Chocolate is the new coffee, stated the girl across the table from me, and I had to agree. What Seattle yuppies did for America’s taste in coffee, and Whole Foods did for everything else, someone, even as we speak, must be doing for chocolate.

When did it happen? Certainly some time before Max Brenner of Chocolate by the Bald Man brought his first chocolate café’s to NYC. And well before Lindt declared chocolate tasting on par with wine tasting with its sophisticated Excellence 99% Cacao Noirissme chocolate bar in 2005. In fact, by the time that Hershey recently jumped on the bandwagon with their belated and dubious Cacao Reserve line, the concept was already in danger of becoming mainstream. Where once we had pharmacy racks of gritty brown wax, now for the first time we have solid organic tablets that snap when you break them, and liquor-infused balls of rich, melting ganache.

And that was how I found myself sitting in Stout, an absolutely terrible midtown sports bar, picking at a salad, trying to stave off what can only be called a ‘sugar hangover’. The last 24 hours had been spent wallowing in the Ninth Annual Chocolate Show in New York, a testament and showcase to America’s slow maturation of chocolate taste.

For three days this last weekend, those willing to wait in the three hour line were rewarded with chocolate sculptures and chocolate cosmetics, and representatives of the Ivory Coast. Demonstration kitchens allowed pastry chefs like Bill Corbett of Dona to show off their chocolate recipes, while the kiddies tried chocolate painting. And yes, there was a fashion show of chocolate clothing, and tastings of bizarre concoctions like chocolate and mushroom bars, and chocolate book signings, and there was even one lone chocolate cupcake vendor, but none of that really mattered because what people really come for is the chocolate exhibitors.

The Chocolate Show is the J-date of the brand-name chocolate distribution world. If it’s a small chocolatier’s dream to someday be picked up by Dean and Deluca or Whole Foods, this is the place to make it happen.

Some of them already have; most of the high-class bars in Aisle 10 were first discovered here. And that means the urgent explanations and smiles at each booth weren’t just from lack of bathroom breaks; each carefully sliced sample had the potential to turn into a business card and a steady supply contract. For a small artisnal chocolate maker, that means a lifeline of money to develop into a larger artisanal chocolate maker, hopefully without sacrificing the artisanal part.

But with so many exhibitors, hopeful tasters didn’t need the to be a corporate scout to tell the incredible from the merely brown. Good chocolate should be crisp and flavorful, smooth and glossy, with no trace of grittiness. It should melt on minimal contact and leave no bitter aftertaste. A perfect example: show standout Rechiuti, serving up plate after plate of jasmine and raspberry truffle slices, swapping business cards and promises to talk further almost as fast as they sold their $5 mini-boxes.

At Serendipitea the samples of fragrant chocolate tea infusions spilled out across the table, while next door, Sweetriot waved around signs and chocolate-covered cacao nibs. As the new cool thing, tea flavoring was also the theme at L.A. Burdick Chocolate where a tea-infused dark chocolate sat next to glossy catalogs and small white chocolate penguins and mice. On the other side of the hall, Gustaux distributed some truly outstanding simple truffles, and Romanico’s Chocolate bravely touted it’s low-sugar version.

Those taking a break from pure chocolate could buy a perfectly spiced fig dipped to look like a pumpkin from John and Kira’s, or try desert wine tasting from the ever-pleasing Quady liquors. Not cutting-edge enough? Coppeneur offered small, crunchy cocoa pods dusted with chili powder.

Some of the better-known manufacturers were already reaping the benefits of a larger operation and brand name; the Japanese chocolatiers Mary’s attracted an absolutely rabid crowd. By early Saturday afternoon they had sold out of golden sesame and sweet potato truffles; and their black sesame seed and green tea ganache was rapidly disappearing. Behind the protective glass, harried pastry chefs struggled to fill orders of their popular seasonal flower line – violet, Japanese plum, lily of the valley, and iris.

For minimalist quality, the strong favorite in pure chocolate seemed to be Felchlin, with their hand-collected wild cocoa bars retailing at $20 each. Closely following them in taste and popularity, Michel Cluizel Chocolates traded their spicy, full bodied samples and catalogs in equal numbers.

I stumbled from the Metropolitan Pavilion in a stupor, vitamin deficient and babbling of cocoa consistency and flavor infusions. Luckily, there was time to find a salad before the inevitable sugar crash and coma set in.

Much thanks to fud writers AMG and JAY for being good sports.

-ZAF