Papabubble

Cute and Tasty!

These tiny handmade candies aren't just nice to look at, they are delicious too.

You will come across flavors such as Sour Apple, Raspberry, Chocolate Filled Lavender, Bergamot, Hot Cinnamon, Passion Fruit, Mango, Guava, Pink Grapefruit, Ginger Ale, Cherry Cola, Root Beer, etc.

Papabubble creates candies in all sorts of cool shapes. Looking for candy shaped toothbrushes, dentures, ducks, glasses, plates, bowls, animals, rings, fruits and veggies? Papabubble is your place. My favorite would have to be the Fruit Mix jar. It's filled with all sorts of colorful and fruity flavors.

Don't forget to try all the free samples available at the store.

I now have a favorite candy treat on my desk and you better not touch it!
This jar of papabubble is my own daily, hourly treat so hands off.

We were just wondering through NoLita and my friends said to stopped by papbubble.
"What's a papbubble?"
"Don't ask just come!"
After sampling the rejects at the counter I want a whole jar.
I purchased a small jar of handmade fruit candy for myself.

Yes, a little jar is pretty expensive at $15, but it is enjoyable and I am worth it! (see therapy is working)
Next time I will go back when they are making the candies!

Who knew these little candies would be SO addicting?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!

I don't eat a lot of candy anymore, ever since I learned that I'm genetically predisposed to the devil named Diabeetus. But man, I might just risk my life for these little goodies. Sure, they're on the pricey side, but trust me, you won't regret it. Try the mixed fruits.

They let you sample!

After seeing the Time Out NY write up about the NYC candies - I knew this would be a fun and unique NY only gift to bring home to my family to enjoy during Christmastime. I met my boyfriend at the store one chilly night after work - we walked in and were both immediately engrossed in the 2 women making candy. They seemed to be pretty popular - while we were there various people came to visit them and bring them gifts - one was even given a can of beer.

We spent at least 30 minutes watching the orange clove flavored tiny blue and white snowflake candies come to life. From the large pieces fitting the shape together, to the rolling out into a log shape, to the actual cutting of the little candy pieces. What a treat to see something created right in front of your eyes and then get to try a piece while it was still hot!

We had a great time and both ended up purchasing the $25 NYC candy jars to bring home to our families. There were so many crazy flavors to sample including chili mango! I agree that the decor is a little sparse and they could use the space a little better, but I loved it and plan to purchase more sweet gifts in the future.

I was first introduced to papabubble while watching TV in our hotel room at the Grand Hyatt. There was a citylife channel that discribed cool places to go to in New York, NY. One of which was...PAPABUBBLE!

Can Heidi C. pass up candy? Sweets? Sugary goodness? HELL NO!

I came here the next day after seeing the ad for it and was WOW-ed. Sure the store looks bare and doesn't resemble a candy shop but the colors and decorations are all focused on their colorful and intricately made candies. Their candies are hard, but they are also brittle when mixed with your saliva! There's samples against the counter near the register: mixed fruits, coconut curry, mango chili, etc. I only liked the mixed fruits candies.

You can purchase their candies in little bags for $5, or jars that come in 2 sizes. I forget the sizes but one is $14 (?) and the other is $25. If you purchase the jars, you can bring the jar back to get refilled for I believe $2 off. If you want to bring them back as souveniers, I definitely recommend getting their hard candies that say "Bronx" "Manhattan" "Queens" written in it: http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/Zy1InRxnJUe4LdM005FjUA/l

I was swooooon when I saw the mixed fruits candy: http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/rfIwlSfS1--et_ndpdSe0A/l In each piece, it has a cute little fruit drawing in it. If it's strawberry flavored, there's a cute strawberry in it. If it's kiwi, the whole thing looks like a slice of a kiwi -- same with the orange, lemon, lime & grapefruit. The candy tastes good and the presentation is uber articulate. I opted for a small jar of passionfruit only -- the best tasting fruit one!

I am in love with papabubble!

papabubble is going to be my new obsession. Sugar! Sculpture! Free shows!

Is $7.50 really that much for a bag of beautiful, handcrafted candies? How about for beautiful handcrafted candies AND a free show, by the artisans who work in front of you and cheerfully explain how everything's made? C'mon, people. It's dinner and a show!

