Yucoco personalised chocolate: Review

Chocolate always makes a great gift in our household. Normally, though, if it’s me who receives it, it lasts for months unless Chris manages to persuade me to share…

So I was pretty excited when I was asked by Yucoco if I’d like to try out their online service, which allows you to create your own handmade, personalised chocolate bar as a gift. Well, it can be just for you too, but I thought it would be nicer to order one for Chris and this time persuade HIM that sharing was the way forward…

Yucoco was created by three chocoholics who exhausted the range of chocolate bars that could be sold in shops across Britain, and so decided to set up a company where people could create their own ideal combinations. Each bar is handmade from Belgian chocolate that is 100% sustainably cultivated and ethically sourced, while a huge number of their toppings are made in their own kitchen.

The premise is simple: you work through their online ordering system and choose which 120g chocolate bar you would like (dark, milk or white – or a combination of the three), before choosing up to five different toppings. And it’s a vast selection of toppings from which to choose too. These are divided into five sections, namely Fruity (dried fruits, coconut and the like), Nutty & Spice (various nuts, seeds, homemade florentine and more), All Things Nice (which includes everything from crushed chillies and cinder toffee to salted pretzels and shortbread crumbs), Just For Fun (weird and wonderful options such as wasabi peas and vanilla Anglesea sea salt), and finally Drizzle, which gives you the choice of six different drizzles to decorate your bar.

The pricing is based on a standard price of £4 for the bar itself (or £4.50 for the white/dark/milk combo) , with each topping adding an additional cost to the bar. With the five we chose (well, we had to review as many as possible, didn’t we!), this took the bar cost to £7.80 – which seemed pretty steep. You then give your bar a name (mine was the Bristol Bites Bar, obviously!) and can specify who it is labelled as from and to, making it ideal for gifting. You can also choose to add a greeting card with a personalised message for a further £1.75, while delivery is £2.45 for a 2-3 day Royal Mail delivery, or £7.45 for express delivery.

The whole process was pretty straightforward: it’s easy to keep track of how much you’re spending as you go along, the website is slick, easy and fun to use, and the checkout was simple. And in a couple of days after ordering, the Bristol Bites Bar arrived…

We loved the packaging: it was eyecatching and fun, and with the little window at the front to show you the chocolate inside, it all looked pretty tempting.

Inside, as you can see, the bar was on full display – and on the left hand side included the message to Chris, along with details of what the bar actually consisted of (I chose a milk chocolate bar with chocolate peanut butter pretzels, homemade salted caramel, dried banana chips, chocolate popping candy and a white chocolate drizzle). He was happy.

The chocolate itself was packaged in a sealed plastic bag too, meaning that it still tasted lovely and fresh when we opened it.

The chocolate itself was beautifully rich and creamy, and seemed to be pretty good quality. We loved all of the toppings and the way in which they were presented, although were surprised that the popping candy didn’t seem to have as much “poppiness” as it does when it’s not chocolate coated. Overall, though, it’s a great idea for a gift – if a little pricey…

For more information about Yucoco, visit www.yucoco.com.

Please note: this chocolate bar was received free of charge, but in no way impacted on our opinion. We were not obliged to write a positive review, and the company did not see this review before it was put up on the site.