Lula’s Chocolates

I stopped by for a factory tour with a group of 6 people.
Wow! The tour was well worth it and much more interesting than I initially thought. The tour guide showed us the whole entire process of chocolate confection making, from the area where the fresh, natural ingredients are prepared to where they package and ship the chocolate.
Lula’s claims to offer fresh, hand made chocolates and I can tell you it’s as authentic as it gets! They were making caramels, from scratch, when I went in. Other companies make their caramels and other products and then freeze them. As a result, the caramel and other products lose their flavor and so nasty artificial preservatives and flavors need to be added to keep them tasting OK. Lula’s, on the other hand, makes their caramels from scratch with ingredients that you would use at home.
Of course this great homemade process is useless unless the candies taste good and oh boy do they! The sea salt caramels (homemade caramels covered in luscious chocolate and topped with different sea salts of the world) are to die for, and I mean die in a literal sense. If I learned that I would never be able to enjoy a sea salt caramel again, I might actually die. However, it would be an easy problem to fix because you could just resurrect me with the smell and taste of their buttercreams!
The factory and shops are all run by a local family in Carmel and so doing a factory tour or chocolate store visit would be a great addition to your Carmel vacation. Luckily I live in the area so I’ll be going back as often as I can!

I stopped in here yesterday for some great gifts for a few people. I had been here before and knew I would be giving a quality local product so I headed back. I was greeted by the owner and his two children… fourth generation taking over the business. They were super nice.
I can’t say enough about how pleased I am with these products. Gifts starting from under $ 10, beautifully packaged. You really can’t go wrong.

So, First of I was introduced to Lula’s chocolates through my wife who shops at brunos in Carmel. I had never heard of them so I figured they were specialty items brought from belgium or some other country that’s known for good chocolate. Turns out they are made here in good ol Monterey by a guy who’s grandmothers name was Lula. Cudos if these are her old recipes … N-​E-​Ways … I found where the mothership is and walked inside as any curious ex-​chocolatier would do and I was greeted by a young guy with a beard who give me the lowdown on the products! Even shipped some off to Tennessee for me on ice! Thanks Guys !!!

Look for the sandwich board sign in the driveway. I stop here every time we go to the doctor in Ryan Ranch. The salespeople are friendly and helpful. Always gives free samples!!!

Love the Sea Salt Carmel Chocolates…

Too outstanding for words! The chocolates and the caramels (with sea salt) are truly worth putting your «diet» aside! Plus «Diet» is a bad word! Everyone requires a bit of sweet in their life now and then! Discovered Lula’s while representing our Ahnfeldt wines of Napa at the 2014 L A Food & Wine event. Found myself crossing the aisle to Lula’s more than I will admit to!
Yum yummy yum!

I just have to say these are the best sea salt caramels ever. Last year I bought some at the factory for Mother’s Day. Normally, I buy them at the store. The owner Scott Lund packaged the chocolate and we chatted about kids (I was seven months pregnant at the time). He is a nice guy. If you haven’t had their chocolate, you should. They are made fresh. I bought my mother-​in-​law a big box at Christmas and the chocolate was so fresh that it didn’t taste stale when we savored each piece until April!

Today after lunch at Inn Kensington Alan and I stopped by Country Cheese at the end of the block, which he’d not yet seen. As he was exploring the jars of jams and preserves, I noticed a package of Lula’s Dark Aloha Rocky Road. I have disliked rocky road from childhood, particularly the sneaky marshmallows that disrupted the chocolate. I only like marshmallows when they’re melted beyond recognition and that early rocky road was milk chocolate, besides. This package had a label w/​stylized Hawaiian hibiscus. Well, that drew me in for a start. And the chocolate is dark, my favorite. The marshmallows are handmade. That’s possible. Maybe they’re different from the ones in the grocery store. The nuts are salted macadamias. We bought one (4 oz for $ 5.99) so I could check it out.
Once we got home I broke off a piece and then another. The dark chocolate is perfection. The marshmallows are still marshmallows. I’m sorry. I’m glad they’re not full of the crap most commercial ones are, but they’re still too sweet and fluffy for my taste. The macadamias, on the other hand made it all worthwhile. I think I would love their dark chocolate covered macadamias, assuming they make those. The next time we’re on the Monterey Peninsula I’m going to see if we can visit their factory. Country Cheese also carries their salted caramels, or maybe their plain wrapped ones. Whichever, I will have to check them out when I’m ready for another indulgence. In the meantime, I will enjoy the rest of the rocky road, accepting the marshmallows as part of the package.

Might be the best chocolate in the world. You have to try their salted caramels.

So glad I was able to stop by the factory… I had the pleasure of meeting Scott Lund! He was very nice and helpful! He even gave my mom and I samples of the chocolate crème and salted caramel! YUM!
I called ahead to make sure I would be able to purchase products… Very glad I did! When I got arrived, Scott informed me that they usually aren’t open on the weekends; he just so happened to be there.
I wish I knew that they offer factory tours (if you schedule ahead of time)… I would have loved a tour!
The products are also available at Whole Foods!

