You know that giddy feeling you get when your favorite magazine finally arrives in the mail each month?
Well, imagine how ecstatic you’d feel if instead artisan chocolate arrived in your mailbox every month. Or even every week.
That’s the new irresistible subscription service launched by San Francisco’s Charles Chocolates.
Choose from small, medium or large boxes to be delivered every week, every two weeks, once a month or every two months. Prices range from $25 to $75 per box, with free shipping throughout California or 2-day air shipping for $5 to all other states.
The boxes contain some of Charles Chocolates’ best-selling items, all of them made in small batches. Subscribe for long enough and you’ll also be privy to seasonal specials, as well as new treats not yet released to the general public.
The company, started in 2004 by long-time confectioner and chocolatier Chuck Siegel, recently sent me a sample of its $49.95 box to try.
Inside, there’s the signature Triple Chocolate Coated Almonds, which are sizeable roasted almonds coated not only in a thick layer of milk chocolate but another of bittersweet chocolate, then finished in a dusting of Valrhona cocoa powder. These crunchy almonds have a big taste of complex chocolatey goodness.
The Caramel Almond Sticks are soft and chewy, not hard like old-school Almond Roca. The fleur de sel caramel strips are drenched in bittersweet chocolate and roasted almond pieces. The flaky salt and the bitter edge of the chocolate balance out the sweetness of the caramel for a decidedly grown-up treat.
You also get three chocolate bars. These are substantial — thick, and weighty. The Caramelized Cocoa Nib Bar is studded with crunchy nibs that have a bitter, almost coffee note, enhancing the deep, dark chocolate. The Salty-Sweet Hazelnut Bar features bittersweet chocolate dramatically encasing whole hazelnuts that have been toasted in a meringue of fleur de sel and sugar. Cashews get the same treatment in the Salty-Sweet Cashew Bar that uses 41 percent milk chocolate to create a milk chocolate bar that’s milky yet deeply chocolate-forward.
It sure makes for the sweetest delivery around.