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Wednesday 22 August 2012

Introducing Cocoa Boutique!

Do you like chocolate?  Daft question, I know, most of us like chocolate a little too much but often I find that boxes of chocolates are a little disappointing.  The chocolate is not always good quality and the centres are either very samey or sickly sweet.  So I was delighted when I was approached by Cocoa Boutique to review their luxury artisan chocolate selection.


All of the chocolates are hand made by award winning Master Chocolatiers such as; Barry Colenso, Pierre Ledent and Claire Hicklin to name but a few. Plus there’s a few hidden gems in each box from up and coming British chocolatiers to stretch your taste buds and give you a truly artisan experience.

Here is what Cocoa Boutique promise:
  • No mass production - quality instead of quantity
  • Super fresh - handpicked within days of delivery
  • Fine ingredients - using high quality cocoa beans
  • Signature creations - from Master Chocolatiers
  • Handmade chocolates - in every single box
The Cocoa Boutique approach is to let world class chocolatiers create their own delicious signature chocolates for you. Creating a truly unique selection, not available anywhere else. 

So what are the chocolates like?

 They arrive perfectly packaged in a distinctive sturdy cardboard box which pops through your letterbox, underneath the white box is revealed.

Here you see The Pink Champagne Truffle (with the little bits of raspberry on white chocolate), fresh and deliciously light, these truffles almost float into your mouth. Behind it is the White Strawberry Cream, another creamy morsel, I found it a little bland but if you like white chocolate mousse it is certainly beautifully made with no artificial strawberry taste. On the left is Raspberry with a Hint of Orange which bursts with zesty fruity flavours.


Salted caramel is very 'on trend' and this selection includes three Cocoa Dusted Dark Chocolate Salted Caramels,  I found that they weren't too sweet although I think I would have liked a little more salt.  The pretty coloured chocs are called 'Pamela' and this was one of my favourites, crisp dark chocolate filled with cassis-pear ganache, subtle and not too sweet.  Possibly my favourite of all the chocolates was the Milk Chocolate Almond Praline.  I'm not usually a big fan of milk chocolate, but the almond praline was outstanding, really full of flavour, you can see them on the right of the photo above.

On the left is the Vanilla Irish Cream, pleasant but nothing to write home about.  In the centre, the Rum Cafe Cream, another lovely choc which is a mixture of dark and milk chocolate with a rum flavour.

Something for all the family, my grandson enjoyed one of these giant chocolate buttons and they are ideal for anyone who doesn't like truffles or filled chocolate.  The chocolate is good quality and melts in your mouth.

I liked the idea of these little nibbly treats.  Top to bottom, Dark Chocolate Coffee Beans, I cannot tell a lie, these were my absolute favourites, really intense flavours of crunchy roasted coffee bean covered in the darkest chocolate, love them.  In the centre, Milk Chocolate Honeycomb little nuggets of honeycomb covered in milk chocolate, very moreish.  Finally a section filled with little 70% Equador Dark Chocolate Buttons.  I've missed a couple of truffles, Dark Chocolate Brandy Truffles  (on the right of the dark choc buttons) and Milk Chocolate Truffle both of which were lovely and creamy. 

If you would like to taste Cocoa Boutique chocolates, they are offering the Best of the Best Introductory Selection for £34.95 with free postage and packaging.  Definitely worthwhile for a special occasion.

Disclaimer: I was supplied with a  Cocoa Boutique luxury artisan chocolate selection.  I was not required to write a positive review and any opinion expressed is my own..

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9 Comments:

At 22 August 2012 at 21:27 , Blogger Choclette said...

I've yet to write up my review, but I was impressed with these.

 
At 23 August 2012 at 10:03 , Anonymous helen@fussfreeflavours.com said...

The little nibbles were a great idea.

I liked this, but not completely wowed, although the heavy milk bias did not help.

The initial box is also expensive, and I suspect the whole thing is more about marketing than choc as it run by the people who are behind Westin Gourmet and Bakers'Pantry.

 
At 23 August 2012 at 11:27 , Blogger Galina Varese said...

They look very arty & sophisticated. Could I come to your place for a sampling session? :)

 
At 23 August 2012 at 11:36 , Blogger Janice said...

Thanks for your comments

Helen-yes there were a lot of milk chocolates but it was good quality milk and although I prefer dark, a lot of people really don't like it.

Galina - you are welcome to come testing!

 
At 23 August 2012 at 11:37 , Blogger Janice said...

Choclette - looking forward to seeing what you think of them in your review

 
At 23 August 2012 at 12:35 , Anonymous corrie said...

Wow Yum...lucky you :-)

 
At 24 August 2012 at 02:51 , Blogger Wendy@The Omnivorous Bear said...

Oh Jamice.... I so long for lovely chocolate! Anything here tends to be very waxy to stop is melting in the heat. I think I'll just go an stare at your photos again... and drool....

 
At 24 August 2012 at 23:16 , Blogger Angela M - Garden Tea Cakes and Me said...

Its interesting how we both liked the Almond Praline chocolate, I'd have loved a box just containing those!

I do love your blog Janice and have chosen to give you the Versatile blogger award please read my post http://gardenteacakesandme.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/my-first-year-and-award.html

Angela

 
At 26 August 2012 at 12:44 , Anonymous Darren Beale - Cocoa Boutique said...

Hello everyone! :-) Firstly, fantastic review (detailed and honest!)

I just wanted to say that we do indeed own Westin Gourmet, Bakers Pantry and Cocoa Boutique but the product comes first and the marketing second.

It is very easy to go to a chocolate factory and create a box of chocolates... But we wanted to create something VERY special and to do this, we knew that it had to be done the hard way - by going to several leading chocolatiers and having them contribute their chocolates.

Why is this harder? Because logistically you have to manage the fresh creation of chocolates from several chocolatiers who all work to their own ways and timeframes :-)

Also you are on our Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/cocoaboutique you can pick up the Introductory Box for just £9.95 with free shipping for a limited time :-)

Thanks,

Darren

 

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I love to read your comments and try to reply when I can. I have had to enable comment moderation due to high levels of spam, so it may take a little time before your comment is visible. Please let me know if you make one of my recipes or if you have any questions I will try to answer them. Janice

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