… the doors just opened for business. But Maurice Curtis, the owner of the business, was more than happy to show and tell us all he knows about the history of chocolate making and the process of how chocolate is made – from bean to chocolate, you could see a mapped process displayed, where they make chocolate, through their window into that room as well as the machinery they use. He told us with pride that they make chocolate the way it used to be made 200 years ago. We learned a new chocolate term ‘liquor aging’, which is not what you think, ‘liquor’ is another term in the ‘chocolate world’ meaning liquid. We found Maurice to be sweet and kind to give us a spontaneous personal tour and found him to be very passionate and knowledgeable in the chocolate industry. He assured us that he uses only genuine ingredients with no added essences or oils. He also shared with us that working in a chocolate factory had always been his dream, which he finally made his dream come true by 2014! We then headed to the counter to buy our chocolate treats – Maurice’s wife Helen served us. She put no pressure on us and allowed us to select our chocolates in our own time. Helen was very accommodating in explaining the flavours of the chocolates individually – but still didn’t make our choosing any easier. The chocolate display looked amazing and colourful, very hard to select just a few chocolates – if we could, we would have bought the lot. We ended up buying an assortment of moulded chocolates @ $3 each and couldn’t resist to take them back to our lodge, but ate them on-the-spot. The verdict? Truly delectable. You could actually taste the difference between the cheap mass production and the ‘real’ process. Their chocolates are simply rich in flavour and melts in your mouth. Indulgent experience, especially for the ones with a ‘sweet tooth’. Open seven days a week, Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm, Saturday 9am – 3pm and Sunday 10am to 3pm.