Nöje is on a mission to send their customers on a sensory adventure. Each Nöje monthly subscription box will include small batch chocolate, coffee, tea and other accouterments. You have the opportunity to preview their monthly offerings on their blog and adjust your subscription to suit your own tastes. They also offer one-time orders.
DEAL: Use coupon code HELLO10 to get 10% off of your first shipment.
Our box arrived well packed inside a USPS box with insulating panels around the Nöje box. (They must know it never gets cool enough to mail chocolate safely in the South without cooling it somehow.) There were a postcard and a business card to greet us along with a nod to their hashtag #tasteourbox .
The chocolate itself was even more securely packaged inside this “oh so sleek” bubble wrap bag.
There were a couple of these cooling packs in the box for extra measure and they were hand labeled, “Don’t Eat Me!” I felt like Alice in Wonderland. But seriously, don’t eat it.
After I peeled away the packaging all of this swoon-worthy deliciousness was in their October Nöje Subscription box. The theme for the October box was “Date Night,” and all the products are aphrodisiacs! Woohoo! Not sure we need any help there, though. We have five kids and “we got this” if you know what I mean. But I am not going to be mad at you if you send me a box of chocolate, honey, tea, and coffee no matter what you call it.
Just look at all that chocolate!!! Nöje endeavors to ensure that all their products are made in small batches from small businesses with a penchant for social responsibility. These amazing chocolate bars are part of that philosophy.
A Novo Coffee bar by Ritual Chocolate ($9) out of Park City, UT was in our box. Ritual Chocolate is a small business that manufactures small batch bean-to-bar chocolate. Their bars start with chocolate that they make themselves from just cacao and organic cane sugar.
“Unlike any other coffee and chocolate bar out there. Fruity Ethiopian coffee meets the balanced flavor of our Mid Mountain Blend and the result is a balanced, smooth coffee-infused chocolate bar that coffee lovers will love.”
The wrapper on this chocolate bar was spectacular. The outer wrap unfolded to reveal a pleasingly simple brown paper inner wrapper. And, under that there was a delicious bar of chocolate that tasted like drinking a cup of chocolatey coffee. The tasting notes are listed as blueberry, honeycomb, and coffee. I could definitively taste the blueberry in addition to the coffee.
The next bar was a Hudson Valley Bourbon Dark Milk ($11.95) chocolate bar from Fruition. “Fruition is a small batch bean to bar chocolate workshop located in the Catskill Mountains of New York. With meticulous attention to detail, we slowly roast and stone grind carefully selected cocoa beans to accentuate their inherent flavor.”
“Roasted cocoa nibs aged with Tuthilltown Spirits bourbon barrel staves are then crafted into a creamy dark milk chocolate with hints of oak and bourbon.”
This chocolate was so creamy and smooth, it melted into a silky chocolatey liquid as soon as you bit into it. The chocolate maker, Bryan Graham, clearly knows what he is doing. I am impressed with the subtle flavors that come out. I could taste the oak notes as promised. I never knew chocolate could have such depth.
The third chocolate bar was White Chocolate bar by Askinosie chocolate ($10.50). Askinosie chocolate is another small bean-to-bar company out of Springfield, Missouri. It was founded by Shawn Askinosie who was a criminal defense lawyer in his former life before he found chocolate.
“We handcraft this single origin white chocolate with 34% cocoa butter, which we press ourselves from cocoa beans we source directly from farmers in Davao, Philippines. We integrate this single origin cocoa butter with certified organic cane sugar and goat’s milk powder to create real, bean-to-bar white chocolate.”
So, I’m in love with this bar. It’s buttery smooth sweetness will make you want to slap your mama. (Don’t really.) It is just that good. And, it is very cool, that the man pictured on the front of the bar is Peter Cruz from the Philippines who helped gather and ferment the cocoa beans for this chocolate bar. How sweet it is!
This Aphro-tea-siac Sexy Black Tea Blend from Teadonna ($11.99) was in the box. Their name comes from a combination of the words tea and donna, Italian for women. The company was founded by women and a percentage of the proceeds from every sale goes to a charity that supports and empowers women.
“Feeling sexy? About to have a fun night out with the girls? Spunk up your night with this sexy tea made with special herbal tea blend of black tea, cocoa and rose petals. Great energy tea and high in caffeine with ingredients to bring out your sexy self!”
So, don’t judge me, but I may have taken that little spoon and eaten the tea out of that lid with it, straight. It might be good with some hot water too, but it is literally good enough to eat with a spoon. The ingredients are black tea, cocoa nibs, cranberry, rose petals, hibiscus, and white chocolate mousse flavoring. And, the little spoon and tin it comes in are very cool.
This bit of deliciousness, a bear of honey from the Mikolich Family ($8) was in our box. A family run business, the Mikoliches have had their hand in the proverbial honey pot for over 40 years. This offering from them is an orange blossom honey that is harvested from their location in an organic orange grove.
“Made from our location in an organic orange grove, this is our sweetest and most fragrant honey! The light and mild varietal capture the aroma of springtime citrus from miles of blooming orange blossoms. Sweet, like oranges, this refreshing honey melts in your mouth.”
So, my family is a little bit snobby when it comes to honey. For several years we kept bees and harvested our own honey until we lost our hives in the hive collapse that caused the loss of so many bees in 2012. We kind of lost heart after that, but still have a passion for real, raw, local honey. It has to be real, studies have shown that much of the inventory of store bought, mass produced honey is adulterated with other things. Real honey needs no additions. Then, it has to be raw, the pasteurization process destroys important enzymes and nutrients in the honey and also throws the taste off. And, then local. We like to support small business beekeepers and honey from your local area is purported to help with allergies because it is made from the nectar of the plants that are possibly your allergens.
I am nowhere near California, but I was willing to overlook that since it is real, raw and harvested by a small business beekeeper. And, I am glad I did. My absolute favorite honey in the world is Tupelo honey (google it if you don’t know what I am talking about), but this honey is a close second. It is a clear light honey with citrusy notes that will have you coming back for more. And, don’t worry, no honey was wasted in the taking of this picture. I sopped it up with a slice of cinnamon swirl toast and then after making sure no one was watching, I licked the plate clean. Don’t tell anyone. Thanks.
Just when you thought that this box couldn’t get any better, they added coffee. Seriously, this box has it all. The coffee is from a roaster called Screaming Beans out of Amsterdam. The Netherlands are famous for their gourmet small roasted coffees. The coffee variety is a Caturra/Catuai from Guatemala. They don’t have this particular coffee in stock right now, but their other coffees retail from between $8.70 and $10.30 USD.
A natural, sun-dried coffee the taste notes were promised to be balanced, sweet and fruity. The coffee brewed up an excellent cup of smooth sweet coffee with figgy sweet notes and absolutely no bitterness. It was a very good cup of coffee.
Robyn Hartung, the CEO and co-founder of Nöje tastes every product that goes out in the boxes. Lucky. Every product in this box was delicious. The kind of delicious that makes you close your eyes, smile and just savor the goodness. I’m impressed.
Have you ordered from Nöje? Did you get anything different in your box? And was it as delicious as everything in my box was?
Comments
I’m not really into chocolate, but this box is like a dream! It looks delicious in every way!
I love this review =D The products sound heavenly, but also you eating the tea and licking the plate clean made me laugh!