Wen Chocolates

Wen reopens again… but not in Denver! They are relocating to New Orleans and will resume online orders this fall! Yay!

Sad to see that this location is closing on Valentine’s Day. I’ve been a fan since buying their chocolate at a now defunct Western boutique on Tennyson Street. After seeing their chocolates featured by the Deen boys on Food Network, I’ve brought these chocolates to holiday gatherings and across the country for hostess gifts… always to rave reviews.
My favorite is the Savannah, but there is surely something for everyone here.

My rating is reaffirmed. Sadly, Unilocal does not offer a six-​star rating, or Wen would get the extra star too.
Not only are the offerings at Wen incomparable, not only is the owner a master of his craft, not only do these chocolates look as beautiful as the finest chocolates offered anywhere else, but Wen Chocolates are absolutely and unequivocally the finest Chocolates you will find in Colorado.
If you are a connoisseur of fine chocolates, and you have not been to Wen, there is no reason to read this review any further. Get in your car immediately and drive to Wen.
If you are still reading this, I am to assume your are not yet a chocolate connoisseur only because your palate has not yet been educated as to what you are looking for in a truly fine chocolate. Get down to Wen and ask the owner/​chocolatier to expose you to the world of chocolate. His knowledge of the craft and history, as well as his kind demeanor will immediately put you at ease and convert you into this world of exclusive chocolate.

I love chocolates but usual have to settle for the commercial mass market types. Even nicer brands like Godiva, See’s, etc don’t compare to this place. If I am in San Francisco I will drop by Cocoa Bella for some European imported truffles but the American stuff has never impressed me.
The place is tiny with a relatively small selection of chocolates but I think that is a good thing. Clearly, most of the customers coming in were regulars and the owner or workers knew them well. This was my first experience with purchasing artisan chocolate directly from the chocolatier. I bought a Cairo, Citrona, and Kaffir Lime. The Cairo was my favorite but they were all spectacular. The texture and balance of the dark chocolate is not something that most American chocolatiers can achieve and rivals that of the french and swiss.

My wife saw this place on the Food Network and we tried them out and they didn’t let us down! These are the greatest chocolates I’ve ever had. I won’t claim to be a chocoholic or any sort of expert on the matter but if your looking for a place to get an excellent assortment of chocolate to go with some wine or for any occasion Wen is the best I’ve found in Denver.
The owner is very friendly and passionate about his craft and it shows in the quality of the product.

Wen Chocolates Savannah Truffle was listed as a top 100 must eat in Denver, so I gave it a shot:
Rating: 5
This one was a bit difficult to rate. The actual chocolate part was very good, and the inside of the truffle delicious. But spicy heat with chocolate? Hmmm. Speckled into the bite sized dessert are little flakes of spice that take about 13 seconds to hit your taste buds (according to the gregarious and likeable owner). Not overpowering, but it’s definitely there. Now, I love spice, and I love chocolate, but this is not an ideal marriage. The chocolate was good enough for a return visit and a trial with another partner.
I’ve got a picture of it up on the blog in my profile
Jko

One word: Savannah. It’s their chocolate truffle with honey pepper vodka, cayenne pepper, Aleppo chili, white pepper, and hot Hungarian paprika, and topped with a chili mango. E is in to the whole chili-​chocolate thing, and I was a bit weary until he made me try it. And then… pure bliss. Sweet chocolate with a big burst of spiciness sure hits the spot.
We discovered Wen’s while at Savory Spice next store. The stores are neat in the way that they share each other’s products — Savory Spice sells Wen’s chocolate-​dipped ginger, and Wen’s uses spices from Savory. Genius!
E and I always get a sample box and then eat half of each. I am eternally in love with their caramel-​filled truffle, and I just adore all the flavors they infuse into their chocolates: teas and herbs and even flowers!
The star off is for the size of the truffles. I’ll gladly pay the price but I just wish they’d give me more! If I’m splitting a truffle with E, I get one measly bite, and if I get the chocolate all to myself I still only get two teeny-​tiny bites!
They always have delicious looking cakes, including a beautiful checkerboard one around the holidays that I didn’t even want to guess the price of. They were selling like hotcakes to all the rich people who needed a holiday dessert. Maybe one day…
Go here! You’ll be pleased. And try something unique! I have always loved the mint julep truffle but sadly, I think they have discontinued that flavor :(

