If you like Hotel Chocolat, you’ll love these French chocolates by post. It’s a subscription service with a box of luxury dark, milk and white chocolates sent to you on a monthly basis. Read on to see what we thought of them.
Rarely one to say no to chocolate, especially to chocolate that promises to be of a particularly good quality, I was looking forward to receiving a review box from Club Chocolat Français.
French Chocolates by Post
Club Chocolat Français is a family owned business in the South West of France which produces handmade chocolates. They source ingredients as locally as possible and the chocolate come from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms in countries from Ecuador to Ghana. New to the English market they have recently launched a UK website. Their intention seems to be to run the club along similar lines to Hotel Chocolat. In this case a monthly box of 34 chocolates are sent out to members along with an invitation to submit tasting notes and suggestions to help inform future products.
When I opened the box, rich and heady aromas of chocolate and nuts assailed my nostrils – pure heaven. But what met my eyes was somewhat surprising. I spotted a number of chick, rabbit, hen and egg shapes even though it was a month after Easter. Oh well, I shrugged and got on with the important task of tasting.
Thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed by the quality of the chocolates; pure cocoa butter and no artificial additives here. They tasted of real ingredients and had satisfyingly nutty and fruity flavours.
Although the majority were pralines of one sort or another, they were all quite different. There were also a few fruit purees, including strawberry and passionfruit. My absolute favourite was the raspberry covered in dark chocolate.
I often find pralines way too sweet, but being French, these chocolates were just the right side of sweet. The textures were varied and made for an interesting mouth experience. Some were smooth, some soft, some contained what I took to be feuillitine and others had small nut pieces, either within or on top.
What I Was Less Happy With
Perfection is not easily attained and I have a few quibbles. The first thing I noticed was the size of the box. It was way too big for our letterbox, which is a standard letterbox size. This brings with it all the difficulties of trying to get hold of your much anticipated chocolates, if you don’t happen to be in when the postman calls.
Secondly the “menu” was all in French which is perhaps not the best way of winning over English chocoholics. Luckily for me, although rusty, my French was just about good enough to make it out.
The next area where I came unstuck (or do I mean stuck?) was when I tried to get the chocolates out of the box. This proved to be no mean feat, especially as I was trying to extract them for photographic purposes. My conclusion is, therefore, that Club Chocolat Français needs do to some work to improve their packaging.
Finally, although the chocolates were indeed of a high quality and were quite delicious, I felt their flavours were somewhat conservative. Our palates have become increasingly sophisticated and many of us like to explore more exotic flavours. Or is that just me?
French Chocolates by Post 2
“You have a parcel from France!” I heard CT shout. Rushing from the kitchen, I was excited to see it was a box of French chocolates, no less – ooh la la! This was the November offering from Club Chocolat Francais and I couldn’t wait to get my snout into it.
As before, a gorgeous aroma of chocolate and nuts wafted up from the box when I opened it. The thought that I had to take photographs before I could dive in was almost unbearable. Don’t look too closely at the picture. Because you might just notice that the salted caramel got the better of me before the camera was out of its case.
Again, there was a good mix of dark, milk and white chocolates. Although pralines prevailed and that’s all right by me, they’re all quite different. And there’s a number of other interesting choices too.
It looks as though they’ve listened to my feedback. The flavours in this box are rather more exciting than the last box I reviewed.
I’ve listed some of my favourites below. But other mixes I wasn’t so sure about. I felt that in the case of passionfruit and coconut, the coconut overwhelmed the passionfruit. Conversely, the raspberry and pistachio was the other way around and the fruit overwhelmed the nut.
However, all in all, I really enjoyed these 34 French chocolates by post and I’d be delighted to receive a box every month. If this appeals to you, then do take a look at the Club Chocolat Francais website, where you can sign up straightaway if you so desire.
The tasting club cost £19.95 a month, although for a limited time, the first box is being offered for £9.95
Favourite French Chocolates by Post
Dark chocolate salted caramel – the dark chocolate had a particularly rich aroma and its strong flavour together with the salt offset the sweetness of the caramel very nicely.
Lemon & coriander – this was particularly flavoursome, very lightly lemony ganache enrobed with dark chocolate and with a lovely aftertaste of coriander.
Pistachio praline – the pistachios really came to the fore in this milk chocolate and was probably one of the nicest pralines I’ve ever eaten.
Praline petal – unusual in appearance and delicious in taste, this consisted of a thin layer of praline enrobed with lots of milk chocolate.
Caramelised praline – caramelised nuts really made this praline stand out.
Let Us Know
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you try French chocolates by post, or any others come to that, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do share photos on your preferred social media site and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like more chocolate reviews, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them.
Choclette x
Maya Russell says
I love chocolate but these are too expensive – especially for just a French menu!
Lucy Taylor says
the chocolates themselves look & sound stunning & I love the idea of chocolates by post like having a long distance admirer 🙂
Baking Addict says
Thanks for an honest review. They sound a little too indulgent for me unless someone buys me a subscription but they do look good!
Choclette says
Well, you may be in luck. There is a competition to win a box over at Lavander & Lovage and if you keep an eye open, you may see one here too 🙂
Working london mummy says
Lucky you so many and so pretty. Yum!
Choclette says
Ahh, I can never have too many chocolates, especially with CT in the house 😉
Alida says
They look great those chocolates. What a nice treat 🙂
Choclette says
Thank you Alida – they were indeed a lovely treat.
Dom at Belleau Kitchen says
such pretty chocs… such a hard job to do… I love your leaf bowl too!
Choclette says
Dom, thank you. The bowl is made out of a coconut shell – works really well.
Kath says
You have a hard job Choc, but someone has to do it…
Choclette says
I know Kath – it’s such a slog 😉