The Chocospherian
Incredible Chocolate News	November 25th, 2016

Written By: Joanne Kryszek, Chocosphere Co-Founder and Chocolate Goddess

What’s New?	Customer Service
Incr‘Edible’ Chocolate Deal…	Bargain Basement and On Sale
Chocolate Club	Newsletter

What's New?

Spencer Chocolate is artisinally made in Portland, Oregon, just down the road from our home. Who knew that we had a fine bean-to-bar chocolate maker as our almost next-door neighbor?

Robert O'Byrnes has taken many twists and turns during his career, from being a military veteran whose service we honor, to various other career choices, to now being the chocolate maker at Spencer. We tasted Robert's chocolate one day when he visited our warehouse and were so impressed that not only did we want to have it for ourselves, but we felt compelled to offer it to you. His single origin bars have the texture and flavor finesse of the best chocolate to be found. We think you'll love them too!

Robert also makes Sipping Chocolate from his bean-to-bar chocolate, both in pure chocolate and a perfectly-balanced spiced variety with cinnamon and cayenne. Absolutely delicious!

You may be asking "Who is Spencer"? He is the family's rescue border collie with a nose for knowing when cacao is roasted just right!

Bees and Beans. Bees and Beans was started a few years ago by Faith Dionne with the support of her husband Aaron, both chefs. Faith's concept was to make a variety of confections using honey as a sweetener rather than conventional sugar. Many of her creations include chocolate, and that's where Chocosphere and Bees and Beans came together. We helped Faith with the chocolate part of her creations.

Faith and Aaron also run a very good restaurant in Portland (which Jerry and I have personally enjoyed!), and they have some other culinary business interests as well. To help make her confections, she brought Andrea Marks on as chocolatier and confection artisan. Bees and Beans' success and growth became such that Faith couldn't deal with everything, and Andrea was interested in making Bees and Beans her own. Now Bees and Beans is Andrea's and with Faith's continued support she is carrying on the tradition!

Many of Bees and Beans confections are of too short a shelf life for Chocosphere to offer, but we have picked two variations of an absolutely delicious offering – soft honey-based nougat enrobed in delicious chocolate! It comes in two versions, the "Junior Honey Bar" and the "Reserve Honey Bar" which is enrobed in single-origin chocolate!

Domori Criollo 90%, Criollo 80% and Exotic Milk Chocolate Bars. We recently received a new shipment from Domori including some really unique and delicious chocolate bars made by one of the world's best chocolate makers! Many Chocosphere customers know and love Domori's Criollo chocolate bars, but the cacao percentage range ran from 70% to 75% to 77% and then jumped all the way to 100%. For those who love Criollo cacao, want less sugar, but don't want to take that leap all the way to 100%, Domori now offers Criollo 80% and Criollo 90%, made from a blend of their Criollo cacao offerings to deliver fine texture and taste.

We also now have Domori's "exotic" milk chocolate bars! Most people think of milk chocolate being made with conventional milk from cows. Domori expands our flavor horizons by offering milk chocolate with milk made from Camel, Donkey, Sheep, and Goat. They all have very unique flavors. I can't promise that you'll love every one of these offerings since taste is a personal thing, but you certainly have an opportunity to go on a taste adventure with milk chocolate bars! These exotic milk bars could be an option for folks who are allergic to cow's milk, and a medical professional should be consulted before consuming these chocolates if milk allergy is a concern.

Incr‘Edible’ Chocolate Deals

Start of Holiday Shopping Season Promotion!

Some do "Black Friday", others do "Small Business Saturday", and then there is "Cyber Monday". We like Friday, we're a Small Business, and we're a Cyber business too, so it is time to do something special!

