Is the Tree to Bar tour at Hotel Chocolat in Saint Lucia worth it?

Saint Lucia is such a lush, beautiful country with stunning natural resources, such as waterfalls, rainforests, and of course the Pitons, which are UNESCO World Heritage sites. If you’re staying in, or visiting, west Saint Lucia there are so many activities you can do. One of the most popular activities is chocolate making, as Saint Lucia has been exporting its cacao beans to Europe since the 1700s! There are a number of chocolate tours that you can do in Saint Lucia and we chose the Tree to Bar tour at Hotel Chocolat, near Soufrière. Here’s what it was like.

Why Hotel Chocolat?

Hotel Chocolat is a very popular chocolate brand in the UK, with shops all over the country. I’ve been buying, and enjoying, their chocolate for years. So when I was researching things to do for our holiday in Saint Lucia, I came across the Tree to Bar tour. The bonus was that it was right near our resort, Sugar Beach, so it was a no-brainer that we had to go!

Project Chocolat is where the Tree to Bar tour takes place, on the 6 acre Rabot Estate, owned by Hotel Chocolat. It’s a working cacao farm and the tour lets you experience it for yourself.

How much does the Tree to Bar tour cost at Hotel Chocolat?

How much it costs, depends on how you book it. You can book it directly through Hotel Chocolat for $124 (US) per person. The price includes lunch but doesn’t include transport.

We booked it through our hotel at a cost of $200 per person, which included transport to and from Hotel Chocolat. On hindsight, we would’ve saved money if we’d booked it directly and then just booked a taxi – especially as we were only a 15 minute drive away. C’est la vie! It was still worth the money though.

Inclusive lunch at Hotel Chocolat

We opted to have our lunch, which was included, before the tour started. Note that it’s not at their restaurant but rather at their Project Chocolat street-food style market area.

The lunch includes a main, two sides and a non-alcoholic drink. One of the sides can also be a salad from the salad food truck. My husband and I ended up choosing the same sides – mac ‘n cheese with cacao nibs (which was delicious) and plantain chips (still dreaming about them!). I chose the fried fish for my main and my husband had the pulled pork burger. I was impressed with the food – it was great. I also bought a glass of wine from the bar to have with my lunch.

You also get to choose a sundae for dessert but top tip… save it for after you’ve made your chocolate bar. Why? Because you have to wait 30 minutes for the chocolate to set so at least you get to enjoy your dessert whilst you wait.

The Cacao Bar serves wine, beer and cocktails (of course with chocolate!). It’s a really lovely space with great views. Enjoy a drink before or after your tour. You’re also given a cold chocolate drink after the tour and before the chocolate making begins.

What happens on the Tree to Bar Tour?

After lunch we were met by our guide, Taj, who took us first to the Seederie. He explained that the cacao plant is known as Theobroma Cacao (and there are three varieties of cacao plant) and is native to South America. However it is now grown in many countries, including Saint Lucia.

After learning how cacao plants are grafted, we got to (in couples) name a cacao plant. That was pretty cool – knowing that a tree we had named would be planted on the estate for generations of chocolate to come!

It was pretty hot the day we did the tour and the Seederie is also hot, so I was grateful for the bottles of water they gave us as I’d forgotten to bring my water bottle with me.

Once we’d finished in the Seederie it was time to explore the Rabot Estate (not all 6 acres, mind!) and see the cacao plants out in the rainforest.

As we were walking, Taj pointed out different cacao pods, which varied in colour from a white/green to a deep red.

He then took a ripe pod and broke it (Ninja style!) and then pulled out the white cacao beans. They were slimy! We then got to taste them and I swear they tasted like mango.

You can watch a quick video of the Tree to Bar tour, including what the cacao beans look like when they come out of the pod!

The Rabot Estate is just gorgeous. We got to walk around and explore the rainforest a bit before we headed back to Project Chocolat to make our chocolate bar.

Making the chocolate bar

After learning all about the cacao tree and how the cacao beans get made into cacao nibs, it was time to make some chocolate. All the ingredients were laid out for us, along with a very hot pestle and mortar (to help the nibs to melt). The ingredients consisted of cacao nibs (above 70%), butter and icing sugar.

After combining the cacao nibs with the butter, you needed to pound it with the pestle and mortar until it became a paste, and then add some icing sugar for sweetness, and then keep pounding/grinding until it becomes liquid. It honestly took about 20 minutes to get it to become liquid – my arm was aching!

When the instructor approved the consistency of your chocolate, you could then pour the chocolate into a mold. Then we had to wait around 30 minutes for it to set. I don’t think anyone managed to achieve perfectly smooth chocolate but we had fun trying!

Whilst you wait for your chocolate to set you can enjoy a drink, have a sundae or have a look around their shop where they sell cacao gin, chocolate spa products and more.

Is the Tree to Bar tour worth the money?

I absolutely loved the Tree to Bar tour and am so glad we did it! With lunch, the whole tour takes between 3 to 3.5 hours so it’s a great activity to do in the morning and have lunch afterwards or in the afternoon and enjoy lunch before the tour. The lunch was delicious, the tour was informative and how often do you get to make your own chocolate bar? I definitely thought it was worth the money. Top tip though is to book directly with Hotel Chocolat for the best price.