In the Christmas present post, I mentioned that I get chocolate by mail. Christopher and I like chocolate, specifically dark chocolate. On of our favourites is Sainsbury’s Ecuadorian 70% (aka the green one). To shake things up, I decided to subscribe to Cocoa Runners.
A haul of chocolate delights from Cocoa Runners (the TAZA was handmilled. A texture to get get used to. The Marou was simply fab.
Cocoa Runners sell chocolate and arrange chocolate tastings. The subscription I have is for four bars a month (about £19), all dark chocolate. They promise to never send the same chocolate twice and the package incudes tasting notes so you know what you’re eating.
Exciting times
A slim cardboard box arrives at my desk once a month. I picked up the third when I got back from work after Christmas. In each are four different chocolates. This month, one of them is Chillique from Chocolate Tree, which makes me quietly happy – if I like it, I know where to get more.
In our first package there was a bar I adored – 70% Madagascan sourced and made in Madagascar, rich, nutty, soothing – but that’s not so easy to get hold of. (This is when it’s sad that they never repeat a bar.) Last month, I was really excited about a wild chocolate bar after reading Sarah Sheridan’s On Moonlit Seas. It didn’t change my life, but it was delicious. Of course, not everything that arrives is something you’ll love.
The organic, hand-ground 50% cocoa bar MAZA Cinnamon I didn’t like at all. It’s cute and round but it it’s grainy with sugar and not very dark. We still have a bit in the cupboard. Eventually, I’ll cook with it, or use it for hot chocolate but it turns out I don’t like authentic chocolate. I want fancy smooth stuff.
December looked bright!
Waiting for the mail
I enjoy my chocolate subscription and await each month’s delivery with keen anticipation. I don’t even mind that there was one I didn’t like. It was an intersting chocolate, the like of which I didn’t know existed, so what if I didn’t like it? Hopefully other recipients did.
I like the subscription concept and it seems its having a moment. I’m not likely to take up a gin subscription, nor will I subscribe to meals again, or make-up, underwear or clothes. I am thinking about a veggie box. We’ve wanted to try one out for ages but never got around to it. Whereas a chocolate subscription is easy – unwrap and eat – a veggie box forces you to eat seasonally and be creative with what you get.
Wouldn’t it be great to be as excited about veg as I am about chocolate?