I'm geeked out over this beauty of a shop. The minimalist design of the storefront and packaging really allows their jewel-like candies to shine. At first glance, they do look like the little sugary hard drops from granny's christmas candy dish. Look closer, though, because the designs are fantastic. Their "Summer Fun" mix has little translucent blue bicycles, sailboats and parasols running through the canes. Their passionfruit lives up to the name with a detailed likeness of beads of orange-gold pulp and deep violet seeds. They even have a mix celebrating NYC with the names of all 5 boroughs spelled out in the candies.

They sell candy rings! Elaborate, twisting spirals of sugar in gemstone colors. They're $20 a pop, unless you're fortunate enough to find one of their lovely mistakes in the bargain case. I spied a lovely red corkscrew there for $5, but I left it for someone who appreciates sticky fingers more than I do.

Their bargain rack usually contains giant chunks of candy which are the ends of the canes that they cut down for the small candies. These are interesting little sculptures in their own right. I bought one today that had a wedding cake design inside the tube, but I was more interested in the dreamy hard-honey stripes on the outside and translucent, blood red core, speckled with tiny bubbles. (Should I mention that I like looking at candy more than I like eating it?) And when I get bored of looking at it, we'll hit it with a hammer and share with friends.

My partner got a bag of mango chile pebbles. Think Butter Mint texture, but tart and sweet mango flavor, coated with savory chile powder. They're better than we dared hope they'd be!

The staff who were working when we stopped by were outgoing and friendly. No high pressure sales. Just very sincere and enjoying their work.

I really, really love this place.

What I thought was a uniquely NYC experience turned out to be a uniquely Espana experience. papabubble comes to the US from Barcelona with stores also in Amsterdam and Tokyo. I was walking by and the design of the window display - and the promise of them making candy - stopped me square in my tracks.

These artisanal hard candies are hand made. The candy makers were rolling thick sheets of gum-like substances (I'm guessing some amalgamation of glucose, fruit, etc) on a heated surface. They continued to roll the candy and adding layers until the roll was 10" in diameter. Then they start pulling at one end and stretching the substance out so it's a few centimeters in diameter. It's taken off the heated surface at this point and hardens to a glassy, hard substance and then broken off. The candies are hand cut from these rolls. So much fun to watch!

I sampled some of the fruit flavors but my favorite was the caramel-filled apple.

I love, love, love the packaging. I picked up a small bag of lemon ginger candies for $5 for a thank you gift. (http://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=Hgg-NXs0ikGRLLbmppi00w) You cannot deny how cute that packaging is. It's the perfect gift with a great story behind it.

Neat-o bambito. I am not a sweets person, but this place...this place could just make me into one.

Artisinal (meaning made by hand and in small batches) candy-making takes place in this minimalist Little Italy shop with its sleek, lowercase-lettered storefront. A recent Saturday visit turned up lollipop making (so cool!), and a very small tongs to grab some of the samples they have available for tasting (chili mango and soda were two of my favorites).

Assorted candies come in small and large packages, and this is not your average candy store, so the prices are a bit more than you might expect, but for that special occasion or special someone, I say the prices are worth it.

They also do super-fun, edible and wearable candy rings, which purportedly are also sold at Bergdorf Goodman.

PS - This hard candy is WAY better than Madonna's album of the same title.

I was on the fence between 2 and 3 stars about this place originally...

After leaving this small bag of candy on my desk for 2 weeks, and eating it slowly over that time, I actually enjoyed the craftsmanship of this hard candy.

My "borough mix" had the teeny, tiny names of each NYC borough printed on it. (when the clerk told me about it, I misunderstood and thought it was named after some "hipster novel" "The 5 Borough's" (of the Donkey sort) and we had a laugh....

It's still not my "candy of choice", but I'm glad I wasn't stubborn enough to try it.

Amazing hard candies!

We got to watch them make candy on he spot and they educated us on how it was done and the process. Sampled a bunch of candies and ended up getting some for ourselves and as gifts. Unique experience and awesome candy. the staff was helpful and fun.