In the 2022 Valentine’s Day Edition of Guide to Greenwich, I visited local bakeries and cafés within the Greenwich area in search of the best Valentine’s Day chocolate. 

Black Forest Pastry Shop

First, I visited the Black Forest Pastry Shop, known as a slice of Germany in downtown Greenwich on Lewis Street, according to blackforestpastryshop.com.  Black Forest Pastry Shop specializes in German pastries, cakes, cookies, pies, tortes, danishes, and chocolate truffles.  The pastry shop also accepts custom orders and carries holiday specialties.  Their selection of chocolate truffle flavors includes dark chocolate, milk chocolate, black forest, amaretto, passionfruit, salted caramel, cappuccino, hazelnut, and grand marnier. 

When I visited the shop, it was very crowded with customers sitting to enjoy their coffee or ordering boxes of baked goods.  The line was long, but I spent only a few minutes in the store.  Despite the crowd, the staff was very helpful and informative about the shop’s products.  

I purchased a six-piece truffle box, including the flavors black forest, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, hazelnut, amaretto, and salted caramel.  The classic bright red Valentine’s Day heart-shaped box, tied with Black Forest Pastry Shop’s very own ribbon and filled with six house-made truffles, cost $19.95.

Raphaël’s Bakery  

The next bakery I went to was Raphaël’s Bakery, located on Mason Street in Greenwich.  The French bakery opened last March as a family-run business committed to primarily utilizing locally sourced ingredients, according to raphsbakery.com.  They also use high-quality ingredients imported from France.

After entering the bakery, the welcoming staff warmly greeted me.  They were very generous and gave me a free chocolate croissant and a brownie along with my purchased Valentine’s treats. 

All of Raphaël’s Bakery’s pastries and baked goods are freshly made in-house.  Raphaël’s offers a variety of Valentine’s Day desserts, including raspberry rose heart-shaped macarons and a choice of milk and dark chocolate “love bars.”  I purchased a five-ounce box of pralinés costing $14.00 and a box of four Valentine Hearts which are $9.00. 

Holiday-appropriate light and dark pink ribbons decorate both of the treats in light brown boxes.  The Valentine’s heart box comes with two three-dimensional and two two-dimensional heart-shaped milk chocolates, covered in edible glitter.  While the dark chocolate hearts are delicious, they are more enjoyed for their appearance rather than taste.  Covered with milk chocolate and pieces of almond, the pralinés consist of a hazelnut and milk chocolate paste.  The chocolate in the pralinés is rich, smooth, and delicious.  Although pralinés are not a traditional Valentine’s Day treat, they are a great gift for a chocolate lover. 

Daily Cafe and Eatery 

Located on Greenwich Avenue, Daily Cafe and Eatery specializes in grab-and-go meals that cater to customers at all hours of the day, according to dailyeatery.com.  Their menu primarily consists of freshly brewed coffee, hot breakfast sandwiches, baked goods, gourmet bites, lunch sandwiches, and prepared meals.  Although Daily Cafe and Eatery does not make their own Valentine’s chocolate, they sell chocolate boxes from Knipschildt chocolatier and a company known as John and Kira’s. 

Knipschidt’s $35.00 heart box comes with 14 pieces of chocolate and eight kinds of flavors including caramel, mint, hazelnut, dark chocolate, strawberry and lemon-thyme, rosemary, tangerine and ancho chili, and elderflower.  Although I did not enjoy the tangerine and ancho chili, many other flavors were excellent.  I was impressed with the quality of the chocolates and the selection of flavors. 

John and Kira’s ‘Bee My Love Bug’ chocolate box consists of nine pieces of bee and ladybug-inspired gourmet chocolates that come in exquisite red packaging for $32.95.  In the box, there are salted honey caramel chocolate bees and four almond-hazelnut praline chocolate ladybugs.  The bee caramels are amazing and my favorite salted caramel chocolate.  The ladybugs exceeded my expectations and are even more delicious than the bees. 

Although the Knipschildt heart box and John and Kira’s ‘Bee My Love Bug’ are expensive boxes of chocolates, they are of outstanding quality, have exquisite appearances, and contain sophisticated flavors.  Overall, The Daily Cafe and Eatery has great Valentine’s Day chocolate options for gourmet chocolate fans. 

Winner

After a long day of chocolate tasting, I came to a difficult conclusion on the winner, the Black Forest Pastry Shop.  The six-piece heart box is most comparable to the trademark Valentine’s Day heart chocolate box.  The overall experience at the shop was pleasant and worth the time to enjoy the chocolates.  Most especially, anyone is likely to enjoy truffles that are hand-crafted, authentic, and composed of classic flavors.

Featured Image by Chloe Gaudelet ’24