Mid-Michigan Dining

• 500 E. Michigan Ave.
• Suite 190
• Lansing, MI 48912
• (517) 999-3405
• Website
• Menu

Great Lakes Chocolate & Coffee Company in the Stadium District near Downtown Lansing

If you’ve ever looked at my sidebar, you’ve noticed I have RSS feeds from the local media outlets here in town.  This story on WLAJ.com really jumped out at me today.

About a dozen mid-Michigan workers are employed today with the help of the Great Lakes Chocolate and Coffee Company.

YAY!  Chocolate!  When my girlfriend came home for dinner tonight, I suggested making a run downtown to get a couple pieces of gourmet chocolate for dessert before I took she had to go back. 

The Great Lakes Chocolate & Coffee Co. opened up shop on the corner of Michigan Ave. and Larch St. on the first floor of the Stadium District building across from Oldsmobile Park.  Parking is limited out front to a few meters, but behind the building is a massive parking lot for the businesses and the residents of the Stadium District.  We were going the wrong way down Michigan to get a spot at a meter, so we went around to the back parking lot.  For those coffee lovers in a hurry, there’s also a drive-thru behind the building.  The main entrance is off Michigan Ave, but there is a back entrance from the back lot and an entrance on the Larch St. side.  Since we parked in back, we entered from the back.  There an open sign and there are hours on the door, but when we walked in, we second guessed ourselves.  The only two doors you see are for the men’s room and an employee entrance to the kitchen.  There is a hallway that leads back into the shop, but it took us a second to get our bearings and realize that.

The newest addition to Lansing's downtown, The Great Lakes Chocolate & Coffee Co.

The space is great.  There’s a counter up front that displays all the goodies.  There are two display cases full of chocolate.  One is all truffles.  The second is everything else.  It was overwhelming to say the least.  I had no idea what to choose or what everything was.  To give us a little bit more time, my girlfriend ordered a frozen coffee so we could keep looking at the chocolate.  I’m not a coffee drinker, so I don’t know what any of these things are, but what she ordered was a Vanilla Caramel with soy milk.  To make the drink, they blend vanilla, caramel , and icy espresso until it’s smooth then top it with whipped cream.  It took a few minutes to make the drink so we had time to pick out our chocolates and start sampling while the barista’s were working.

I didn’t know where to start so J took the lead.  She started picking out different items so we could have a wide sample.  The ones I can remember eating were a mint meltaway, milk chocolate meltaway, peant butter meltaway, amaretto truffle, rum truffle, and a milk chocolate truffle.   Even though J’s the chocolate eater, I ate twice as much as she did.  She actually showed some restraint, while I couldn’t help myself.  These chocolate were sooooooo good.  Out bill was $13 for a frozen coffee and 10 or 11 pieces of chocolate.

The Great Lakes Chocolate and Coffee Company may look like a chain and that’s because it looks like they are in the early stages of doing just that.  They were founded in Sturgis, MI where the original shop is.  Right now, the third and only other shop is in Ann Arbor.  There is a “coming soon” listed on their website in Appleton, WI, but other than that, three is it.  It takes guts to come into the home market of another regional coffee company, but Great Lakes is trying.  They offer not only good coffee (according to J), but great chocolate so you can indulge in two vices at once.