Stepping in to Chocolat Abeille is a full sensory experience. The shop is ready for its first summer in the Old Market.
“We have something beautiful to look at, it smells wonderful, it tastes delicious,” Tina Tweedy, Owner, Chocolat Abeille said.
They make chocolates all day every day. 300 pieces most days; and customers are invited to watch.
“They see how much care and love goes in to every single piece,” Tweedy said. “And it’s just a really neat experience for them. I think the first thing they notice when they walk in is just an aroma of chocolate and then lots of little details everywhere in the shop.”
Tweedy prides herself in the details; from the tiny bees inlayed in the bricks, to the hand painted details in the chocolates.
“We put the red in first so the white shines behind it and makes the red look brighter behind that dark chocolate,” she said.
Tweedy worked in the restaurant industry for 23 years, 12 as a pastry chef.
“I was ready to do something small and focused,” Tweedy said. “But I knew if I was only selling chocolate it had to be in the perfect location and I love the Old Market. It’s really like a family down here.”
Chocolates, she said, pair well with the honey she gets from her established bee hives.
Tweedy has five bee hives at her home near Fontenelle Forest. Most days you can find her at Chocolat Abeille, but Sunday, she said, is family day and bee day.
She sells her honey in the shop, even fills some chocolates with her local honey.
“The blue tags on the jars and chocolate bars have wild flower seeds in them,” Tweedy said. “It's a handmade paper with the seeds embedded. So, you can plant the whole tag right under the soil and it will grow flowers. It’s just our way to give back to the bees.”
That attention to detail, can only be appreciated here in Omaha. Chocolat Abeille is small by design. You can't buy it online and she doesn't ship. But every chocolate you buy has been made and individually inspected in the last day or two.
Chocolat Abeille is selling a special five piece box this summer. It comes with a packet of wild flower seeds so people can help plant a pollinator path around the city. A portion of the sales from this box go toward pollinator education materials for children.