This place is bomb. I came in here after seeing all the people getting into the chocolate while I was spice tasting in Savory. I came in and I was the only one I William talked to me awhile about all the chocolates, culinary stuff and techniques. I learned a lot and had AMAZING chocolate. I had no idea what I wanted so after talking to William for awhile I asked him to choose two for me. I tried the Mint Fennel which was RIDICULOUSLY good, and the Citrona which was also damn good.
I just really liked the small, personal feel to this place. I ate my chocolates there because I wanted to talk to him about each of them. Definitely check it out and treat yourself to some great chocolate.

Hrmm I want to give this place more stars, but I’m afraid the chocolate won’t let me. I tried the violette, pear hazelnut, pandora, and troika. None of them left me wanting more and the flavors were way too delicate — to the point of not being there. I couldn’t taste any pear in that pear hazelnut. The pandora was a little too sweet for me but it was marzipan so I guess that’s my own fault for choosing it. The violette and troika were just okay. Maybe the flavors just didn’t naturally appeal to me. Or maybe they are just trying too hard to be different and not succeeding.
I’m definitely willing to give this place more tries as they have a wide assortment of chocolates. It’s about $ 2/​piece, which is about typical for a high-​end chocolate shop. The service was great and very friendly.

I’M IN LOVE WITH THIS PLACE! These guys are freakin’ awesome. Totally worth the trip to check this chocolate shop out. They know what they are talking about and will spend the time to explain each piece to you. They work with the spices from The Savory Spice Shop which is located next door. The Violetta (i think thats how u spell it) is very very delicious. As the shop owner describes — it tastes like purple. One of my fave’s.

The manager that works there everyday is super nice and very knowledgeable about the super delicious chocolates! Oh man, this place is DIVINE!!! Who would think to put chili powder in a chocolate? The creations in this place are very unique, but everything goes together very nicely! Stop in for a sweet little treat when you are downtown. You won’t find anything more satisfying to your palate!
RECENTLY:
I stopped in to get my friend a birthday present before heading to the House of Commons for lunch. Stephen was there, the manager I had mentioned before. He remembered who I was, which was definitely a plus! He also helped me pick the perfect dessert for my friend! It was a lemon keylime tart carefully wrapped in purple tissue paper and matched with a lovely red bow. She L-​O-​V-​E-​D it! I am very grateful to Stephen and the owner of this divine little chocolate shop. I had the Banana Foster’s truffle this time and it didn’t just melt in my mouth… it merely sent my tastebuds to a rich and chocolate-​y, lushious fruity banana-​y, creamy and dreamy, out of this world oblivion! I can’t wait to get a box of chocolates from this wonderful little shop! Thanks Stephen!

This little gem is sure to please anyone with a sweet AND savory tooth. Not just your usual chocolate concoctions but unusual nuggets created from many different flavors (spices and herbs included). The best part is that they all seem to be completely delicious. My absolute favorite is the Mojca which is dark chocolate with aleppo chili which gives it a slightly smokey taste and a spicy finish — yummmm.
Connected to, but not part of Savory Spice Shop on the oh-​so-​trendy Platte Street, Wen Chocolates is a great place to pick up a not-​so-​guilty treat as well as an unusual gift.
Be prepared to pay however, as each truffle costs around $ 2.

I love this place, and not just because it’s attached to Savory Spice. Beautiful, impressive hand crafted chocolate and other goodies– taffy, ginger snaps, candied peels and so on. They mold their chocolate using antique molds and brush edible leaf on their truffles.
The truffles come in incredible flavors that don’t always sound great in theory, but are executed deliciously. Like Mint Fennel. Or Ceylon Tea.
Best place to purchase an in-​law impressing dessert.

Never had a clue that chocolate could have such an immediate impact on not only my mood but all my senses. They take a very serious approach to making chocolate not only a treat but an lasting experience. Can’t say enough about how nice and informative these folks are. The passion, the sincerity… and yeah we’re still talking about chocolate. It takes 3 days to make this one treat they won an award for… nuff said.
If you vacationing, traveling or looking for something really cool, different and fun… stop by… great little neighborhood too.

