As you know from my previous post this week I have been celebrating my first year of blogging, and I can not think of a better way than indulging in a box of chocolates. I adore chocolate and there are few days when I go with out eating any, pralines being my particular favourite. So I was more than happy to do my duty and eat my way through a Cocoa Boutique Chocolate Tasting Box to aid my celebration.

Who are Cocoa Boutique? A new luxury artisan chocolate tasting clubon a mission to bring their members the very best Pralines, Truffles and Caramels. Cocoa Boutique offer you the chance to have chocolates delivered direct to your door. To sign up to Cocoa Boutique tasting club costs initially £34.95 for 300g of 31 chocolate creations, and then £19.95, you can choose how often you want to receive the deliveries. I think the initial cost is a little expensive but would be happy to pay £19.95.
Chocolatiers
This is not all about a company making chocolates – all of the chocolates are hand made by award winning Master Chocolatiers such as Barry Colenso, Pierre Ledent and Claire Hicklin. Each box also contains a few hidden gems from up and coming British chocolatiers to stretch your taste buds and give you a truly artisan experience. 

Chocolates delivered through your letterbox
This really impressed me – I was expecting to have missed delivery of the chocolates and have the inconvenience of re-arranging delivery. But there was none of that, the box of chocolates are the perfect size to fit through your letterbox, and still arrived in perfect condition. 

Taste test
I’d set myself up with a cup of tea, I’d put my feet up and I was ready to indulge myself with chocolates. There was a choice of dark, white and milk chocolates though they were mostly milk, which pleased me as I like them all. Though I did avoided those with Rum and Brandy in as I’m not a fan of spirits. 
I was particularly impressed with Barry Colenso’s 70% Ecuador Dark Chocolate Buttons. They were smooth in flavour and not bitter which I find some dark chocolate can be. You could also taste the notes of liquorice and banana. 

I did find it very helpful having a full description of each chocolate, you could really appreciate the different combination of flavours.
My favourite Milk Chocolate Almond Praline
I can also understand why the Milk Chocolate Almond Praline is rated no.1 in Cocoa Boutique’s taste tests, it was my favourite. I loved the fact you could really taste the roasted almond and it had a real crunch to it. A closely followed runner up was the unusual Raspberry with a Hint of Orange by Claire Hicklin, you could taste both these flavours in this very smooth chocolate. I was slightly disappointed with the Pink Champagne Truffle, it looked wonderful and you could taste the Champagne, but the flavour from the raspberry sprinkles seemed lost.

I did not gorge on the whole box, I did share them with my sister. We both agreed on the Milk Chocolate Almond Praline being our favourite, my sister’s second favourite was called Pamela. A cassis-pear ganache with dark chocolate decorated in a rainbow of colours, very appealing to the eye.

You also get the chance to feed back your views, as each box of chocolates is accompanied by a chocolate scorecard.


I was sent a Cocoa Boutique Chocolate Tasting Box for the purposes of a honest review.