OMG I may never buy store bought chocolate again (including See’s)… no joke.
The chocolate is fresh, prepared with love and so so so good. The sea salt camels they let me sample are to die for, left me wanting more more more.
WELL worth the added cost for sure.

If I had another star I would have given it… it. Amazing Salty Caramels! Just decadent. 3^rd box into it.

THE BEST chocolate you can buy locally. Don’t waste your money on Godiva – it just pales in comparison. This is locally made chocolate with a beautiful story. I take a box of it as a hostess present and it’s always a hit!

There are so many places to buy chocolates from. Most of the places present well online, and most never deliver on the quality of the product. It is very hard to know the good from the bad without tasting the product. We recently, had some very special guests come to our house and they brought us a box of the 9 piece Sea Salt Caramels. One bite into these babies and they just ooze quality. Rich dark chocolate on the outside, chewy caramel center, and delectable little crunchy different salt crystals sprinkled on top. I mean QUALITY!!. My wife and I fought over every bite. After we finished these, I decided to go online and order more. This time I ordered an 18 piece container of the Sea Salt Caramels, 9 oz. Dark Chocolate Almond Toffee, and the dark chocolate pecan truffles. They arrived today from FedEx in a foiled insulted box. They even double wrapped the ice pack inside a Ziplock followed by freezer paper. What a beautiful presentation of a quality product.
So far we just tasted the Dark Chocolate Almond Toffee, which was out of this world. Everything Lula’s makes tastes homemade. It is worth every penny!
Please do not ever change your well perfected product. Thank you for not compromising quality. Kudos and best of luck with your business!

Had a package of their Dark Aloha Rocky Road chocolate that I got at the Monterey Rock & Chocolate Festival. Even after it had partially melted and re-​solidified it was incredibly delicious – quality dark chocolate, toastd macadamia nuts, marshmallows… I also sampled one of their sea salt chocolate-​covered caramels. I’m not a huge fan of caramel or salted chocolate (yes – I’m the one person in America who doesn’t like this combo), but it wasn’t bad.

We were told the sea salt caramels are melt in your mouth yummy… They definitely lived up to expectation. I tend not to like sea salt candy but this has a perfect amount to blend and compliment the caramel. We look forward to giving these as gifts in the future!

Admittly I was excited to finally try Lula’s Chocolates. My friends RAVE about them. When I walked into the place smelled devine. I purchased the sea salt caramels and a chocolate marshmellow sun. The other chocolates they offer didn’t jump at me to buy, so I didn’t. When I got to my car I was open the caramels right away, took a bite, and was not swooning like I thought I would be. My mother makes the best caramels, I mean, we look forward to Christmas… for the sole reason it is caramel season that time of year. These caramels tasted a bit like the wrapper and had a funny after taste. The chocolate sun… was okay, as in, Russel Stover okay.
All in all, their chocolate is nothing compared to See’s, and their caramels are nothing compared to my mom’s.
Not bad, not good.

This is the Lula’s headquarters and this is where the magic happens. They offer tours of the facility if you make an appointment but I’ve made a stop or two to pick up a gift or three. This last time I called ahead and picked up 3lbs of Gigi’s Caramels. I used them to make 45 party favors for my Mom’s Surprise 60^th. They were a big hit! Thanks Scott and Crew!

OMG… looooovvve your Aloha Rocky Road… handmade marshmallow covered in milk chocolate and macadamia nuts… crunchy, chewy, sweet, salt– chocolate goodness. This alone gets me motivated to walk 14 blocks one way from my work to the nearest Whole Foods!

My friend first introduced me to Lula’s last year with a Christmas gift of their peppermint bark. From that first bite, I was hooked. Sure, it wasn’t as good as Williams-Sonoma’s peppermint bark (still the best in my book), but it was mighty tasty.
I’ve similarly been impressed with the other candies I’ve had from Lula’s, including chocolates, chocolate-​espresso truffles and, most recently, caramels. Wow, those caramels really do stand out in my mind as excellent – they’re so soft and buttery! I could easily finish off an entire package in one seating if I’m not careful. Even their chocolates were pretty tasty – and I’m not really a fan of chocolate candies. From what I’ve heard, their candies are a bit pricey, but they are mighty tasty and worth every penny if you ask me. (Plus, the higher price helps on exercise restraint, no?)
I haven’t been out to Lula’s shop – I’m afraid if I do I might come back with bags and bags of delicious candy, like a kid on Halloween – but I’ve recently been tempted to go and pick up some candies for gift. And I swear, they’re gifts for friends. OK. .. I’ll come clean, maybe a few candy «gifts» for myself too.