French Broad Chocolates

The BEST place for your chocolate cravings! From drinks, to truffles and cakes there is no better way to indulge in your cocoa fantasies.

High quality, unique and complex confections.
We didn’t get a chance to tour the factory as it is closed in December to the public. We did buy a dozen chocolates, a milk bar and the vanilla marshmallows. Interesting flavors going on here with the chocolates. Delicious too. Not overly unique which can happen sometimes.
Marshmallows are insanely soft. Never knew a mallow could be so good.
The milk bar is one of the best I have had. Again it has the original French Broad flavor and also achieves a great balance between cocoa and sweetness.

First off, thank goodness they moved to a new, roomier location. Their prior location had throngs wrapped down the block to sample the cacao delights. That being said, French Broad crafts some wonderful chocolate treats. I especially like the vegan chocolate olive oil cake and the Buddha truffles, and I’d recommend this spot to friends.

Quaint shop. Very friendly service and quite helpful in pointing out choices that are best sellers. Chocolates were amazing. Went back for more! Great stop amongst the breweries, makes for some great combos.

Didn’t spend a whole lot of time here as I just missed cutoff time for the self guided tour. I did however help myself to some samples of their chocolate bars up front, tasted them all, including the 80% cacao and surprisingly enjoyed all of them!
After reading about these great truffles I purchased 6 of them at about $ 2 apiece. Not cheap but hey, treat yo’self. Majority are dark chocolate, I think I saw 1 that was milk chocolate. If you enjoy dark, all of them were delicious and decadent, rich as one could hope for. I had to curb my desire to eat them all in one go!

Chocolate Factory! I’m IN!
TOUR the Chocolate Factory I’m in LOVE
Chocolate Factory Tour{s}
Chocolate Factory is ALL I Need to hear!
RECOMMENDED
Expert Guided Tours Reservations Required and might ONLY be Once per week! ONLY $ 10 per person at the time of our Tour (August 2015)
If you do NOT know, you may want to, if you are interested in what it takes to Make Chocolate from Tree Pod Beans that are native to only 20 Degrees North or South of Planet Earth’s Equator! Bean-​to-​Bar is one term, I have heard the story of the process of developing one of the most lusted after Foods…
Growing and Harvesting the Pods, then Fermenting and Drying the Fruit… Importing, Sorting, Roasting Beans, then Separating and Milling, Fine Milling and SuperFINE Milling, Melting and (maybe) Tempering steps to make a BAR, Brick, Chunk, Truffle, etc.
I was Very Surprised how this «Tour» was Mostly Lecture Style (though not preachy), almost completely non-​interactive, we did ask questions at the End though most questions were answered during the Lecture!
During the Tour we got to Taste some of the Chocolate Bars (Including the NEW 100% Chocolate Bar) and a Raspberry Truffle
100% Chocolate BAR (In August 2015 this Bar had not hit the Shelves) Our Tour Group about 16 people wanted to taste it at the End of the Tour! I was Surprised how Surprised our Tour Guide was that Any, much less ALL of our Tour Group wanted to Sample the 100% Chocolate! We did! It was a Cool experience! It was NOT Bitter! It was STRONG! Very Enjoyable! My Friend Alejandro is from Ecuador and has let me taste 90% Ecuadorian Chocolate (I do not remember the Brand) and I did NOT enjoy it at all!!! The 100% Chocolate Bar from French Broad needs to be experienced though probably at the END of the Tour like we did!
or
Self Guided Tours
Yes they have self guided Tours, though I’m not sure the purpose, if you already know everything about Chocolate why even do a Tour at all?
Love Notes: Sent
Movie Notes: «Chocolat» (2000), «Perfume”(2006) = BOTH ready to be Re-​Made!
Location NOTE: Location is NOT walking distance from the French Broad Chocolate Lounge ! Most people would not want to walk that far if they did not have to!
Final NOTE!
Some people did NOT believe that this Weekend was planned to revolve around this Tour and the EnJOYment of Chocolates made by French Broad Chocolates! I’m a FANATIC !
Final FINAL note (this time I’m sure)
How many Different Classifications of the Theobroma Cacao Trees are left? I really do not think anyone knows Today! Three somewhat distinct «types» are commonly used to separate the Trees and it is believed close to a Thousand existed at one time, probably wiped out from Weather, Climate, Pests, neglect and other factors! Would the final Product of these Trees have been any Good? Probably… Here is the Hope! Each Tree is Different, furthermore Soil and climatic differences and other variables provide variants in the gene pools! Usually the Beans to make a Bar or Chunk of Chocolate are coming from more than one Tree and if from the same Farm… My Prediction is Chocolate will continue to get better and more people will find the Difference in flavor of the well produced Chocolates like French Broad!

