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Incredible Chocolate News |
August 24th, 2020 |
Written By: Joanne Kryszek, Chocosphere Co-Founder and Chocolate Goddess, and the Chocosphere Team
| Chocosphere is Here for You! | Bargain Basement & On Sale |
| Incr‘Edible’ Chocolate Deals… | Customer Service |
| Recipe Corner | Newsletter |
| What's New? | Topics |
| Upcoming Holidays |
Notes from Joanne – We're doing!
This is an upsetting time for all of us with everything that is going on in the world, the US, and right here in my hometown, Portland, Oregon. But I find myself being so thankful and even happy for the little things that happen so unexpectedly or even routinely that the emotions surprise me. What can I say… I’ve been so lucky in life to have a wonderful family who understands me most of the time and at least puts up with me the rest of the time.
And then there is Chocosphere. Who could ask for a better and more exciting business to be in for the last 22 years. We survived the first part of COVID, never closing for a day, keeping our wonderful crew semi busy by social distancing, sanitizing, cleaning. We're working to bring shipments from exotic places near and far in spite of COVID's logistics challenges so that we can provide some of the best chocolate the world has to offer. And you, our amazing customers keep ordering, and for that we are very thankful.
On top of that, I have the best chocolate right at my finger tips every single day. When you call and ask me about a Café Tasse Framboise (Raspberry) Mini or if I’ve tried the Cacao Berlin Rhine dark chocolate chips or the Valrhona Inspiration Yuzu feves I can happily eat some right then and tell you what I think. I try not to open a whole bar or a new bag, but if there is some open in the warehouse I’m on it. And if I need something special for a recipe that’s ok too.
After all these years one of my favorite things is to help our customers over the phone and, when opportunity presents itself, in person. Your questions energize me and I learn so much from you. Jerry has become quite the amateur chocolate technician (he isn't a chocolatier but he has learned a lot from many professionals over the years), able to answer many tempering, application and ingredient questions. When he can't, a referral to the manufacturer is always possible. He leaves no stone unturned to help you have success. The friendships we have made because of Chocosphere are a great source of enjoyment and potential travel when this all sorts out. We have chocolate friends all over the U.S. and far away chocolate lands as well.
I am working fewer hours now, about half what I used to and am eager to see what will happen when Chocosphere is no longer my baby.
My message as we are on the downhill slide towards the end of 2020, as I complete my 70th year is “Stay positive, safe and eat chocolate. The best is yet to come!”
Incr‘Edible’ Chocolate Deals
Now is the time to get some yummy chocolate on the way to you before school starts. It should help relieve stress and make your life more enjoyable.
For a limited time we're giving a promotional discount of 10% off orders over $50.00 in merchandise. This applies to most products sold by Chocosphere including chocolate clubs and gift baskets, but excludes gift certificates as well as shipping and warm weather packaging. You must apply the code SUMMERTIME in the "Gift Certificates / Coupon Codes" field right below the shopping cart display to get the promotional discount.
This offer begins at 12:01 AM Pacific Time on August 24th, 2020. To qualify, you must place your order online with an Order ID issued by our web site no later than 11:59 PM Pacific Time on August 30th, 2020. This offer is not valid for orders placed outside the date range noted above.
To make this "chocolate therapy" even better, we will be including a special treat of something incredible in every order.
Upcoming Holidays & Special Times
Before you know it school will be starting. Labor Day and other holidays will be here. Get that high school graduate who is starting college a gift to celebrate the transition and make your labor easier. Think peaceful thoughts, Eat chocolate and give your self some OM with some Yum!
What's New
With six Italian brands you would think that we have plenty. But NO!!! We've added a seventh (lucky number) brand!
Our new Italian brand is D. Barbero from Asti in Northern Italy, where chocolate, hazelnuts and torrone are a tradition. First to catch our attention was the Grisini (skinny Italian bread sticks coated in chocolate). These traditional breadsticks have a unique flavor and crispness due to the artisinal way they're made, and they pair so well with chocolate. Then we fell in love with the rest of D. Barbero's products including chocolate bars, sauce, torrone (brittle nougat), gianduja of hazelnuts and uniquely, gianduja of pistachios, and the dark chocolate covered torrone with rum filling. La famiglia… this business has been in the family since 1883.
We've also expanded our offering of tea from Teekanne of Germany. When we launched the line a couple months ago we hoped to have a wide variety to offer, and then most of what we tried to get didn't come in. We finally received most of what we asked for just a couple weeks ago. Now you can find a lot of different herbal teas, some organic, and we have a green tea too. We hope to have some of the black teas we requested soon.
There are lots of other new products you might be interested in, including the new mid size 4.5 pound bucket of cacao nibs from Guittard and two new minis from Café Tasse. Take a look at the link above to see the new D. Barbero items, and to see a few more new items check out our New Products page.
Bargain Basement & On Sale
We are sad to see two brands leave. The rest of our Jouvay can be found at our On Sale page at 20% off. Nina Chocolate from Peru can be found with a ‘buy one get one free’ offer on the Bargain Basement page because the best by date has passed. The chocolate should be good at least a year past the date as long as it is stored cool, dark, airtight and dry.
Please check out the other products on these two pages for some good eats at great prices.
Recipe Corner
QUETZAL'S AZTEC HOT CHOCOLATE
A Callebaut recipe adapted for readers of The Chocospherian
There's no hot chocolate like a real Belgian hot chocolate. This signature recipe of the Quetzal Chocolate Bars in Belgium combines steamed frothy milk foam with a rich dark chocolate and a dash of chili. We’ve adapted the recipe for use in your home. Mmm-mmm...
INGREDIENTS (per one cup serving)
160g (2/3 cup) milk
60g (generous 1/3 cup) Callebaut - Finest Belgian Dark Chocolate. Use Callets, making this a lot easier than chopping blocs. The original recipe calls for Callebaut - Recipe N° 811. We tried and liked the 815 Callets which are just a little more intense and a little less sweet than 811.
0.5g ground chili pepper. Since we didn’t have such a sensitive scale at hand, we went with one teaspoon for a mild chili taste. Use more if you like a stronger chili taste.
Whipping cream and Crispearls™ Dark, both for topping, to taste.
PREPARATION
Whip the cream for a topping and set aside. Note that nothing is added to the whipped cream. It really works well without added sugar or flavorings.
Heat the milk to approximately 75°C /167°F. Use a steamer if you have one, or heat by another method. If you use a steamer or another method that can do it, be sure to make some milk foam.
Fill the cup with melted chocolate heated to approximately 40°C/104°F. To melt the chocolate we put it into a safe container, microwaved for one minute, stirred, and then we put the chocolate into the serving cup. The time needed in your microwave oven may vary.
If you have milk foam, put a small amount in the cup on top of the melted chocolate. The foam will give the drink a nice foamy appearance on top when finished.
Fill the cup with the hot milk.
Sprinkle chili pepper in and stir well.
Top the drink with the whipped cream and Crispearls™ to taste.
The original Callebaut recipe can be found at:
https://www.callebaut.com/en-US/chocolate-recipe/1104/quetzals-aztec-chocolate
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 give the most prompt and accurate service. And when you need help, we are here for you. There is generally someone answering the phones between 8:30am and 4:30pm Pacific Time, Monday through Friday, with the exception of commonly observed holidays.
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. If by chance you don't hear back from us in a reasonable time, please call again during our normal business hours.
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 commitments 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 your order shipped faster than our listed service commitment, please place your order online letting us know of your need in the “Comments” section, and then 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.
Newsletter
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.
Topics:
If 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.
Contact us at 503-692-3323 and press 0 for Customer Service
Fax 503-692-1494