I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.

We were a little sad to find out that the Scharffen Berger plant in the Bay Area was going to close down. Hershey bought Scharffen Berger and another local Bay Area brand, Joseph Schmidt a few years back, and now that things are not doing well, they are going to fold in production at the Hershey plants in Pennsylvania.

I haven’t heard of Joseph Schmidt, but I love Scharffen Berger chocolate. It’s like the chocolate equivalent of good tea. For example – you can get your Cadbury’s, Hershey’s, Van Houten at the supermarket. Each bar is relatively inexpensive. However, they are too sweet and a little too watered down for me. Great for perhaps a little snack everyday. But nothing that really should be called chocolate. Same can be said of bag teas that are sold at the supermarket. Often of lower quality (not whole leaf, and even so, leaves might be broken), the teas often hide behind wonderfully creative blends – Raspberry Rapture, Chamomile-Honey-Dream-Tea, you get the picture – so you really can’t tell how bad the tea really is.

When I discovered Scharffen Berger, it was like discovering whole leaf tea. It made having chocolate a completely different experience. And rightly so. It is one of the few chocolate makers that source the beans themselves, roast, grind and blend their own beans to produce the end result themselves. They were also one of the first to feature the cacao content on their bars, although every Tom, Dick and Harry does that now.

The result, is an exceedingly smooth chocolate. I usually chew my chocolate, but when I have Scharffen Berger, I let it melt in my mouth to savour it. Complex and luxurious, you don’t need to finish an entire bar to feel satisfied. Which is why they often sell it in little bite-sized 1 inch squares. Yeah it’s a little bit pricey – but I suppose at some point you can’t go back to being satisfied with supermarket chocolate.

Anyway. Yesterday we went hunting for the Joseph Schmidt retail outlet to get some chocolate before it disappears from the Bay Area. I wanted to go to the Scharffen Berger outlet too, but it was over at the Ferry Building and we didn’t have the time to drive there. No matter, Joseph Schmidt in Castro carried Scharffen Berger as well.

Unfortunately, I’m not as nuts about Joseph Schmidt chocolate. They specialise in truffles, and I prefer my chocolate pure. I don’t like Turkish Delight or Raspberry Mousse in it, not even truffles or praline. I don’t want peanuts or orange slices in it, unless it’s not very good. Incidentally, you should demand the same of your tea. If you pu-erh is really good, you don’t need to and really shouldn’t add chrysanthemum to it.

Hershey says it will continue production of their Artisan chocolates, ie the Scharffen Berger, Joseph Schmidt and Dagoba chocolates, but when we asked at the store yesterday, the employees said they were sure if the store would still be in operation after Easter. So I suppose I’ll have to go and get a refill after I get back from SG.