Don’t know your merlot from your pinot? Your chardonnay from your beaujolais? (Wow, you’re really in trouble.) Don’t sweat it. Stick with your two-buck Chuck and put your energy toward something really worthwhile.

Like chocolate.

Bittersweet, the newly opened chocolate cafe in Oakland’s adorable Rockridge neighborhood, is the perfect place to do just that. The space, which was inspired by a tiny chocolate store in Provence, is as cozy as chocolate itself: hardwood floors, Mexican farm tables and chairs, murals made of vintage chocolate posters, maps, and recipes.

The extensive menu includes drinks like European Hot Chocolate (non-dairy), American Hot Chocolate, Spicy Hot Chocolate (with a hint of cayenne pepper), Chocolate Thai Iced Tea, and the White Chocolate Dream (infused with cardamom); cookies, brownies, macaroons, and muffins baked on-site; adventurous confections like La Dolce Grapefruit (a grapefruit infused caramel); and, of course, a selection of chocolate bars from around the world. With over 150 to choose from, your mouth will soon know whether a particular crop of cacao was grown in Africa, South America, or Hawaii (feel free to practice until it does).

You’ll be on a sugar high for days.

And that sure beats a nasty hangover.

Bittersweet: The Chocolate Cafe, 5427 College Avenue, at Kales Avenue, Oakland (510-654-7159 or bittersweetchocolatecafe.com).