Chocolates that come with instructions.
I’m literally moving to Colorado because of the guy behind the counter.

Do you like to yourself? I do all the time. «self, you can go into Wen Chocolates and not buy anything, you can just look.» All lies. Nicole knew it and so did I.
I tried their newest marzipan confection known as Pandora. It is «Marzipan infused with nutmeg, cinnamon, and juniper berries resting on a bed of dark chocolate recreates what was reported to be an aphrodisiac in 18^th century medical journals». I like that the top is scored and bruleed just a bit. It looks like a lttle ham. I don’t know why that is appealing, but it is. None of the spices overpowered the others, they all just swirled around in your mouth.
My second piece of chocolate was the Molotov Pineapple. It was amazing. It was a smooth filling flavored with «pineapple, and a complex mix of peppers, with hints of rum and brown sugar». The first flavor to hit you is the pineapple and rum then the peppers carry the flavor down your throat. What a sweet way to burn.
The owner and the other gentleman working were so knowledgeable and really… twisted my arm to try the chocolates. Ha ha ha.
The portions in quotes are the descriptions of the chocolates from their website. They say it best. I don’t want to do their creations a disservice by describing tham wrong.

After (inexplicably) walking by this place a gazillion times, we finally went in on Saturday. Yum. What nice people, too, earning an honest living turning out original, tasty stuff. The person who helped us was friendly, and made suggestions — without being annoying.
I like chocolate OK, but am really not much of a truffle fan — fortunately, they offer lots of other stuff as well. Our favorite of the items we purchased was totally unexpected: A pear baked into a light pastry. Outstanding!

I thought I knew a thing or two about chocolate. I don’t know diddly. I wandered in here on my way to Savory Spice. I vaguely remembered hearing about them on the Food Network. The truffles were intimidating in their complexity but the person behind the counter was informative, very personable, and even went so far as to give me one of their award winners besides the Kafrir Lime I decided to try. I’ve bought 1lb bars of dark chocolate for the same amount of money as I would have spent on these two pieces of art. The difference is like a lump of coal and a couple of diamonds. I’m learning to tell the difference. But it’s going to take a lot of study :)

If it had been cheaper, I’d give it five stars. Maybe I just don’t know what good chocolate costs. Do truffles really cost $ 1.75 each?
Ignoring cost, what they make, they make very well. They won Top of the Town from 5280 magazine for their gingersnap cookies, which were good/​very good, but didn’t seem to garner the praise I would give a Top of the Town award winner. I had three different flavors of imaginative truffles: Lemongrass Curry, Mint Julep, and one other I can’t remember. They were smaller than I’m used to (probably a good thing with diets today), but very flavorful. Someone with a more refined palate than mine could probably taste many subtle flavors I just didn’t notice.
The shop is next door to Savory Spice shop and the owners get their spices from there. I wonder if Wen gives the spice shop folks any chocolates? Wen tries to buy as many organic ingredients as possible as well.
If you don’t have a $ 10+ order, you pay a 5% surcharge with your credit card.

First of all, it’s chocolate. You can’t go wrong with chocolate!
That said, Wen Chocolates makes some really really really GOOD chocolate. And it’s not just good, it’s interesting! Candied rose petals and pine nuts are just some of the wild ingredients you can find in their super-​cool creations. Real gold dust glistens atop their bag of western-​themed treats (shaped like boots and horseshoes, it’s a perfect Denver souvenir… and it mails well, too!). The dark chocolate Beggars Coins come topped with such fascinating additions as sea salt and lavender, sesame, or chili threads. They’re not only beautiful, they’re a relative bargain for handcrafted sweets. Wen chocolates also has a dizzying array of specialty truffles… also reasonably priced at $ 1.75 apiece. I’ve seen lesser quality chocolates go for twice that price!
Bonus: fresh baked bread on the weekends!
Double bonus: the lady behind the counter is as sweet as the candies she sells.
Triple bonus: did I mention it’s CHOCOLATE?