Chocolate Will Get Us Through
I know they’re a week away yet, but I’m excited about next month’s flavors, so I’m going to post about them now. Although February is the dead of winter and pretty much always dark and cold, flavor-wise at least, it’s one of my favorite months of the year. 
Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Cherry Chocolate Brownies and Chipotle Cinnamon Fudge are just the things to chase away those winter blues. The warming spices in the vegan fudge, extra chocolate in the cookies, and succulent cherries in the brownies to remind us of spring on its way, make the perfect antidotes to frosty, rainy weather. They’re also great flavors for Valentine’s Day! For the ultimate warming chocolate experience try your favorite vegan fudge, cookie or brownie flavor with a warm mug of hot cocoa.
Flex Your Spending Power!
As the holiday shopping season gets going, I’d like to take this moment to remind everyone (including myself) of the impact that our spending habits have 
on the global economy, human rights, animal rights and the health of the environment. Each purchase we make supports whatever system or company is behind it. For example, by purchasing fair-trade gifts like our vegan chocolates, fair-trade teas, and fair-trade coffees, you will be directly supporting eco-conscious agriculture, healthy working conditions and a decent wage for farmers around the world. 
It seems like an obvious choice, when the alternative – buying non-fair-trade items – supports child labor, hazardous working conditions, impossibly low wages and the destruction of the environment world wide. What’s really wonderful about buying fair-trade gifts is that you get higher quality products as well as the knowledge that your purchasing power is making a positive impact on the world. And, the same goes for buying vegan and organic!
Cocoa Love
I was in the bakery yesterday while Jada was making a batch of our Classic Drinking Chocolate mix. The smell of organic, fair-trade chocolate blended with just the right amount of vanilla was positively heavenly. 
Although the cocoa powder in the air did make me want to sneeze, it also made we want to go right home, make a cup of rich hot cocoa, curl up with a book and wait for the first snow. I know it’s early, but that’s what cocoa always makes me think of. But, if it’s still warm in your part of the country, try our drinking chocolate in an iced mocha or as cold chocolate milk. For an extra-special treat, get a taste of our Peppermint Drinking Chocolate and prepare to fall in love.
Simple Chocolate Bliss
We’re going back to basics for our vegan fudge flavor coming up in August. Simple flavors can often be the most delicious, and we think our simply elegant Original Fudge is the best thing this side of heaven. Plus, it makes a great chocolate gift for someone you love. 
All our vegan fudge is gluten-free by nature, as are many of our other chocolates, including vegan peanut butter cups, peppermint bark, and peppermint creme patties.
For summer-safe chocolate gifts we recommend double chocolate chunk cookies, classic and peppermint flavors of drinking chocolate, and individually-wrapped chocolate caramels for decadent chocolate flavor without the melt-ability factor.
Tips for Shipping in the Summer Heat
Ordering perishable items in the summer can be a bit of a pain. You either have to order chill packs and faster shipping, which means more money, or you risk receiving melted and/or spoiled products. 
However, you can minimize this hassle for yourself by ordering products that are less perishable and more hearty when it comes to heat exposure. Our Classic and Spiced Peanut Brittle, Classic Almond Toffee, and individually-wrapped Caramels, for example, will ship well without being adversely effected by the summer heat. Our fresh-baked cookies and brownies, are actually surprisingly good at enduring high temperatures as well. Sealed in their plastic bags they won’t go stale or spoil even with our slowest shipping method (which is only 3-4 days). Ordering flavors without chocolate chips also makes your life easier, although the chips and the cookies are no worse for some melted chocolate, just perhaps a bit messier. Coffee, Tea and Drinking Chocolate are other obvious choices for summer shipping, although you may need to remind your recipient that these drinks are as delicious served iced as they are hot.
For heat-friendly gift combos, look no further than our Classic Vanilla Lover’s and Spice Lover’s Gift Sets which include Toffee, Caramels and Peanut Brittle, or our Cookie, Brownie, and Beverage Samplers.
If you do decide to order a more perishable item, especially one containing chocolate, we strongly encourage you to include the recommended chill pack in your order as well as choosing FedEx 2-day air shipping, as our chill packs only remain cold for 2 days.
PS. For those of you wondering about your monthly club orders, today is a shipping holiday, so we will be shipping all the monthly clubs tomorrow, for delivery later in the week. 
