Cocoa Black — Restaurant in Scotland

A bit of a weird one. Don’t expect cakey cake such as carrot, or cherry loaf etc. it serves much more European style cakes. They look amazing with mirror glaze & decor, chocolate curls. But they are very light! Many are mousse. All this decor takes time especially when they are individually done. Coming from Edinburgh we didn’t find anything too expensive, & compared to a Costa hot chocolate, this orange hot chocolate was far more indulgent, smooth & velvety & no more expensive. Big pot of loose leaf tea, Black Forest cake & £40 on chocolates which were of good quality & some unique flavours. Visited at Christmas & there was a nice selection of themed & shaped choccie gifts.

Only around 8 tables. Wheelchair suitable but not sure about toilets. The cafe was rather cold (it was snowing) & the staff seemed rushed & that came across as a little disinterested & rude for a cafe.

The lime green, almost neon decor & TV screens on loop were very modern but jarring & distracting. For us, it was a disconnect of beautiful Peebles town, nice cafe visit but was distracting from all this.

When in Peebles I’d probably...

One star because I can’t give zero.... What a thoroughly unpleasant experience. Very pretty looking cakes and hot chocolates but the texture and taste was awful. The gingerbread hot chocolate came with weird metallic rice paper bits that offered an odd texture but even when they were scooped off the hot chocolate underneath was gritty with an unpleasant flavour. Mint hot chocolate was equally unpleasant, topped with dark chocolate/mint chunks. Somehow overpowering mint yet bland at the same time. The banana/mango/lemon cake was fairly bland but not too offensive. However, the chocolate spiral on top may have looked pretty but melted into a fatty slab of cocoa butter in the mouth. All looked very nice but did not...

Always delicious! Living in Peebles I have been into Cocoa Black my fair share of times. Sometimes I try something new but my usual order is the praline mouse - absolutely divine. Everything else I had tried is also delicious but the praline mouse is just my absolute favourite! They have a nice selection of hot chocolates which are nice, but could do with a stronger chocolate taste! Not a comment you would expect for a chocolate shop but have had times where it tasted of slightly chocolatey warm milk. I'm not a fan of hot chocolate when it literally tastes like melted chocolate but a stronger chocolate taste would be nice. Will continue to pop in for my praline mouse and...