Our Story

“Chocolate is my life. It is something that I can share with people.”

Christophe Paume, third-generation chocolatier

Christophe grew up above his father’s pâtisserie in Toulouse. He is the third generation of his family to make chocolate, and he learned the whole trade there — French pastry, chocolate work, gelato, bread — before refining his hand-painting at the CFA de Muret and earning a Brevet de Maîtrise, the French master’s qualification in pastry.

He worked in the family shop, then at Entremet de France in Paris and Pâtisserie de Gascogne in Montreal. When his father prepared to retire, Christophe set out to bring artisan chocolate to the United States. He landed first in Indiana, and in 2008 came to Charleston.

“We just picked a spot off the map. We loved it so much upon the visit.”

The first shop opened on Society Street, downtown. A second followed on Ashley River Road in West Ashley, which is also where the café is and where Christophe teaches his classes.

How it is made

The hand-painted chocolates are exactly that. Tinted cocoa butter is applied to the mould with an airbrush or a paintbrush, then tempered chocolate, then a ganache filling, then a final seal of chocolate. Every piece is finished by hand.

The ganache flavours come from real ingredients steeped in heavy cream rather than extracts — mint, tea, star anise, and, for anyone willing, Roquefort. Christophe works in couverture chocolate and uses no preservatives, which is why the chocolates are at their best within about three weeks. Caramel sea salt is the one people come back for.

“I do things like I did them in France. They are my recipes from there.”

There is also a Charleston Collection — chocolate bars with local flavours and designs by the artist Sarah Winecoff.