Incredible chocolate and intriguing tour!
We had a blast sampling the different types of chocolate and our guide Evan was super knowledgeable about the chocolates & process from bean to candy. I liked the Peru type with 75% cacao and the chocolate with tea from dobra tea shop. Highly recommend this tour if you love chocolate and want to learn about the process and have a delicious time.

Just recently our group of 10 folks had a private tour conducted by Evan of the factory. He was truly amazing! His knowledge and enthusiasm for the entire chocolate process, from growing to processing, is so very informative and captivating. He is an animated, excellent speaker and clearly has so much energy, enthusiasm and pride for the French Broad Chocolate Factory. It was so much fun listening to him educate and entertain. We tasted chocolate from different regions of the world and learned that most domestic chocolate is quite phony and inferior in overall taste and quality! Taking this tour is an absolute MUST when you are in Asheville! You will learn so much and learn to appreciate good chocolate even more than you do now!

You won’t believe how good it smells when you walk through the door! Loved doing the self-​guided tour and the chocolate did not disappoint. They have some nice samples available to try and a ton of inventive truffles for sale. If you like dark chocolate, you’ll love this. Even their milk chocolate has a high percentage of cacao.

The chocolates here are fine. It is good to see local chocolate companies in any town. Although they do have unique flavors like lavender and honey they do not have a large assortment (only caramels and truffles).
I purchased four caramels (I wanted five but they were out of stock in one flavor). I the total was just under $ 10! That is about $ 2.50 per piece of chocolate. I do not think the chocolates in Paris were that high when we were there last summer and these did not taste as nearly as good. The shop and restaurant were very busy so people in Asheville must love it here. Not me. I do love local shops and sweets but after tasting the small morsels it did not entice me to want to go back for more. I will not be back.
If you are ever in Michigan go to Fabianos Candies in Lansing. Now that is a company that has perfected the chocolate experience!

Whoa! What just happened?! French Broad Chocolates is what happened! Just look at those beautiful truffles on display. Winking at you, beckoning you, calling to you. «Eat me!!» they whisper. Of course I caved.
Took my goodies to go and ate them next door at Green Man. What’s better than truffles? Truffles and Green Man Forester.
First up: Fresh Raspberry — silky, sweet, tart and just a little sour. Perfect.
Next Up: Café Au Lait. Imagine a Lavazza latte, concentrated into a chocolate shell. Intense.
Last up: The Buddha — bittersweet chocolate, coconut cream heaven — what a combo!
Warning: These truffles will make you moan! You will get a few odd looks. But with these chocolates, you just won’t care who’s watching!

The moment you walk in the door of the factory, you are enveloped in the amazing essence of chocolate. Hand crafted small batch artisan chocolates — 80% fair trade cacao! We attended a wonderful” bean to bar” tour on Saturday morning led by one of the chocolatiers. He was so knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the work he and the rest of the team is doing. This was a great experience — not to mention all the samples! This was a 90 minute tour and worth every minute.

Self guided tour and everyone is super nice. They take it from bean to bar. Free tastings, how can you go wrong?

