The Chocospherian
Incredible Chocolate News	August 2015

What’s New?	Customer Service
Summer Shipping	Bargain Basement
Incr‘Edible’ Chocolate Deal…	Newsletter
Facebook Friends Ask…	Recipe Corner

What’s New

Ethereal Confections crafts some amazing 80% single origin and 'no sugar added' as well as flavored bars The sweeteners for the 'no sugar' bars are stevia and erythritol. We're also offering two of Ethereal's gluten-free baking mixes. The brand is dairy, gluten and soy free and although not USDA organic, they use mostly organic ingredients.

Try the new Kah Kow 82% bar if you like extra bitter sweet.

The Taza Belize bar is back.

We brought back the Schluckwerder chocolate-covered marzipan loaves by request.

And… drum roll please… Republica del Cacao is back! "Adopted" by Valrhona's parent company, European expertise in fermentation and processing of chocolate is being teamed up with premium South American cacao and Ecuadoran tender loving care. The result? Republica del Cacao's chocolate has reached a new, higher level of consistency, quality and taste. For now we have white, milk and dark couverture wafers, plus unsweetened chocolate wafers and Ecuadorian cocoa powder. The white is made with non-deodorized cacao butter, so if you're looking for a replacement of the El Rey white this is a really good choice. The Ecuadorian cacao powder is lightly dutched, mahogany colored and it has an incredible rich chocolate flavor. Try tasting a bit of the powder by itself and you'll be amazed. You will love this brand.

Summer shipping

We are offering a great shipping deal. In the summer for most locations, we can ship for $10.00 as long as the product will fit into one of the Postal special (Regional Rate or Flat Rate) boxes. We include warm weather packaging if we feel it is necessary at no extra charge.

However, there are issues when the temperatures get close to 100 degrees. Sometimes we can make it work, sometimes we cannot, and sometimes with special measures we can accomplish successful delivery in such hot weather. When practical, a great hot weather Postal shipping option is to have the package waiting for you at an air-conditioned Post Office. We can ship to a P.O. Box address if you have one or we can have the package held for pick up at the Post Office. If you prefer not to ship to a Post Office, we can ship to a location where you are certain that the package will deliver before noon and there will be someone present to take the package inside air conditioned space. Or we can delay until the temperaure cools off. Let us know in the comments section at checkout if one of these options will work for you.

Incr‘Edible’ Chocolate Deals

Check out our 'On Sale' page. There is so much wonderful chocolate on sale and it is ALL delicious. Most of what is left of Ritter, Blanxart and Fearless is 20% off. There are a few Valrhona, Michel Cluizel and Domori products on the page and that is unusual. So take advantage of the specials and the low-cost or free shipping options. We will be happy to help you.

Shipping Special

You can get FREE SHIPPING!! on orders over $50.00. Here are the rules:

1. Write a review for a product that you have purchased from Chocosphere on our website. (purchase must be able to be verified)

2. Select "Local Pick Up" as your shipping option on your next order after placing your review. (Your package will be shipped via our "If it fits, it ships" method. (Details about 'If it fits, it ships').

3. Write FREE SHIPPING FOR WRITING A REVIEW in the comments field of the order form and let us know what product you reviewed and, if you used an alias, what name you reviewed under.

4. Enjoy your chocolate!!!

Facebook Friends Ask…

We had a friend ask about the Chocolate awards and if I could shed some light on the biases. Honestly, I don't know enough about the awards. We do try to let you know which bars have awards posted on the bar package. I also know that in the end, it only matters if you like the chocolate. We sell such a great variety of chocolate because we Chocospherians can't agree on which is the best. If enough of you love it, we will try to sell it. We get requests to add brands every week. Our job is to try to find a way to carry the brand. So let us know if there is something so special, you can't live without it.

Coming shipments…

We just received a shipment from Europe of Domori, Original Beans, and Cafe Tasse. As always, we order from Valrhona, Pralus, Guittard, Cacao Barry, and Callebaut just about every week

Customer Service

Of course we are happy to help over the phone, but we do appreciate it when you place your order on line. It helps us to give the most prompt and accurate service. If you don’t feel comfortable giving your credit card number over the internet, just click the box for "Please Call for Credit Card Info" and we will call you. But when you need help, we are here for you. There is generally someone answering the phones between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. PDT, Monday through Friday.

There are five of us answering phones at Chocosphere, where we speak fluent Chocospherian. We try hard to answer all calls personally during normal business hours, but occasionally one slips over to voice mail. If you call and end up in voice mail, please leave a message. We will do our very best to call back promptly.

We each have varying levels of experience. It is our goal to happily serve you the very best chocolate!!

Finally, and very importantly, our web site lists our service committments as to when we ship an order based on when the order is placed. However, we certainly understand there are circumstances where you may want us to process an order faster, when you need your chocolate "now"! If you need to have us ship your order out faster than our listed service commitment, please place your order online letting us know of your need in the "Comments" section, and then please call us (503-692-3323 x 0 for Customer Service) to let us know. We can't guarantee early shipping, but we always try hard to provide chocolate happiness to our valued customers.

Bargain Basement

There are quite a few items on the Bargain Basement, so it is a great time to do some shopping for yourself. The Grab Bag shelf is full as it usually is at this time of the year, so now is the time to buy. You get $45.00 worth for $19.95 and $100.00 for $39.95. There are consumer grab bags and options for the chef as well.

Please remember that Bargain Basement products are usually past the best-by date, may be bloomed or broken, so it is a great place to treat yourself at a great price, but it's probably not appropriate to give as a gift.

If you want us to send a copy as an email every time there is a new issue or to tell you about special offers, please create an account at chocosphere.com and check the newsletter box.

Recipe Corner

We have recipes from Republica del Cacao and I tried their cupcake recipe last weekend. These cupcakes are moist and delicious, but you may want to scale this recipe, which as written makes 40 cupcakes. Click here for the recipe.

If you'd like an easy dessert recipe, try the Callebaut Mousse powder. It's great with Callebaut Crispearls, whipped cream or berries. I like to add the Crispearls perles in the Mousse and top it with Berries and a dollup of cream. Who's a glutton?

If you have a recipe you'd like included in the newsletter, please let us know.

Topics:

f you have a topic you would like us to cover in the newsletter, please drop us a line: customer‑service@chocosphere.com and we will be happy to include it in a future edition

Fax 503-692-1494