FAQs

How to enjoy our chocolate:

Each of our chocolates is freshly handcrafted using only premium ingredients, with no artificial preservatives or flavourings — which means they have a naturally limited shelf life.

We recommend enjoying them as soon as possible, and always within the Best Before date. The fresher, the better!

To keep your chocolates tasting their best, store them in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight and strong odours.

If refrigerating, place them in an airtight container to protect against moisture, and bring to room temperature for 30 minutes before consuming to fully enjoy their flavour and texture.

Allergies:

At Honest Chocolat, all of our chocolates are gluten-free and soy-free.

The majority of our range is also dairy-free, including our water ganache bonbons and caramels. Only our milk chocolates contain dairy.

We also offer a selection of sugar-free options.

While some of our products contain nuts, you’ll find plenty of suitable alternatives across our range.

Please note: All products are made in a kitchen that handles nuts. If you have a severe nut allergy, we unfortunately cannot guarantee the absence of trace amounts.

Shipping:

Our standard or rural deliveries are sent via NZ Couriers or NZ Post. Orders are typically delivered between 1-3 days after your order is placed. Please contact us directly if your order is urgent. Once the order has been picked up by the Couriers you will received email notifications with tracking details.

For rural rural deliveries, please allow an extra 2-3 days.

We are currently unable to deliver to a PO Box.

We need a daytime delivery address to ensure you receive your chocolates in the best condition possible. If you place your order from Sundays to Thursday, your order will usually be shipped the day after you have placed your order. Since our couriers do not operate over the weekend, any orders received on Friday and Saturday will be shipped on the following Monday. No deliveries are available on Public Holidays.

Costs:

Free NZ shipping on orders over $80

Flat $8 NZ shipping for orders under $80 (Excluding Great Barrier Island)

Please note that extra charges apply for Great Barrier Island. Contact us directly hello@honestchocolat.com if you need to ship there.

To discuss shipping options to any other country, please send us an email at  hello@honestchocolat.com

Returns and Exchanges:

If for any reason you are not completely satisfied with any of our products, please return the unused portion together with your receipt and a written explanation, and we will offer you your choice of a refund, replacement or similar value exchange.

Please include the packaging including the “best before” date to help us determine the cause of the problem.

We never send damaged products, however on rare occasions breakages do unfortunately happen in transit. If you have received a parcel with damaged chocolates, please get in touch with us and let us know. We will endeavour to find a more than suitable solution. Thank you for your understanding.

Security

Your payment is securely processed by Direct Payment Solutions (DPS), using a real-time system with bank-grade encryption to ensure the safety of your credit card details. At no point during your transaction does Honest Chocolat have access to your credit card information. All payment data is stored by DPS in a PCI-DSS compliant data centre.

At Honest Chocolat, we respect your privacy and take your security seriously. We will never sell, rent, or share your email address or personal information with any third party — unless required to do so by law or with your explicit permission.

If you have any concerns, please don’t hesitate to email us at hello@honestchocolat.com

What is water ganache?

Traditionally, a ganache is made using varying ratios of chocolate and cream. French in origin (of course!), it’s a remarkably versatile creation — thick enough to fill truffles or thin enough to glaze cakes.

At Honest Chocolat, we take a different approach. Instead of cream, we use water to create our ganaches. While it’s commonly believed that chocolate and water don’t mix, with the right techniques, you can achieve the same indulgent, velvety texture — without any dairy.

By removing the cream, the flavour of the chocolate is no longer masked by fat — it can’t hide. We carefully select chocolate with fine, aromatic flavour profiles that shine through in our ganache. The result is a taste that’s bright and clean, rich and deeply satisfying.

Our water ganache bonbons are also naturally vegan, gluten-free, and lower in calories than traditional ganache. We collaborate with local growers of fruits, herbs, and spices to craft exciting, seasonal flavours — each one hand-decorated to look as beautiful as it tastes.