Melt 12 Days Of Christmas Advent Calendar And Chocolates Review
DISCLOSURE – THIS ITEM WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE THE REVIEWER’S OWN.
Reviewed by Melody
I would say that I am very much a “chocolate lover” so when I was asked to review an Advent Calendar and some chocolates from Melt I jumped at the chance!
Having never heard of Melt before, I had a look at their website (https://meltchocolates.com/) to find out more. The first page of the website states that Melt are London’s Most Luxurious Chocolates and allow you to “experience the power and pleasure of chocolate” which is definitely something I was looking forward to doing. Melt is a family owned independent chocolate business based in Notting Hill, where chocolatiers handmake fresh chocolate every day having sourced the ingredients from across the globe. They have two shops in London and also an outlet in Selfridges, they also offer mail order (including same day delivery if you live in London). Looking through the Melt website my mouth was watering in anticipation of what I might get to try. They have a huge range of chocolates to suit everyone’s tastes so it would be very difficult to choose.
When the delivery arrived I wasn’t disappointed, the box was very large and was decorated with Melt’s distinctive logo and strapline “London’s Most Luxurious Chocolates”. Inside nestled amongst a deep bed of tissue paper were the following:
The 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar RRP £69 https://meltchocolates.com/product/the-12-days-of-christmas-advent-calendar/
Milk Chocolate Coated Hazelnuts RRP: £25.99 https://meltchocolates.com/product/hazelnut-milk-chocolate-coated-nuts/
Pistachio Filled Bar RRP: £14.99 https://meltchocolates.com/product/pistachio-filled-bar/
Hazelnut Filled Bar RRP: £14.99 https://meltchocolates.com/product/hazelnut-filled-bar/
It really was like Christmas had come early, it felt very decadent being able to open an advent calendar before December, but in the spirit of the review I didn’t hold back!
When I saw the “12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar”, my immediate reaction was “wow”. It was absolutely stunning. The calendar looked like a large old-fashioned book with lovely gold print on it and was tied with a melt ribbon. Inside the calendar was even more beautiful, the book opened up to reveal 12 boxes all with hand painted pictures depicting the lyrics from the 12-days of Christmas song. There was a tab to help pull each box out and on the back of each was the appropriate lyric from the song and also an interpretation of the song in terms of the bible (which I never knew). Inside each box was a small luxury chocolate bar (45g), in a colour co-ordinated box to match the edging of the picture. Each bar had four sections so ideal for sharing (or for spreading out over a few days if you keep it all to yourself!) There was a good selection of flavours of chocolate, all of which can be purchased in full size from the Melt website, these were:
• Love (milk chocolate)
• Gold (milk)
• Pistachio Blonde (white)
• Sea Salt (milk)
• Sea Salt (dark)
• Red Berry (dark)
• Wild (dark)
• 85% Philippines (dark)
• Chilli, Aztec Fire (dark)
• Almond (milk)
• Coffee (dark)
• 35% Papua New Guinea (milk)
I, supported by my ever-willing family, started to tuck in. My partner was particularly excited being the only dark chocolate fan in the house so he had six bars for himself. We haven’t tried all of the flavours yet as we want to make them last as long as possible, however favourites so far have been the Pistachio Blonde, which is a lovely creamy white chocolate; Love which is a very creamy melt in the mouth milk chocolate and Red Berry, which is a dark chocolate with added fruitiness. We have been blown away by the lovely quality of the chocolate which definitely do melt in the mouth.
I was also impressed that the Advent calendar is completely plastic-free. The advent calendar itself is made of cardboard and each of the chocolate bars are wrapped in parchment inside the box. I’m trying to think of a use for the empty calendar once the chocolate has been eaten, as it is far too gorgeous to put in the recycling!
The 12 Days of Christmas Advent calendar retails at £69, which is fairly expensive but it is so beautiful and a real treat. It would make a wonderful gift for someone or a very special treat for yourself. There are also vegan and sugar-free versions available to buy for £49 each. My only negative is that it only covers 12 days of Christmas and not the whole of advent!
The Tub of Chocolate Covered Hazelnuts was also beautifully decorated with hand-painted botanical images of hazelnuts and gold trim. The tub was also really good quality made of sturdy chocolate. Inside the tub was a bag (in this case plastic) full of the delicious chocolate covered hazelnuts. The nuts had been toasted, then covered with chocolate and dusted with cocoa and looked a bit like truffles. These were a big hit with the whole family and were really yummy and moreish. There were 250g of nuts in the tub, and at a retail price of £26 this was fairly expensive, but they would make a wonderful Christmas gift for anyone or a special treat for yourself.
Finally, we were also sent two filled bars from Melt’s luxury artisan chocolate bar collection; a pistachio filled bar and a hazelnut filled bar. Both of these were 90g and retail at £14.99 each. There were nine sections per bar. Both of the bars were beautifully presented in illustrated cardboard packaging, with hand-painted botanical images of hazelnuts and pistachios. The chocolate was wrapped in parchment paper. Both were decadent and delicious. My favourite was the hazelnut bar as it was made from delicious creamy milk chocolate. My partner preferred the pistachio bar as that was covered in dark chocolate. Again, whilst these are expensive to buy they would make wonderful Christmas gifts and anyone would be delighted to receive such a thoughtful and lovely gift.
Overall, I was very impressed with the Melt Chocolate products. Whilst they were a lot more expensive than I would usually want to spend on chocolates, they were truly luxurious, delicious and beautifully presented. All of the products would make wonderful Christmas gifts and the advent calendar was absolutely amazing, I’m not sure I’ll be able to go back to having a normal advent calendar from the supermarket ever again! These will be firmly on my Christmas list from now on.
I would rate the Melt Chocolates 5/5 (if I could give six for the advent calendar I would!)
Rating: 5/5
The products can be purchased from the Melt Chocolate website here or in person at one of their London shops
RRP: £14.99 – £69 per product
The 12 Days of Christmas – Chocolate Advent Calendar