How much would you be willing to spend on a box of chocolates (and some quality tea thrown in for good measure)?
If you’re looking for some truly special chocolates, then this just might be what you need. Why? Because this “Tea Connection: Fresh Chocolates from Three Uji Teas” set soon to be available from Japanese chocolate brand Sils Maria comes with a hefty price tag of 100,000 yen (approximately US$900)! Okay, so it does come with three varieties of quality tea, but still, these are some seriously expensive chocolate we’re talking about.
The chocolates were created in collaboration with Tsuji Rihei Honten, a tea retailer and manufacturer founded more than 150 years ago. The company is based in Kyoto Prefecture’s Uji City, one of the best-known tea producing regions in Japan.
Sils Maria is famous as the first brand to produce the fresh, ganache-like type of chocolate now known as nama-choco (raw chocolate), and combined with Tsuji Rihei Honten’s award-winning teas, the chocolates are sure to be a delightfully refined treat.
The set includes 20 pieces of each of the following three varieties of chocolate:
● Matcha fresh chocolate using hand-picked tencha
These chocolates contain plenty of matcha （powdered green tea) produced by stone-grinding premium tencha tea leaves grown in Uji. Created with a mixture of cream and Belgian white chocolate, along with the matcha, the makers have also added a touch of champagne to bring out the fragrance of the tea and chocolate.
●Fresh chocolate with roasted stem Uji Gyokuro tea
The unique ingredient in these chocolates is hoji-cha (roasted tea) made with the stem of valuable Uji grown Gyokuro tea. Specifically, the tea leaves used are grown in the shade for over 20 days and of high enough quality to be sold as premium Gyokuro tea, but are instead roasted and stone-ground into hoji-cha form. The chocolates also contain whiskey for added flavor.
● Fresh Chocolate with outdoor grown Uji sencha (green tea)
These chocolates are made from Belgian white chocolate combined with stone-ground Uji green tea grown in the open (without being covered), which gives the finished product a vibrant green color. The chocolates also contain sake, which offers a slightly bitter flavor which should mix pleasantly with the fresh flavor of the green tea.
The set also comes with three packets of the hand-picked matcha, two packets of the roasted stem Gyokuro tea, and three packets of the Uji sencha used in the three chocolates, so you can have the full tea and chocolate pairing experience.
▼ The chocolates and teas fit neatly into this box.
▼ And yes, it all comes wrapped up beautifully, in a furoshiki-style cloth.
So, what can we say? The quality of the chocolate and tea is obviously top-notch, and the presentation is faultless. If you think all of that is worth 100,000 yen, then you can order the set direct from Sils Maria by phone at 0463-33-2181. They’re now taking advance orders and actual sales will start on February 1, but there’ll be only 30 sets available, so you may want to hurry if you feel like splurging insanely on chocolates!
Sources: PR Times via Japaaan Magazine, Sils Maria website, Tsuji Rihei Honten website
Images: PR Times