The Chocolate Bee

Went to The Chocolate Bee for the first time today. The chocolate pieces they make are so beautiful that you will hesitate to eat them, but you must because they are divine. Quite a variety and each one better than the one you just tried. Started off with a dark chocolate turtle which we ate while we were deciding what else to get. I bought wildflower honey on the recommendation from a friend. Then bought half a dozen pieces of chocolate to take home to share. The colors and the flavors are so enticing that we ended up eating all the pieces at one sitting. Even bought a chocolate Eiffel Tower as a gift. You won't regret going here.

The chocolate here is amazing! All homemade by one person which is so cool! I've only come once while visiting family who come a lot and, buy honey from here. When you finish using the honey jar you bring it back, they clean it out and refill it which is super clever and not a big waste! My personal favorite chocolate was a the Halloween ghost (filled with caramel, and bourbon truffle!) I will definitely be visiting this place again!

This is really awesome little shop on the Northside of Cincinnati. As you could guess by the name of the store they lots of local honey here as well as some waxy products. The honey is all legit and very fairly priced too. They had a whole wall of uniquely shaped candles of which we bought quite a few. An adorable tea set and a cute little frog were among the candles we bought. They also have some cool chocolate bars including a bacon/salt one which was good but was lacking the bacon flavour that it promised. They also had some hand products, soaps, and little chocolates in the glass case (the cherry one is really good.) And of course we got a huge chocolate high heel shoe because everyone needs one of those. So many great things here and very nice people too. Definitely a worthy stop for honey or other cool little things too.

The Chocolate Bee is the brainchild of both local bad ass business women: Samantha Gordon (Bee Haven Honey) and Shalini Latour (Chocolates Latour). Together they make up one of my favorite local businesses in Cincinnati. Why? Because their products are 100% the REAL THING. THE HONEY:As far as the honey goes - it is as good as it gets. And I will drive from any corner of the city to get it. To say I am obsessed is putting it lightly. I love the different variations of honey they have: wildflower, spring, fall etc. Fun Fact: Honey can taste very different depending on where the bees pollinate from and what time of year. My favorite product she has is probably the wildflower honey - it's a clear honey and the smell is absolutely intoxicating. I love pairing it with bleu cheese on a cheese plate and making herbaceous cocktails with it or the standard Bee's Knees. I also LOVE the fact that she offers the honeycomb honey - also fantastic for cheese plates! Once you've had the real thing it is SO hard to ever go back. Sam is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about what she does. Ask her anything and if she doesn't know the answer she will find out for you! THE CHOCOLATE:I first tried Shalini's chocolates 5-6 years ago when she dropped off a small batch of pear anise chocolates to one of my yelp events. I didn't know who she was, and I had never had her chocolate. I don't like chocolate (GASP!) and the ONLY reason I tried one of her truffles that night was because it looked so incredibly beautiful and delicate. From there - I learned that maybe I do like chocolate? It just has to be REAL. What do I mean when I say real? Well when you buy a chocolate bar from the store 90% of it is a fake sugar substitute made out of sugar and corn syrup while 10% of it is real cocoa. Growing up I never knew why kids flocked to it. Now, after trying Shalini's which is harvested from beans in farms all over the world (that also help support women entrepreneurs BTW) I get what it is all about. Not only it is insatiable, her chocolates are literal works of art. I've always heard people ask why one truffle or chocolate is so expensive in shops before. Well here's why - Shalini HAND PAINTS her chocolates and the process is for 20 at a time:- Hand paint the form - Make the bottom shell - Fill the inside- Make the top shell - Paint or sprinkle the topFOR JUST 20 TRUFFLES! If you want to impress someone or indulge yourself, I highly reccomend going in and curating a variety box of truffles. Last but not least I love that she works with unique ingredients and it's not just the standard caramel truffle yada yada. She loves a challenge and often creates her candy based on the seasons. So for example if a brewery comes out with a new flavor - sure! Let's try it. If she gets her hands on a new flavor of tea - sure! Why not? And my favorite, the fresh herbed ones. Sam's dad owns a blueberry farm and I once tried a truffle that was a creamed honey and blueberry and I almost fell to the floor. GO SEE THESE LADIES. Shop local. Stock up. And thank me later ;)

I'm in love with The Chocolate Bee! This sweet shop combines two of my favorite things. How can you not like chocolate and honey?!? But, they do so much more ...We wandered in after having lunch at Melt just up the block. We were headed to a vegan bakery down the street and though we'd do a little Christmas shopping. The boutique is nestled in among all the cool hipster joints in the neighborhood. The smell of chocolate hits you right away and then you get the honey and beeswax.Two ladies, one a chocolatier and the other an apiarist, run the business. Gorgeous products fill the space. We sampled bits of chocolate bars and honey while looking at handmade, beeswax candles, bath products, and fancy confections. There's so much to chose from in such a tiny space! The back counter filled with housemate truffles was also hard to resist.We ended up buying adorable, dark chocolate turkeys for Thanksgiving treats as well as some animal-shaped candles, lip balm, chocolate bars for stockings. I cannot wait to go back to Cincinnati so I can pick up more of the lip balm, which was a HUGE hit, as well as some of their delicious chocolate. I hope others find their way to this business as it's fantastic!

Honey and chocolate! Two of my favorite things! So this is the perfect place for me. They offer a variety of honeys, including one that I was particularly attracted to due to it's particularly dark color. I've heard that the darker the honey, the more vitamins, minerals and proteins it has. Well, this one must be packed full of them, because it's probably one of the darker honeys I've ever seen! Other honey items include candles, chapsticks, pollen, etc. Now, the chocolate. You can either buy little boxes of truffles or caramels, or you can buy chocolate bars. There are probably 15 different kinds of bars and some are seasonal! So I definitely look forward to going back in a few months to see what new options they'll have! With all the different choices, picking one out could be quite a challenge. Thank goodness they offer samples of just about all of them! Up at the front desk there are two trays that are full on mini jars labeled with the name of the chocolate bar they contain! I think my favorite was one of their seasonal options called Nice - it was dark chocolate with flavors of orange spice or mulling spices!

Ran into a former co-worker while at Shake It Records today and she told me about this place (apparently having their grand opening today?) and said there were free chocolate samples. That, and a parking spot directly in front of the place, and I was sold! (Not a hard sell...). They had a variety of chocolates, and interesting flavor blends for the various chocolate bars. There were also various Bee Haven products. A large variety of bees wax candles, lip and hand balms, and of course - honey! Lots of different flavors of honey, and "honey straws" of many different flavors that I imagine would be perfect for sweetening up a favorite tea. Definitely a positive-vibe kind of place.

Shalini's chocolates are just fantastic - they have creative, mature and complex flavor combinations that allow both the ingredients and the chocolate to shine without providing that oversaccharined, way-too-sweet flavor that so many chocolatiers put in their chocolates. If you're looking for sweet or savory, there are options here for you. The designs of the truffles, the carefully constructed all-chocolate boxes, the beautiful solid molds & the exquisitely crafted bars of chocolate are all so carefully constructed and planned out. This little chocolate shop is a treasure in this city.Bonus: Pick up some lip balm while you're there. The stuff is fantastic.

Great spot housing two of my favorite things chocolate and honey! Amazing chocolates honey, caramel, basil chocolate WOW! and the honey flavors are delish. Great candles, lip balms and more.Northside is such a great area to go and walk the streets and enjoy so much authentic foods and wonderful drinks anyway. So top it off with some creatively deigned and yummy chocolates!

The chocolate and honey can't be beat, but I dread visiting as the cashier (older white woman) is one of the hardest people to deal with.