Kirsi’s Chocolates
HANDMADE QUALITY CHOCOLATES FROM HÄMEENLINNA, FINLAND
Chocolates made with heart. For you.
Kirsi’s Chocolates’ Bee pollen chocolate was awarded a bronze medal in the world chocolate competition!!
The London-based Academy of Chocolate annually awards the world’s best chocolates. In December 2023, Kirsi’s Chocolates’ and Mäntylä Honey’s Bee pollen chocolate received a bronze medal in the category Flavored milk chocolate bars.
A record number of chocolates were sent to the competition, a total of 1400 chocolates from 55 countries. The chocolates were evaluated by 70 judges from the chocolate, restaurant and culinary fields. According to them, the level of competition was the highest ever.
We knew right away in August with Mäntylä Honey that we had created something unique. In October, our chocolate was chosen to compete in the Linna Business Tournament finals in Hämeenlinna and it received the city’s development scholarship.
And now the Bee pollen chocolate was selected for the world’s top chocolates.
The bronze color suits us. In the pollen that we combine with chocolate, you can find exactly these bronze – and yes, even golden – colors.
Thank you Academy of Chocolate! With your award you have pushed us forward in an incredible way.
My story
Are you looking for a chocolate shop where you can get rare handmade chocolates? Are you craving for local quality sweets? Need a gift? Then you are in the right place now!
I am Kirsi Hyytiäinen and I do all this in southern Finland, Hämeenlinna, hundred kilometres from the capital Helsinki.
Local chocolate is created with herbs and berries from nearby
Kirsin Suklaat is the only manufacturer of artisan chocolates in Hämeenlinna. I make chocolate from the best raw materials, which I import directly from a small factory in Switzerland. I know its products thoroughly, as I have attended several chocolate courses there.
I combine local berries and herbs with chocolates. The result is unique delicacies.
You can order from me exactly the kind of chocolates you want. I prepare the chocolates according to your wishes with the berries, herbs or fillings. Surprise the birthday hero with a congratulation written in chocolate, the members of your work group with motivational chocolates or customers with your own company’s label chocolates.
I make chocolate in a historic wooden house from 1861, in a former bakery, near the medieval castle of Häme. You will find the selection of my chocolates in the cafe corner of the handicraft house Willa Vaski.
Chocolate master in France + Training in Switzerland = Goal: the best chocolate
Kirsi’s Chocolates was born in Switzerland 2010. While living in the Alpine country I attended the chocolate weeks, where I gained chocolate worth my body weight. I collected my prize from chocolate shops during one year, met a hundred chocolate makers and learned from them infinitely.
The chocolate took me completely. I traveled all the way to Ecuador to see how cocoa is grown and how it is transformed into chocolate. I toured Europe tasting all the possible creations of chocolate makers.
In France, I was finally trained as a chocolate master. I started making just the kind of delicacies my customers wanted.
Now I continue the same wonderful challenge in my hometown Hämeenlinna.
For you,
Chocolates
I CREATE MY CHOCOLATES FOR YOU WITH MY HEART.
MILK CHOCOLATE : Milk and chocolate match together. I use unique, officially called dark milk chocolate because of the high, 43 percent cocoa content. Cocoa comes from Ghana, Africa, in this unique, velvety milk chocolate.
DARK CHOCOLATE : I use rare chocolate from Madagascar and the best cocoa in the world, criollo, from Venezuela. At its highest, the cocoa percentage in my dark chocolate rises up to 88. All these different dark chocolates can also be eaten by vegans. And dark chocolate has the least sugar.
RUBY CHOCOLATE : Milk chocolate with no added color or flavor. Still, this romantic pink chocolate tastes like berries as raspberries. This is the chocolate developed by Belgian Barry Callebaut. Pink chocolate cocoa is fermented so carefully, it has not changed color into chocolate brown.
WHITE CHOCOLATE : You ask, is white chocolate real chocolate at all? And my answer is: For sure it is! The white chocolate I use has less added sugar and more of the authentic, high-quality and valuable cocoa butter that makes white chocolate chocolate. This white chocolate you get from Kirsi’s Chocolates is not made with cheap or added vegetable fats. The milk comes to this traditional chocolate from cows grazing in the Swiss Alps.
WILD CHOCOLATE FROM BOLIVIA: As the newest chocolate, I have included a fascinating dark chocolate from Bolivia. This 68 percent cacao treat is made from cacao pods growing wild on the islands of the Amazon rainforest. The natives collect cocoa pods and transport them by canoes, horses and mopeds to the mainland, where they are dried in the sun. From there, they travel to Switzerland to a chocolate factory, where these rarities are ground into the most exquisite tasting chocolate. The quality of wild cacao is criollo, the rarest and highest quality cacao type. Many people ask what wild chocolate really tastes like. Well, the difference is a bit the same as between a forest blueberry and a bush blueberry. Island cacao grown in the wild has a multi-hued, strong taste. You can feel the freshness of the rainforest and the scents of the jungle, citrus and plum. Many people who don't usually eat dark chocolate at all, are fascinated by the Bolivian wild chocolate. And best of all, by buying Bolivian dark chocolate, you support the local Native Americans, who get paid for their hard work and are able to stay and live in their home region.
AND ORGANIC FROM PERU: Peruvian organic, Fair Trade and vegan 70% cocoa dark chocolate is also a rarity. The organic cane sugar used in the production brings a fruity flavor to this French chocolate. No other chocolate can be more ethical than this!
BLOND CHOCOLATE : This beige colored chocolate was developed by French master chocolatier Frédéric Bau. He has founded the chocolate school of the Valrhona factory in France, where I attended my chocolate master class and got a peek into Bau's cauldrons. Chef Bau accidentally heated the white chocolate far too long, resulting in this toffee-like sensual ecstasy.
WORLD NOVELTY: BEE CHOCOLATE! Bee chocolate is a brand new product of Kirsi’s Chocolates and Mäntylä Honey from Iittala, which cannot be found anywhere else in Finland. In it, we have combined quality chocolates with pollen collected by bees and pollen fermented in lactic acid; bee bread, or perga. These chocolates are real protein and vitamin bombs. Those allergic to pollen, however: Be careful! We also bake honey pastries and organize honey chocolate tastings for groups. In these tastings, you will hear about beekeeping and cocoa farming. The honey flows and the chocolate melts. Feel free to ask more, and we will create a rare treat for your group!
Tastings
I organize chocolate tastings for your group, party or company. I will come with my chocolates to the place you wish or we will organize an event in Hämeenlinna in Willa Vaski. According to your wishes, I pair my handmade chocolates with wine, coffee or different tea types. Tastings guided in English, French or German.
Kirsi Hyytiäinen
Käsityötalo Vaski, Raatihuoneenkatu 13
13100 Hämeenlinna, Finland
tel +358 40 522 03 76
kirsi@kirsinsuklaat.fi
Cafe and chocolate sales
every day 11-17
Welcome!
Contact me
Message me for tastings, orders, reservations, special delivery needs and of course all your questions on chocolate!