Indulge your sweet cravings at “Terra Bean to Bar,” Taipei’s awesome chocolate dessert haven! Nestled in the heart of the city right near Daan Park, this charming dessert shop offers an array of mouthwatering cocoa creations. Savor velvety-smooth chocolate pastries, cakes, delightful truffles, and artisanal hot chocolate with Terra Bean to Bar twists.
With its warm ambiance and heavenly cocoa delights, Terra Bean to Bar promises a unique experience of chocolate desserts in Taipei choco enthusiasts. A must-visit destination for any Taipei chocolate lover exploring this city’s culinary sweet delights!
Table of Contents
It’s pretty clear that chocolate from Terra Bean to Bar should be enjoyed, slowly, in their relaxed atmosphere cafe. Even from the outside, we can see that they have a lot of bushes, some small trees, lots of dark exposed wood and glass. The whole thing looks like it could be a cafe somewhere in Europe.
Greeting you at the door is this nice metal sign showing us that they have drinks, desserts, and that they also do classes here.
Inside, the atmosphere is just as relaxed as the outside, but in a slightly different way. On the inside, expect a sweeping dappled concrete bar with some seating, as well as plenty of other more relaxed seating off to the sides.
There are lots of carefully positioned lights throughout the bar and seating area, without it being overwhelmingly bright.
Gifts
If you have to wait for your table, then there’s a nice area to the side of the bar and counter that has many gifts. Expect to find chocolate beer, gin, and plenty of carefully curated bars – win! They’re expensive, but it’s almost a given that you can trust this place for quality, as they are processing it all in small batches, allowing more love, care, and quality control to go into each bar.
The Counter
The counter is where you’ll likely sort out your reservation or ask for a table, whereupon you’ll probably proceed to drool all over the glass whilst staring at the plethora of gift boxes and other chocolate on offer for you when you’re given the menu on which to order.
The almonds and also the gin strike me as a pretty good gift to take home to loved ones, too.
The Chocolate Menu at Terra Bean to Bar
Those regular readers of Eating in Taipei, will know that I love a small menu. I have said it before, and I will say it again – A small menu means absolute clarity, quality, and attention to each detail of a dish. Honing your craft over those <10 items on a menu really ensures that those items will be well thought out, executed, and delivered to you (of course, that is assuming competence).
My eyes were gravitating towards that hot chocolate and nitro iced chocolate.
Not only do you get a standard menu, but you also get a menu detailing the flavour profiles of the cocoa here, too.
On the day that we went, we could choose between cocoa from India, Madagascar, or Colombia. You can’t really look past Terra Bean to Bar if you are looking for chocolate in Taipei. This kind of selection and artisanal curation of ingredients is very difficult to beat.
What We Ordered
I had to get the hot choc. It was almost a given, to be honest. But, I also had to go for a little truffle, too. For the cocoa, we chose to have the cocoa from India. This particular cocoa originated in the Anaimalia Hills of Southern India in-between the state of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The hot chocolate was wonderful. Served hot, I was told on the flavour profile card to expect guava, peanut, and caramel. I don’t know whether I could identify all 3 of those specific flavours in it, but peanut and caramel definitely came through. Maybe some element of guava came through as an after taste, but probably because I had already read the card and was expecting it…
What I can tell you is that it was up there with some of the nicest hot chocolate that I have had the pleasure of tasting. Light, flavourful, and effortlessly smooth.
Nitro step up!
My experience of nitro drinks isn’t quite as broad as it is other drinks. I feel like I have missed the nitro-ness of drinks by swearing off Starbucks. I have had some nitro coffee in other cafes around, but it’s not a regular order for me.
I have most certainly not had nitro iced chocolate before, so this was a first for me. Poured straight out of the tap into a chocolate-rimmed champagne flute, the flowing chocolate here at Terra Bean to Bar had me simply wanting to open my mouth and stick it under the tap – a little bit like how I imagine Augustus Gloop would do…
I digress, nitro iced choc was here, and I was happy. The light aeration allows this iced choc to be incredible light, coating your tongue delicately with all of the flavours.
For the cocoa here, we elected for the Madagascar – Akesson Bejofo. Flavour profiles of citrus and ripe fruit were expected, and they delivered. They didn’t deliver with deep, rich flavours, but more so light and airy flavours. Partially due to the nitro element to the iced drink, but also partly because this cocoa is just that little bit lighter when compared to the Indian cocoa that we went for in the hot chocolate above.
When we see a pudding or panna cotta on a dessert menu, we tend to get it.
Served in a cute little dish here, sitting in the choc caramel sauce and topped with some cream and cocoa nibs, this was a beauty.
Thick, decadent, creamy, and packed full of choco flavour. This was really good. I’d say that it came in slightly heavier, rather than lighter. When it comes to this kind of dessert, though, that is definitely a tick in the positives box!
The bottom line
Is it worth it? This place is right on the money for a deliciously decadent date. The atmosphere is chill, the menu is great, and it’s a genuinely lovely place to sit and talk.
Would I go again? Yes. I won’t rush back, but I will definitely go back.
What was the best thing we tried? The nitro was really good and pretty fun, but I would say that all things that we ordered were about on par with each other. I’d order it all again.
They opened up another branch near the sea, you should check this beautiful place out.
Sanzhi District, New Taipei City – Terra by the Sea 土然巧克力淺水灣店- Chocolate at Its Glorious Best, by the Sea.