Chocolate Telegram or Card by Post

Who doesn’t like getting a nice greetings or thank you card? Even better when it is a chocolate greetings card. But probably the best of all is a chocolate telegram.

When I first heard about this chocolate telegram from Chocol@, I fell in love with the concept. When my own telegram arrived I was truly smitten. It was a long brown leather-like box containing 36 chocolate squares spelling out: CHOCLOGBLOG. CHOCOLATES. THX. CHOCOL@.

What a fabulous and witty idea. Compose a personalised message to your friends, family or business contacts, get it written in chocolate and then have it sent through the post to arrive at their door.

The chocolates on which the letters and characters are printed are square in shape, which gives it an air of a superior (and edible) scrabble board. I’m a seasoned Twitter user and rather like the idea of condensing a tweet’s 140 characters down to 36. Constructing a cogent message will focus the mind and chances are it will live on in the memory as sweeter than most tweets.

Chocolate Telegram

The chocolates, by Belgian chocolatier, Jean-Philippe Darcis, are a mixture of dark, milk and white and have various fillings according to the letter, number or character on the top. They are described as being made with the finest ingredients, but I was unable to discover what these were.

When I perused the accompanying leaflet, I was gutted to find I didn’t have a single salted butter caramel. It was obviously a near miss though as there are 14 flavours and 56 characters, so every flavour is repeated several times. Apparently, I needed an 8, K or Q. If you like word play, the description of each letter and character on the website is worth a read in itself.

“G Spot: These few grams are filled with enough gusto to propel you to the seventh heaven of taste pleasure. You can go gaga over this lemon flavour in a chocolate robe. We’ll understand. It’s all in good taste”.

The Packaging

The chocolates are very nicely presented and are sturdily packed. Despite this a couple of mine broke in transit. I was rather hoping there would be a second layer nestled under the first; there was certainly room for one. But my greedy hopes were not realised.

The box is sturdy, deep and of good size, measuring 10 by 38 cm. The material is some sort of soft leather substitute in brown with gold stitching and you close the box by means of a magnetic catch. Once the chocolates have gone, you can use it for any number of purposes. CT thought a refill was the most appropriate. Now, the box might be useful, but what about the taste of the chocolates? CT and I got stuck in.

On opening the box, there was a good strong smell of chocolate which permeated our nostrils and stimulated our tastebuds. We found we couldn’t eat many in one go, which is usually a sign of a good quality chocolate, one that is rich with complex flavours rather than just pure sugar.

The Chocolate Telegram Chocolates

G- Milk chocolate enrobes a dark chocolate lemon ganache. It’s quite sharp in a nice way and not too sweet.

C – Poppy – dark chocolate covering a dark chocolate ganache with an unfamiliar taste I couldn’t identify. Trying it after the lemon made it taste bitter and strange, but when I had it on a clean palate, it tasted quite different and I liked it. CT whose tastebuds are somewhat more refined than mine thought he could detect a poppy flavour. Just as well we liked them, because there were a lot of them, being ……O

H – White chocolate covers a liquid caramel which was delicious despite being rather sweet. White chocolate seems an odd pairing for a sweet caramel we thought.

T – Dark chocolate covers jasmine tea flavoured dark chocolate ganache. The flavour of jasmine was quite noticeable and it had the drying quality of dark chocolate and tea. We both really liked this one.

A- Dark chocolate enrobes a violet ganache. This one was truly powerful, not in the least bit subtle, but very nice if you like parma violets, which I do. It wasn’t too sweet.

S – Dark chocolate enrobes a nutty praline with crispy bits. Very tasty and not too sweet.

B – Milk chocolate with a coffee ganache – not too strong and quite sweet.

Lips & Smily Face – Dark chocolate covers a liquid ginger caramel which was gorgeous. It’s warming and spicy and not too sweet.

If you ever get tired of saying it with flowers, you can now say it with chocolate – from £38. You could have a lot of fun dreaming up complex words that incorporate all of the flavours.

Chocolate Cards by Post

If a chocolate telegram sounds a bit over the top, how about a chocolate greetings card? Last year, I tried a service whereby you can personalise an 80g bar of smooth Belgian milk chocolate with a picture and/or words of your choice printed onto it. It was a great idea from Scottish company Chocmotif. But, sadly, it’s no longer in business.

I’m keeping the idea going though in the hope that someone else might take up the idea.

When the postman knocked on the door, I wasn’t at all sure what to expect. Making the initial selection wasn’t the most straightforward of processes and one of the templates I wanted to use didn’t seem to work. In the end I went for the simplest of the templates, which was a rectangular picture with your own words. For the first, I used a photo of my figgy Victoria sandwich as a thank you for my friend Victoria. And for the second, a photo of ox-eye daisies from our plot for my gardening fanatic friend Lorna.

As it turned out, I was really happy with my cards. In fact I’m quite excited by them and now can’t wait to give them to the intended recipients. The quality of the picture printed on the chocolate is excellent. Sadly I can’t say the same for the photos I took of the product.

The Product

The chocolate comes framed within a card forming the inside picture, but it’s easy to remove for consumption. The card itself has an attractive exterior design and comes with a matching gift tag. The whole thing is enclosed in a sturdy card envelope and is very tastefully done.  I have to confess, I wasn’t expecting it to be so good.

I haven’t tried the chocolate, it seemed a bit rude to sink my teeth into somebody else’s bar, so I can’t really comment on the quality. However, it is Belgian couverture with a 30% cocoa solids content. It is also nut and gluten free, which is a big plus for those with allergies who often find it difficult to source suitable chocolate. The printing is all done with edible food dyes and the ingredients are listed on the envelope.

At £5.99 I think this gift represents good value, although you should be aware that postage and packing is extra. It is such an original and fun product, allowing the purchaser to create something unique and personal. Any frustration I experienced at the time of ordering is now forgotten.

Quite a few services that sent chocolate by post are no more. Who’d have thought there wouldn’t be enough demand for chocolate? French chocolates by post was another one I was particularly sad to see go.

Let Us Know

Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you try sending a chocolate telegram or indeed any chocolate cards, 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.

For more chocolate reviews take a look at my chocolate review category. You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.

I was sent a Chocol@ telegram to review. There was no requirement to write a positive review. As always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for your support of the brands and organisations that help to keep Tin and Thyme blithe and blogging.