When life gives you lemons, chocolate is the answer, particularly a chocolate home delivery of hand made artisan Australian chocolate.
The chocolate home delivery everyone needs
This is the chocolate home delivery box that every bean to bar artisan chocolate lover needs to get them through the month and a new reason to stalk the postman. Cocoa Box chocolate home delivery service brings a hand-picked selection of Australia’s finest artisan chocolate, direct to doors across Australia each month.
Cocoa Boxes include dark, milk and real white combinations from local and award-winning makers. Made by small, passionate chocolate producers, their gourmet chocolate bars are made responsibly using ethically sourced beans with a focus on bean-to-bar craftmanship.
Susan Stokes is the chocolate lover behind Cocoa Box. Says she Cocoa Box shines a light on the world-class local chocolate which is flying under the radar of chocoholics across Australia. It’s chocolate for those who believe quality is better than quantity.
What’s inside your chocolate box?
The first thing I noticed about my Cocoa Box delivery was the contrast of the restrained exterior cardboard packaging compared to the luxury of the packaged chocolate bars. Delving inside, I peeled back the chocolate bar foil releasing an intense and seductive aroma. The accompanying notes told me the combination was inspired by the chocolate maker’s childhood memories with her parents, sitting around on Saturday mornings drinking Turkish coffee.
I would rather have a restrained amount of this quality chocolate over a large slab of supermarket stuff anytime, and it has caused fights in our house!
Image above by Taisiya Shestopalon on Unsplash
Susan Stokes is an artisan chocolate addict. Photo: Monica Pronk Photography
Why chocolate home delivery?
As one chocolate addict to another, I asked Susan Stokes about where it all began and why home-delivered chocolate?
What is your first chocolate memory?
It was Easter time in Ireland. I think I was about seven years old and we’d all gone away as a family for the long weekend. I remember being so nervous I wouldn’t get any Easter Eggs that year as we were on a (Rosie & Jim style) river barge! But the next morning, there were the chocolate eggs in all their glory, and I ate chocolate for breakfast. Delicious!
When did you become focused on Australian chocolate?
After moving to Australia in 2013 from Ireland, I noticed the chocolate didn’t taste the same as home. In pursuit of my ideal chocolate fix, I discovered a waxy additive is used in Australia to help stop the chocolate melting on shelves. This prompted me to dig a bit deep deeper and find different chocolate. First, it was Lindt and then to this new type of chocolate I kept hearing about from home and in the US.
It’s called bean-to-bar/artisan/craft (it has many names) chocolate. There has been an explosion of thousands of new chocolate makers worldwide with the media calling it a craft chocolate revolution.
The difference is they source their cocoa beans ethically (direct from farmers) and process them in-house (over nine steps) to produce the delicious finished chocolate bar.
I wondered if there was any of this kind of Australian chocolate? To my delight, I discovered there are over 30 bean-to-bar chocolate makers in our own back garden. This artisan chocolate is genuinely delicious. It is made as small-batch and single-origin just like wine or coffee with some excellent flavour profiles to discover and enjoy!
The plain exterior is a complete foil for the luscious contents of this artisan chocolate box.
What is your favourite artisan chocolate pairing?
It’s got to be wine and chocolate we ran a wine and chocolate pairing event in Sydney early this year, and we had some beautiful combinations. My favourite is Zokokos’ Goddess Dark (70%) described as “Intense and full of flavour with both deep cocoa and dark fruit top notes”. It was paired with 2018 Kay Brothers Basket Pressed Grenache “Layers of brambly fruit on the nose. Copious amounts of plush redcurrants and raspberry on the palate with a silken mouthfeel due to elegant tannin & bright acidity.” They complimented each other perfectly each enhancing the other!
Your most unusual chocolate pairing?
Brie cheese and chocolate pairing. The creaminess and savoury flavour of brie is the perfect match to balance out those sweeter chocolate notes. It is delicious. Try it, I dare you!
Are you sourcing Australian chocolate grown in the Daintree?
One of our featured chocolate makers, Alouss, exclusively uses cocoa beans from Australia’s own Daintree. I highly recommend their Coffee & Cardamom Milk chocolate bar. It is exquisite. The perfect balance of flavours and it just melts in your mouth. (I loved the Coffee & Cardamom Milk chocolate bar.)
What’s inside your chocolate home delivery box from Cocoa Box.
Which chocolates would be in your desert island box?
That’s a tough one, depending on how big my island box was… If I was extremely limited in space, I’d bring one of each of a dark, milk and white artisan chocolate (just like our mixed box for those who can’t decide). One for each of my moods and cravings.
What do you wish more people knew about chocolate?
It comes from a tree (Theobroma cacao). Who knew, right? Also, dark chocolate made bean-to-bar has on average only three (it depends on the maker) ingredients (Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter & Sugar). This means it is vegetarian and vegan friendly!
Do you need chocolate home delivery?
If home delivered chocolate would make your life complete, you’ll love the free shipping plus 10 per cent off using this code – CHOC10 that I have organised for Eat drink and be Kerry readers. To find out more visit cocoabox.com.au
Each box purchased includes a donation to the Australian Charity Foodbank.
If you love eating chocolate
You’ll love these chocolate-inspired recipes.
Disclosure: Ed+bK receives no benefits from the sale of Cocoa Boxes from this offer.
