Fika Chocolate Sculptures

It’s just our good luck that FIKA has a glimmering new flagship location in the Financial District, not far from Stone Street.  Though coffee and sweets are certainly the inspiration for FIKA, the chocolate, and the master chocolatier who crafts it, is second-to-none- from here to Sweden.

Håkan Mårtensson, one of the world’s most creative chocolate sculpting visionaries has been happy to call New York home these last few years. Brought over from Sweden, Mårtensson has been sculpting chocolate statues and figures with a dreamlike frenzy. We have found nowhere in NYC where you can watch, or gawk as we do, a master craft and sculpt his vivid imagination into life-like chocolate figurines, faces, and designs (there is even a window in the back for us voyeurs to peak in and watch the chocolatier hard at work).

Indeed the coffee, sandwiches, and chocolate gawking are reason enough to visit- but there’s more. Just recently, we met up with Mårtensson and he introduced us to his newest collection of bon bons: The Four Elements- Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water.

At the moment, there is nothing quite like the Four Elements- four chocolate bonbons seamlessly crafted to be consumed in one sitting. Each are in half-spherical in shape with a glistening and artful exterior design meant to capture the essence of Earth, Wind, Fire, or Water.

Below is a brief description of each.

Mårtennson just so happens to be a master of chocolate subtlety, ensuring that our taste buds experience different flavors, textures, and pings of spice within one bon bon. This is no small feat, for many a chocolatier, this simply doesn’t exist in their arsenal.

Earth does indeed have “earthy” tones, the star ingredients being gianduja and pop rocks- which in other pieces can be overwhelming. Not here. The deployment of pop rocks can prove gimmicky in some pieces, but Mårtensson’s steady hand delivers a true winner.

Wind- quite possibly the most “fun” piece out of the four consists of small doses of frangelico and amaretto. The combination feels light and airy  on the tongue- think of a refreshing breeze on a cool spring afternoon.

Fire. Ah. For those who fear a little spice in their chocolate. Fear not. The kick of cinnamon and tabasco gently tickles the back of the throat seconds after the bon bon dissolves in your mouth.

Water- Almost every shop we walk into these days has some combination of sea salt and caramel- but not quite like this. The liquid caramel and gentle use of sea salt freshens the palate and has proved quite addicting.

Stop by FIKA at 66 Pearl Street and treat yourself to some coffee and chocolate.

professorchocolate.com for more fun blogs and chances to purchase our book, The Ultimate Guide to Finding Chocolate in NYC By Rob Monahan and Neill Alleva.

One point of interest is the kind of deals one gets. Most common deal sites peddle spa services, restaurants, and sport classes offers. What, nothing for the sweet tooth? No cookies at 50% off, no gourmet balsamic vinegar half price? We thought this was something we could do something about!

So we started the Savorique Deal Site, where you can find unbelievable prices on some pretty sweet deals. Literally.

Tea For Two Shortbread Cookies

Below are our top 10 business gifts. Thankfully, these are popular items that are affordable and sure to please.

Fauchon is famous for its flavored tea blends, coffee, and chocolates and enjoys international fame.

Tcho makes single-origin chocolate that focus on flavor profile rather than cocoa percentage, all wrapped in quality, modern packaging.

For some of the best value in gourmet chocolate, Knipschildt always does wonders with its chocolate truffles, while The Squirrel Brand offer a line of select nuts in handsomely luxury wooden boxes.

Colorful William Dean 4-Tier Chocolates	Flashy Fauchon Chocolates Napolitains
Flavorful Tcho Chocolate Bar Luxury Gift Box	Traditional Heritage Shortbread Biscuits
Luxury Squirrel Brand Black Truffle Almonds	Handsome Eclat Chocolate Assortment Gift Box
Top quality Fauchon “Melange” Blend Tea	Valrhona Guanaja Chocolate Tasting Napolitains 70%
Best valued Knipshildt Signature Chocolate Collection	Glamorous Julia Baker Chocolate Truffles Oval Box

Fauchon has been gradually expanding worldwide and is now available online in the United States on Savorique.com.

For business gifts, nothing denotes taste and knowledge of quality products like Fauchon’s Butter Cookies, Nougats, or Caramels. For personal attentions: Madeleines, ground coffee or preserves.

Fauchon trademark black & white logo and purple touch

They bring their cocoa beans from exotic regions like Ghana, Madagascar or Peru. Tcho manufactures mostly bars and cocoa nibs, and their Tcho-A-Day is a very popular choice for an easy, healthy daily dose of dark chocolate that comes in a 14, 30 or 60-day packs!

Tcho Chocolate Tasting Pack

Tcho-A-Day Dark Chocolate Daily Dose

• “Honeybee” by Marina Marchese not only tells the inspiring story of one woman’s intimate experience with honeybees but depicts fascinating and practical information about all aspects of bees, beekeeping, and honey, including life inside the beehive and the role of the queen, drones, and workers; how bees make honey; pollination and its importance in sustaining life; building a beehive; hiving and keeping honeybees; harvesting honey and comb; healing with honey and the practice of apitherapy; recipes for food, drink, and personal care…
• “Naked Chocolate” by David Wolfe basically teaches us about the power of raw, organic chocolate on the human’s body, mind and spirit. It tells us about the legends of cacao, the scientific and exotic properties of cocoa, and much more…

So read on, all our culinary books are signed by their authors!

Only recently have some really interesting basket makers come to light. They use quality/organic ingredients. They give you a great basket that can actually be re-used in the house or for another gift. Now, I don’t mind getting these at home or at the office…

Celebration Gift Crate

Fruit & Salmon Gourmet Basket

We spent this past Friday walking down the aisles of the New York Chocolate Show, now in its 12th year. Our goal was to scope out new trends from our existing chocolatiers, and see who else was entering the fray of chocolate mastery. Of course, chocolate sampling in not work at all, so we had a great time meeting new brands and catching up with our existing vendors.

We met with Chef William Dean, whose WD line we just started offering on Savorique.com. Also present was long time Savorique supporter Oliver Kita and his right-hand chef. I tried their lavender bonbon and their blood orange ganache, both to die for. We also hung out with Vanessa Barg and Lauren Gockley of Gnosis Chocolate, extending the range of their ultra-healthy and surprisingly delicious raw chocolate. Watch our e-store for new Gnosis chocolates coming-up soon! Clay Gordon, writer extraordinaire and author of Discover Chocolate was on hand to autograph his book, see photo below.

This year’s show had some wonderful displays and activities, including shows for kids, recipe how-to’s, and a chocolate bar where visitors could hang out in comfy armchairs. Overall a great success for the chocolate show this year!

Large Attendance at the 12th edition NYC Chocolate Show

Stephan, Vanessa Barg, Clay Gordon and Lauren Gockley at the Chocolate Show

Chocolate Show Fashion Display