Quote for the weekend

What she (the octopus) taught me was to feel… that you’re part of this place, not a visitor. That’s a huge difference.

My Octopus Teacher, Netflix

Coffee & Reading the morning paper

• [New Coffee Shop Alert] Washington, DC: “An industrial-style all-day cafe that roasts coffee from countries such as Ethiopia, Colombia, and Guatemala opened in Arlington late last month and just started serving food this week. Origin Coffee Lab & Kitchen takes up a 2,000-square-foot space on Pentagon Row, which recently rebranded as Westpost.”
• [New Coffee Shop Alert] Washington, DC: “Lost Sock Roasters Open Their First Shop for Fruity Coffees and South American Snacks: The wholesaler for D.C. favorites like Baked & Wired opens a cafe in Takoma that sells pour-overs and Argentine empanadas” Read more!
• Trending: Chocolate and Candy to Play Central Role in Valentine’s Day 2020. We knew that 🙂
• Reading: Chocolate Brand Looks To Carbon Insetting To Transition Farmers To Regenerative Agriculture
• Reading: How One NYC Café Plans to Turn Customers Into Owners
• Reading: Biggest Food Photography Lessons in 2020
• Reading: Coffee Filters May Protect You Against Coronavirus

Some chocolate dessert

List of 9 Ideas for Valentine’s Day Chocolate Gifts

• Pictured above! $18 Valentine’s truffles in vegan raspberry blossom and champagne love potion! (We’ve reviewed Vosges and love them!)
• Best packaging! This $10 Omnom Lakkris & Raspberry 40% (Limited). (“Liquorice Milk chocolate covered in dried raspberries. A marriage of flavors, both sweet and sour, with lots of raspberries and liquorice. A white chocolate made with Icelandic milk, with a beautiful packaging made especially for Valentine’s Day gift giving.”) (We’ve reviewed Omnom and love them!)
• Best self love gift! This $30 set from Vosges of salty and sweet marshmallows! (“Fluffy Madagascar bourbon vanilla marshmallow is topped with a chewy square of small batch caramel, enrobed in 62% cacao dark chocolate and topped with walnuts and pecans!”) (We’ve reviewed Vosges and love them!)
• Most luxurious! This $75 Amedei Pralines Gift Box (25 pcs of dark and milk chocolate! (“Beautifully presented Le Praline chocolate box from the world-famous Italian chocolate maker, Amedei. Containing a selection of 25 of superior quality dark and milk assorted handmade filled chocolates.”) (We’ve reviewed Amedei and love them!)

• Bite size chocolate gift! These $19 Venchi chocolate truffles. (“56% dark chocolate shell filled with extra dark chocolate cream and olive oil, Milk chocolate shell filled with milk cream and hazelnut paste, Milk chocolate shell filled with milk chocolate mousse.”)
• Sounds delicious! This $9 Amano Raspberry Rose 55% chocolate bar. (“As with our single origin bars our focus is to be as true to the ingredients as possible. Here you will encounter not just the famous flavors of our dark chocolate made with Ecuadorian beans. You’ll also find raspberries and rose petals ground and smoothly mixed with our chocolate. Small bits of sugar crystals give a satisfying crunch in your mouth.”)

• Affordable! This $6.50 Raaka Pink Sea Salt 71% chocolate bar! (“A little bit of salt brings out just the right amount of fruity, sweet notes in this house blend of cacao from the Dominican Republic and Bolivia. Since its release, this bar has remained a staff and customer favorite. We’re proud to use salt from Salt of the Earth Co, who sources an ancient salt from the Salinas de Maras in Cusco, Peru, and contributes a portion of proceeds back to the surrounding community.”)
• Sweet and spice! This pink $8 Akesson’s Madagascar Trinitario & Pink Pepper 75%! (“In this subtle chocolate, the fruity-sweet tartness of cocoa, its pleasant flavor notes that evoke citrus and red berries are enriched by the floral notes of our pink pepper.”)
• Lastly, pre-order one of these incredible chocolate eggs from an Italian chocolate brand just in time for Easter 🙂 (We’ve reviewed the brand and love them!)

your Coffee shop outfit/GIFTS

• For a Valentine’s Day virtual (or in-person) coffee shop date, wear this soft pink bracelet, drink coffee from this pink mug and wrap yourself in this pink-peach-white scarf! <3
• Home décor! Look at these stunning pink soapstone bookends!
• Take a virtual Valentine’s vacation by lighting a soapstone candle that smells like guava and Mediterranean fig.
• More Reading: This Valentine’s Day, reach for a better box of chocolates.
• More Reading: The Best Chocolates To Buy Online Right Now.

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Have a lovely weekend.

This post contains a few affiliate links, which means that if you do click through and then buy something, you may help support an insatiable coffee and chocolate habit at no cost to you. 🙂  Any written opinions here are by time cupsoul/our own.