From now until Monday November 28th at 7 PM Pacific Standard Time (the "Promotion Period"), we'll be runnng the following promotions. You can select only one promotion or the other but not both. Orders placed utilizing either of the promotions noted below will ship by Wednesday November 30th, unless unexpected issues arise in which case you'll be contacted by Chocosphere Customer Service:

FREE SHIPPING on selected orders: Orders placed during the Promotion Period that would normally qualify for our $10 "If It Fits, It Ships" service will ship for FREE. To get this Free Shipping service with your order, you must place it online (sorry, phone or e-mail orders don't qualify) and the order must qualify under the If It Fits, It Ships! terms and conditions (click on the link for details). Also, you must choose "Local Pickup" as the Shipping Option at checkout, and you must write "Facebook/Newsletter Free Shipping" in the Comments section at checkout. If your order does not "fit" (qualify under the "If It Fits, It Ships" terms and conditions, decided at Chocosphere's sole discretion), Chocosphere will contact you regarding possible shipping costs and options.
FREE GIFT BAG OR WRAP! We will attractively pack your order either in gift bag or gift wrap for free, which we will choose based on the nature of the items in the order. To get free gift bag or wrap with your order, you must write "Free Gift Bag or Wrap" in the comments section at checkout.

You can utilize this promotional opportunity for all of your holiday gifts ordered according to the instructions above. If you want shipping delayed until we're closer to holiday time, let us know when you would like the gift to arrive at destination in the comments section at checkout. It may not be possible for us to hit an exact arrival date, so we won't promise that, but we'll do our best to be close to desired date and not too late. Happy Shopping!

Bargain Basement and On Sale

There are a boatload of products available from the On Sale and Bargain Basement pages and the Grab Bag shelf is full.

Have fun looking around and if you want to be surprised, order a grab bag and get up to 60% off. It's the best deal.

Please remember that Bargain Basement products are usually past the best-by date, and may be bloomed or broken. The Bargain Basement is a place to treat yourself at a great price, but probably not for gift giving.

Chocolate Club

Have you ever wondered about the Chocosphere chocolate club? This is how to "join": You order online by going to "Chocolate-of-the-Month Clubs", which can be found by using the "Gifts and Selections" drop-down menu at the top of the Chocosphere web page. There you'll find an offering to fit just about every budget, ranging from as little $120 to as much as $1020.

Then relax and forget about making chocolate decisions. We take care of the rest. Soon you or someone you cherish will start receiving chocolate shipments. Once each month, on the doorstep there will be a package from that other world; that's right, the planet with chocolate: Chocosphere! You or that special someone will have their day brightened with the amazing food of the Gods and be transported to a delicious place. Almost like a drug, but legal. Every month, for the period you select, there will be another infusion of happy.

Customer Service

Of course we are happy to help over the phone, but we do appreciate it when you place your order on line. It helps us to give the most prompt and accurate service. If you don’t feel comfortable giving your credit card number over the internet, just click the box for "Please Call for Credit Card Info" and we will call you. But when you need help, we are here for you. There is generally someone answering the phones between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday through Friday.

There are five of us answering phones at Chocosphere, where we speak fluent Chocospherian. We try hard to answer all calls personally during normal business hours, but occasionally one slips over to voice mail. If you call and end up in voice mail, please leave a message. We will do our very best to call back promptly. If by chance you don't hear back from us in a reasonable time, please call again during our normal business hours.

We each have varying levels of experience. It is our goal to happily serve you the very best chocolate!!

Finally, and very importantly, our web site lists our service commitments as to when we ship an order based on when the order is placed. However, we certainly understand there are circumstances where you may want us to process an order faster, when you need your chocolate "now"! If you need your order shipped faster than our listed service commitment, please place your order online letting us know of your need in the "Comments" section, and then call us (503-692-3323 x 0 for Customer Service) to let us know. We can't guarantee early shipping, but we always try hard to provide chocolate happiness to our valued customers.

If you want us to send a copy as an email every time there is a new issue or to tell you about special offers, please create an account at chocosphere.com and check the newsletter box.

Topics:

If you have a topic you would like us to cover in the newsletter, please drop us a line: customer‑service@chocosphere.com and we will be happy to include it in a future edition

Fax 503-692-1494