The Mast Brothers’ Chocolate Shop Now in Manhattan
The Mast Brothers, those bearded Brooklyn magicians who can turn cacao beans from all over the world into the absolute best artisan chocolate in town, made the jump across the East River to Manhattan. Their newest retail shop is in the heart of the South Street Seaport area, not far from Glenwood’s Liberty Plaza property and worth the trip for everyone else. The Mast Brothers make a seriously amazing piece of NYC chocolate, deep, dark and incredibly rich.
You can purchase Mast Brothers chocolate bars in all of their varieties at specialty stores throughout the city and of course, online. But, if you go to their new South Street Seaport store, you’ll can also try samples of everything AND buy cookies!
Best Chocolate in New York
There are basically two different types of Mast Brothers chocolate bars: those with stuff in them, and those without. For the “without” category, the Mast Brothers use single-source cacoa beans, imported from small farms in places like Peru, Papua New Guinea, Ecuador, Madagascar, Venezuela, and Belize. The brothers then transform the beans into insanely rich bars of premium chocolate that tastes like each bar is from heaven. Also, in honor of the borough they call home, the Mast Brothers offer an exclusive Brooklyn Blend. What’s remarkable is how different the origin of the cacao beans can make the chocolate taste, almost like different types of coffee.
New Store, New Premium Artisan Chocolate
The new Mast Brothers Chocolate store in Manhattan features a rotating selection of specialty bars, containing everything from Maine sea salt, to Stumptown coffee nibs or Anderson almonds. These are all excellent.
The store itself is spacious, handsome and rustic, with an event area in the back in which the brothers say they plan on using to conduct classes and rent out, possibly for chocolate-making parties. There are fresh-baked (chocolate) cookies and fresh-rolled (chocolate) truffles available here too. Each bar is wrapped first in gold foil, then covered in a heavy-duty vintage-y patterned paper and then tied in twine. If you buy a stack, the packaging only adds to their appeal as guaranteed-appreciated stocking stuffers or secret-Santa gifts. And though some may balk at the $7 price per bar, here’s how we look at it: these are so rich that one “row” of squares is more than satisfying, and there are seven rows per bar, and a “regular” candy bar–a Snickers, or a Hersey’s with Almonds for example, costs at least a buck these days, so… well you can see where we’re going with this.
Mast Brothers Chocolate at South Street Seaport details
The new Manhattan location for Mast Brothers Chocolate is on Water Street just north of Fulton Street, and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
NOTE: the Seaport was hit hard by Sandy, so please check the Mast Brothers website to make sure they’ve reopened. And when do, please go and support them by buying a bar or ten.
Posted in Downtown, NYC Dining | Tagged Artisan chocolate • Chocolate new york • Mast brothers chocolate • NYC chocolate • Premium chocolate
