Alma Chocolate in Portland, Oregon: Eat Your Heart Out

Alma Chocolate in Portland, Oregon: Eat Your Heart Out - A sense of personal conviction always seems to arise around chocolate. People work with it out of love. I've never heard of a chocolatier who was less than passionate about her or his life's work, and those at Alma are a stunning example of their kind. Portland attracts that kind of person, after all. Everyone here, if you ask, is making something they love.

Walking in the door to this small shop nestled along the foodie corridor of NE 28th at Couch, I feel uplifted by that passion. The decor reminds me of the film Chocolat, which is a fun and character-filled piece with Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp, and maybe it's no accident that Sarah Hart of Alma comes off a little like a Northwest version of the lead in this movie.

The unique hand-crafted chocolates here are $2.25 - pricier than store bought, but inexpensive enough that it's easy to have a couple now and again - and once I had one, it was clear to me that they were and are always worth it.

Offerings vary from week to week. Smoked paprika truffle? Salted lavender caramel? Cardamom-sesame? And occasionally they have a chocolate or two with coconut-milk based truffle for the vegans (there are lots of vegans here in Portland) and milk-allergic among us, which endears me because of the milk-allergic among my family. Their marzipan-fig confection is made without dairy products, and it's delicate and perfect.

They've taken to serving espresso drinks, too, and since then I've stopped in more frequently for a coffee on my way somewhere. Of course, the truffle case always calls, and I usually end up with some intriguing morsel or other while I'm at it. They're small, richly crafted, and local. These chocolates are intensely satisfying without spoiling my appetite, and I know I'm doing some good in the world between the fair-trade lineage of these sweets and the local artistry of their manufacture. Alma uses organic ingredients in their work as well.

I keep looking in awe at the beautiful gold-leaf chocolate icons on the dark wooden shelf. I don't know if I could bring myself to eat these works of art - Buddhas, the Virgin Mary, Guan Yin, the Sacred Heart, and a wide variety of symbols that speak to me of all the secrets Portland holds. But I know I wouldn't eat them alone. I envision sitting down with friends to eat our gods for dessert, and I smile. Sometimes, divinity is pretty simple.