That's not a swatch for your new couch, that's chocolate.  A  A creamy ganache made from a 51% dark milk chocolate, to be exact. 

This is chocolate that requires your full attention, a quiet room, and some meditation. This is chocolate that requires ritual viewing and sniffing, and savoring on your tongue, just like a rare wine.  Every sense is heightened with something like this, and it would be sacrilege to rush the experience.

Someone pointed out this artisanal chocolatier to me earlier this year, and I was wracking my brain on what to give someone not so near but very dear to me, who really doesn't need for much, and nothing that I can think of, when my brother reminded me of their chocolate addiction. 

"Artisanal" is a word that gets thrown around a lot since it's a buzz word, but in this case, it's an understatement. I mean, seriously, just look at that chocolate.  Or at this Venezualan Caramel, infused with a chili-spice blend. 

Christopher Elbow, a Kansas City based chocolatier, has been featured on the Food Network.  The website says it best; this is  "where taste experiences are rivaled only by visual sensations. Where the art of chocolate is expressed in a single, beautiful, decadent piece that’s hand-created one at a time."

It's true that you eat with your eyes first, but this takes it to a whole new level.  They look too good to eat. Pictures of these should be signed and framed. 

You can get these chocolates in a few other cities, in very select retailers, but I had to resort to mail order.  No ground shipping on these chocolates; two day shipping is the slowest you can get. But I'm thinking that the visual impact of these chocolates is going to be worth every penny.  

Imagine being able to savor a Persian chocolate, an almond marzipan with a Persian spiced ganache and detecting the saffron, clove, cardamom, cinnamon and orange blossom. 

Wouldn't you like to take time out to experience that kind of chocolate?