I am in love!
We saw this as we were walking to Green Man Brewery and I told my other half we had to stop in. Once you step in it smells like heaven! It is like a chocolate lovers paradise! You can go on a self-​guided tour of the small chocolate factory and see how they roast the chocolate and such and see the workers, well at work.
Afterwards you can sample the different chocolate bars and buy them. They also have truffles as well. I have now forgotten which ones I got other then the Lavender and Honey but they were all some of the best chocolate truffles I have ever had. I ended up mailing the chocolate bars I bought to some of my closest pals!
I can’t wait to visit Asheville again and stop in here!

Received a box of Truffles from here as a Christmas Gift to our office from a supplier we use in North Carolina. These are some of the best Truffles I have ever had. Very unique flavors including a spicy and delicious Mole Negro with toasted sesame seeds, Thai with Lemongrass, Ginger and Lime flavors, and even more traditional flavors like Caramel and Raspberry. After the awful experience at Mast Brothers last summer I was scared off Handmade chocolates but these guys have won me back.

Anyone that gives this wonderful and caring place less than 5 stars might want to get his or her head examined soon. We had so much fun here on the first winters snow! The guy Evan was so down to earth explaining the whole process of making chocolate and he let us into his little world as a chocolatier. Seeing the entire process comes to life letting us taste the nibs and the finished product. Showing us what real chocolate is not the fake the stuff that is massed produce. A happy man doing his passion sharing his knowledge to others. My best friend sunk his life savings into a brewing system last month and wanted to brew a chocolate porter. Evan was nice enough to give us a bag of fine that the other brewers use, he gave us a bag to get started. When I brought this back to the guys it was huge boost to morale for the troops. All company’s should be run like this one on Asheville my home away from home.

A great stop to see another side of downtowns delicious French Broad Chocolate Lounge. With self-​guided tours and tastings offered daily, and a rich smell that greets you at the door. French Broad Chocolates is definitely an interesting stop on your tour of the city. I stumbled into the «factory» after a trip to Green Man Brewery located directly next door. Although I couldn’t recommend going out of your way for a visit, if you’re in the neighborhood give it a peak. The self-​guided tour takes about 10 minutes so it’s a quick stop and is well air conditioned if you’re looking for a spot to cool off.
I’d love to check out the tour on Saturdays, the attendant told us it’s about 1.5 hours and $ 10/​person but fills up quick. We purchased a delicious bag of hazelnut covered chocolates, which I’d absolutely recommend. Since the shop is still newly opened to the public, you won’t find the quantity of products sold as the downtown location. However, they do sell their chocolate bars, chocolate covered nuts and custom clothing; the sales associate told us they also plan to sell sipping chocolate in the near future.
There are about eight different chocolates available to taste including a smoked dark chocolate which was unique. If you’re not a fan of dark chocolates this might not be the shop for you, although there was one milk chocolate sample available.

This was definitely a cool tour, although maybe a little long. I did the Taza Chocolate tour in Somerville a few weeks ago, and maybe this was just because I’ve heard the whole chocolate-​making schpiel before, but I did think it kind of dragged. It was super cool to see the machines in action, especially getting to see how a bar is actually formed. Also, their chocolate was fantastic — I loved how the malted 45% bar tasted like a milkshake and how rich the dark chocolates were. I’m definitely very excited to check out their lounge now!

Visited this fun little boutique and took the factory tour with my kiddo while my husband enjoyed a nearby brewery. We did the self-​guided tour and enjoyed watching the team make the chocolates and fill the molds. We sampled lots of the bars and bought two to bring home ($ 7 each).

This is a cool hip and flavorful chocolate experience. See how the chocolate is made, buy all sorts of chocolate flavors and if you are fortunate, take a chocolate tour on Saturdays (reservations recommended).
Not great for little kids, but fascinating for teens and adults. The different chocolate flavors, blends and mixes are truly amazing. The tour is not necessary, but it does give a lot of history on chocolate and an explanation of how the factory started and their conviction to only using ethical companies to source their beans.
As a must, try the dark chocolate with tea leaves, really really unique.