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Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / ChocolateCharles ChocolatesA Bay Area Newcomer With An Entire Candy Shop Of Delights
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Charles Chocolates is the resurrection of one man’s fervent passion and dedication to chocolate. A self-taught chocolatier named Chuck Siegel (a.k.a Charles) has been pumping out gourmet confections since 1987, when at the tender age of 25, he started Attivo Confections in San Francisco. There, he pioneered then trendsetting treats such as gourmet s’mores on homemade organic graham crackers, with homemade marshmallows and bittersweet chocolate (the recipe is available on the company website); and “The Apple,” an extra-large Granny Smith apple coated in fresh cream caramel, dipped in bittersweet chocolate, and then coated with macadamia nuts or crumbled biscotti. Folks living in the neighborhood—before websites and e-commerce made ordering from all corners of the country a snap—certainly were lucky!
Chuck can still be found in California, but don’t go looking for Attivo: He sold the business in 1995. These days, he’s a short trip away in Emeryville, near Berkeley—more space for a chocolate factory. While the medium—quality chocolate—is the same, the products are vastly different. Instead of supersized novelty sweets, Chuck now favors delicacy, finesse and small sizes.
Charles Chocolates is one of numerous fine chocolate companies in the Bay Area working with fresh, local ingredients. Beginning three years ago with chocolate bars, he now has an extensive line. He uses top couvertures—Cacao Barry from France, El Rey from Venezuela and Guittard from nearby Burlingame, California, based on which chocolate best suits the particular product. Where should you begin? Let’s start with the bonbons, since that’s what we did!
Created with input from Teance, a fine tea shop in nearby Berkeley, this collection introduces tea chocolates that go beyond the oft-found Earl Grey—in fact, there’s no 
Earl Grey in the box. Instead, you’ll discover the subtle flavors of Baochong, Charcoal-Fired Oolong, Jasmine, Lichee and Osmanthus. The ganaches are firm and smooth, almost silky. While the tea flavors are just a little too subtle for our liking (especially the Oolong piece), they chocolate ganache is lovely. Conceptually, they would make a nice gift for a tea-lover who enjoys a good box of chocolate (the pieces in the edible chocolate box make a particularly stunning gift). The most interesting piece is Osmanthus, a flower blended into the tea in the same fashion as jasmine. It has a distinct flavor, more hearty than delicate jasmine, and offers the same kind of freshness and strength that the Mint bonbon did. The Jasmine tea bonbon was the second favorite (we love the combination of jasmine and chocolate); the others are currently fighting for rank because the tea notes were just too difficult to notice. This could be because we’ve never had these unusual teas and don’t know what to look for, or possibly because a stronger infusion is needed. It may also be the general state of tea chocolates: When we researched our article on green tea chocolates, we found a similar lightness of infusion. It was difficult to taste the green tea, although the chocolates themselves were tasty.
For those who are environmentally-conscious and who don’t like to throw away packaging—or heck, for those who just want to eat more chocolate—Charles Chocolates packages a variety of chocolates in edible chocolate boxes. The concept: After you’re done eating all the chocolates inside, there’s still much more to enjoy! The chocolate boxes are made with a variety of lovely decorations on their white chocolate lids (the box bottoms are dark or milk chocolate), and are filled with the regular chocolate collection, the Tea Collection, the Heart Collection, Fleur de Sel Caramels or Orange and Lemon Marzipan.
Not to be confused with French chocolate twigs—delicate branches of chocolate 
that are used to decorate fine desserts—these twigs look more like pretzel nuggets. Neither the name nor the appearance could hope to convey the deliciousness of this product: tiny truffles rolled in confectioners’ sugar that should be renamed Wonderful Nuggets of Joy. The aroma alone is an exciting chocolate experience: We buried our noses in the tube over and over to inhale the fragrances of orange and butter, laced with chocolate. Don’t let your nose idle too long while your palate waits in anticipation; and as tempting as it may be, don’t chew these “twigs” but savor each bite. Slowly let the chocolate melt on your tongue so you can detect all the intricacies of flavor in each piece, the fresh mildness of the butter in contrast to the stronger orange.
Most fine chocolatiers we patronize don’t make chocolate-covered nuts, so when the 
temptation calls, the products we grab at gift shops or club stores are usually a product of disappointment—inferior nuts and lackluster chocolate. Charles Chocolates’ nuts just might be the best chocolate-covered nuts on the market. Mere words can’t convey how divine these little jewels are, so do buy lots—a 6.5-ounce tins don’t last long. Chuck roasts his nuts longer than most confectioners; this creates a more pronounced, deeper nuttiness that pairs exquisitely with the layers of 41% cacao milk chocolate and 65% dark chocolate that cover the nuts. Only two varieties of nuts are currently offered—almond and hazelnut—but perhaps Chuck can be convinced to experiment others (pistachio, please!). Our personal preference gravitates to the hazelnuts, but public opinion (and our editor) prefers the almonds. They’re Chuck’s best-selling product!
For those who prefer bars to bonbons (or just love to have the excuse of an “antioxidant” chocolate bar), 
Charles offers bars in five flavors. Four have a base of 65% cacao dark chocolate (Caramelized Crisped Rice, Ginger, Hazelnuts & Candied Orange Peel and Mocha Java), while the other bar is a 41% milk Caramelized Crisp Rice. The chocolate in each bar is very subtle in intensity but also unctuously smooth and creamy, offering a stark contrast to the large and chunky inclusions (the professional term for the mix-ins). As with the bonbons, these bars aren’t for palates who seek a freight train of flavor intensity. They’ll better suit tastes that favor something more soft-spoken—and there’s a world of people out there looking for just this kind of bar. These are great for snacking, not contemplating. We can testify: We ate them two at a time! Coffee lovers will especially enjoy the Mocha Java bar: The chopped coffee beans add a resounding CRUNCH! and caffeine surge to each bite.
Don’t like chocolate, or not in the mood? Pâte de fruits—fruit jellies—are available in 
two collections: Classic Collection (Blood Orange, Papaya, Passion Fruit, Raspberry and White Peach) and Wine-Infused (Cabernet Sauvignon, Champagne, Gewürtztraminer, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc, all Californian wines). These bite-size morsels of fruit jelly are ferociously vibrant, which is not surprising since they contain at least 45% fruit. The freshness of the fruit shines through so clearly, one might mistake the candy for actual fruit (you cannot, however, substitute it in your 5-A-Day servings of fruit and vegetables). Our leaning is to the classics: While we like the Wine-Infused Collection, it can be somewhat light on the wine flavor. Cabernet Sauvignon is the highlight of this collection, with Merlot coming in second. The white wine flavors are just too subtle to compete against the fruit flavors with which they are paired. Perhaps we can look for a dry Chardonnay, or better yet, a Shiraz in the future?
It seems mean-spirited to complain, though...we ate every piece!
CHARLES CHOCOLATES
Purchase online at CharlesChocolates.com. |
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Shipping is additional. Prices and product availability are verified at publication but are subject to change.
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