On the chocolate trail

A POSSE of confessed chocoholics put the "never too much chocolate" theory to the test. McLaren Vale: Just say cheese »

CAN there be a limit to the amount of chocolate you can consume? Most of us fantasise about living on a planet where chocolate rains from the sky.

We decided to put this "never too much chocolate" theory to the test by going along on a Sydney Chocolate and Coffee tour, guided by Shelagh Coleman, from Chocolate Espresso Walking Tours.

This is the kind of tour that participants on The Biggest Loser can only dream about.

Our group of confessed chocoholics assembles in the foyer of No 1 Martin Place, where Shelagh shares a little of the history of chocolate with us, describing its discovery in South America (where it began as a bitter beverage) and the modern methods of production.

Salivating at the thought of pleasures to come, we wander off to the Strand Arcade for our first stop.

Bean there, drank that
AS every chocoholic knows, the perfect bedfellow for a nice piece of chocolate is coffee.

And we're not talking about your International-Roast-from-a-giant-can type of coffee. We mean real coffee: the kind of stuff that gets your heart racing like a defibrillator.

Which is why Shelagh takes us to the grand old Strand Arcade and Coffee Philosophy, established in 1891.

While we're sipping our lattes, she provides a commentary on the evolution of the world's favourite beverage, showing us some of the pods from which coffee is made.

It seems coffee has been with us since the First Fleet. In the early years, the many "coffee palaces" at the south end of Sydney's CBD were popular reading rooms and meeting places. No doubt many a political coup was plotted in such caffeine-fuelled establishments.

"Who drinks the most coffee in the world?" Shelagh asks us. "Italians!" most of us reply.

But we're wrong. Shelagh tells us it's in fact the Finns, each of whom ploughs through 11kg of coffee beans a year.

Dieters need not apply
WITH our hearts now palpitating, we head to our first chocolate shop of the morning: Haigh's. This Adelaide-based family company has been producing Australia's premier chocolate since 1916.

The shop itself, with its polished timber panelling, is almost as beautiful – in an olde worlde kind of way – as the chocolate it sells.

The walls inside are stacked with all manner of treats, from foil-wrapped eggs to Haigh's most popular item: Chocolate Frogs. We all stock up on these delicious amphibians, especially as everyone on the tour is entitled to a discount.

Best of all is the fact that every chocolate shop we visit hands out free samples. Lots of free samples.

What we don't stuff in our mouths, we squirrel away into the paper carry bags Shelagh gives us for just this purpose.

Our only regret is that these handy containers aren't just a tad bigger.

By the time we reach our second chocolate shop – the wonderful Jeff de Bruges – some of us are already feeling choc-full. But it's amazing how fast appetite returns when one is confronted with another cornucopia of free treats.

Jeff de Bruges, one of Sydney's newest chocolate shops, specialises in silky-smooth Belgian chocolates made to traditional recipes.

We can actually feel our waistlines expanding as we head off towards our next desirable destination; Vanderwee Chocolates.

En route, some of us wonder aloud whether it will be possible to face another chocolate.

But we can, and we do: Vanderwee chocolates are just too good to refuse.

These delectable pralines, bars and truffles are hand-made by artisans in Bruges, Belgium, and flown in each week.

We're given even more free samples, some of which go straight into the bag for later.

No surrender
AUSTRALIANS gobble up 4.5kg of chocolate each every year, and our little group is doing its best to raise the national average. Especially when we arrive at Australian Homemade Premium Icecream and Chocolates.

At first, some of us are groaning, "Please, no more chocolates!" A couple of us actually feel queasy.

Once we see the tempting selection, however, we soon get our priorities right – and begin eagerly stuffing ourselves once again.

At the end of the tour, Shelagh takes us to one of the city's five-star hotels to have another coffee and relax. Most of us are simply too full to move from our seats.

One member of the group even swears off chocolate. For at least two hours.

The rest of us begin digging around in our sample bags for a praline to enjoy with our coffee. After all, life is short, and you can never have too much chocolate.

So load up – and make sure you've got enough stashed away just in case you ever get tempted again!

The Sunday Telegraph