If you been a reader for a while around these parts you must be aware of my love affair with chocolate and how picky I am with the taste and quality of said chocolate. I mean let’s be a bit honest with ourselves – chocolate is one of the most basic and satisfying pleasure in the whole world.

Go ahead you can dispute me…

Yeah, I thought so.

So when I got an email from Hotel Chocolat asking if I was willing to try their Holiday collection and write a piece about it I jumped at the chance.

A box of chocolate, for me?

Show me the way.

I waited 10 days for that box to arrive. In the meantime I checked their web site out, wanting to know what I was going to get.

Because you never know what you are going to get in a box of chocolate… (sorry I had to)

And found so many options, especially for the holiday season coming up. They have gift bags, gift boxes, party kits and numerous options of flavors: dark, milk, white, caramel, truffles, with fruit, with nuts, alcohol-free and even gluten and wheat free.

Hello, have I stumbled unto the chocolate mecca?

Well, it may be close enough to that. Hotel Chocolat is a British coca grower and luxury chocolatier. They originally started as a mail order catalog, then turned into a award winning ecommerce and soon launched a retail store in England. Today, it has more than 32 stores across the UK and now the have moved across the Atlantic to the US, opening 2 stores in the Boston area.

Their three secret ingredients: Originality, Authenticity and Ethics. This is a chocolatier that values innovation and value the art of working with real products, showing off the true flavors of some of the rarest cocoa found in St. Lucia and Ghana. I was captivated by their commitment to sustainable agriculture. They are responsible and take pride in their supply chain adding value to their local cocoa growing community.

I wanted chocolate now.

It finally arrived this past week.

And they must have forgotten I live in Florida.

Because when I open my mailbox, my HOT mailbox, there was one long box of very, melted chocolate.

Oh oh.

I rushed my box to the refrigerator and hope for the best.

It took about 20 minutes to hard up, and then I took them out and let them come to room temperature. That night, Tom and I started to taste them. I was sent The Christmas selection without alcohol – these make a great Christmas present, or a great stocking filler. The box is made up of 16 types of chocolate, 2 of each. And regardless of the transit mishap, these were really good. We fought over the Milk chocolate and hazelnut paste, I went crazy over the brownie and Tom really loved the dark chocolate with chili.

We both agree chocolate soup or not, the flavors were really great.

Plus, I also did confirm with the company rep that they do send you the chocolate in insulated packaging if the destination is 70°F/21°C or warmer – so if your gift giving is anywhere in a hot zone they will make sure to avoid sending you chocolate soup. You can find more information about their shipping and delivery.

So, head over to their site and check them out and don’t forget to order for the holiday season coming up, I know for a fact that I will – psst, don’t tell my friends that, or you will spoil the surprise!