Although Teuscher Chocolates closed its Newbury Street retail shop in July, the Swiss candy company has returned to Boston for the holidays with a pop-up location inside DeLuca’s Market on Charles Street.
From now through at least mid-February, Teuscher – a family-owned chocolatier based in Zurich, Switzerland, that dates back to 1932 – is partnering with DeLuca’s to offer a selection of its signature truffles and chocolate, along with its ornate gift boxes and assorted holiday trinkets, which will rotate for Hannukah, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day. Food items are delivered to DeLuca’s from Switzerland once a week to ensure their optimum freshness. And to showcase the Teuscher merchandise, the area in the store opposite its small café has been transformed into a small retail space, including a kiosk adorned with the chocolatier’s company logo.
“We wanted something really magical for the space during the holidays,” Victoria Aiello, who co-owns DeLuca’s together with her sister, Caroline, said of the pop-up that opened in time for the Beacon Hill Business Association’s annual Holiday Stroll on Thursday, Dec. 7.
Hot chocolate is among the noteworthy offerings at the pop-up location, and one that Victoria said reminds her of the time she spent living in Manhattan, where it’s served in select bakeries.
DeLuca’s proprietary blend of hot choleate has a high percentage of cocoa, using a 65/77 percent cocoa blend, said Stefan Bieri, proprietor of Teuscher Boston, which opened at 230 Newbury St. in 1996 and continued operating there until closing last summer.
The hot chocolate and its preparation are left in the hands of Victoria’s husband, Andy Kaeser, who in October, visited Teuscher’s Zurich headquarters, where he was personally trained in the fine points of hot chocolate by the company’s owner, Dolf Teuscher Jr..
Teuscher’s best-selling and signature candy, is its Champagne Truffles – a consistently popular item with candy lovers.
“It’s the key to our success, It combines celebratory, romantic, and all aspects of life,” Bieri said of Teuscher’s Champagne Truffles,. “Women can’t resist the combination of chocolate and champagne – what a package of romance.”
The Golden Nugget candied chestnuts – something Victoria said she hasn’t seen anywhere else in Boston.- is another product of interest.
Meanwhile, the seeds of this venture were planted about a year ago when Kaeser, who originally hails from Bern, the capital of Switzerland, by chance wandered into Teuscher’s now-shuttered retail store on Newbury Street, where he met Bieri, another native of Bern. Bieri quickly identified Kaeser’s accent, and they struck up a conversation that has since blossomed into a friendship, as well as a business arrangement between the two men who have partnered to bring the Teuscher pop-up to DeLuca’s on Charles Street.
The Teuscher Chocolates pop-up location is now open at DeLuca’s Market at 11 Charles St. Call DeLuca’s at 617-523-4343 for more information.