The three-flavor rule
When you do not know the room, order three flavors: one crowd-pleaser, one citrus, one tea or coffee. Strawberry, lemon and Earl Grey is the reliable version of that. It covers the person who wants something sweet, the person who wants something sharp, and the person who claims not to like dessert.
If you can only choose one flavor, choose strawberry. If you can choose two, add coffee or Earl Grey. The third flavor is where you get to be interesting.
All fifteen flavors, compared
| Flavor | Family | What it tastes like | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strawberry | Fruit | Bright and fruit-forward | First-timers, showers, children |
| Lemon | Fruit | Properly tart, clean finish | After a rich meal, spring events |
| Mango | Fruit | Ripe mango with a tart edge | Summer parties, bright palettes |
| Passion Fruit | Fruit | Sharp tropical tang | People who like tart desserts |
| Blueberry | Fruit | Jammy fruit centre | Brunches, hostess gifts |
| Lavender | Floral | Gentle floral, never soapy | Weddings, afternoon tea |
| Earl Grey | Tea & coffee | Bergamot over black tea | People who dislike sweet things |
| Matcha | Tea & coffee | Grassy and genuinely bitter | The least sweet in the collection |
| Coffee | Tea & coffee | Roasted, faintly bitter | Offices, dinner parties |
| Chai | Spiced | Cinnamon and warm spice | Autumn and holiday gifting |
| Tiramisu | Chocolate | Coffee, cocoa and cream | Macarons as the dessert |
| Chocolate Hazelnut | Chocolate | Dense chocolate and toasted nut | Luxury and corporate gifts |
| Orange Chocolate | Chocolate | Dark chocolate and citrus | Holiday and client boxes |
| Banana Chocolate | Chocolate | Ripe banana and chocolate | Family gatherings, children |
| Fruity Pebbles | Fun | Sweet cereal-milk filling | Birthdays and graduations |
See also: Every flavor with photos
If they say they do not like sweet things
Matcha, coffee, or Earl Grey. All three keep real bitterness — the matcha is genuinely grassy, the coffee is genuinely roasted — and they are the flavors that most often change someone’s mind about macarons entirely.
Lemon and passion fruit work too, from the other direction: they are sharp rather than bitter, and the tartness arrives before the sugar does.
If there will be children
Fruity Pebbles, strawberry and banana chocolate. Bright, recognisable, and no acquired tastes to negotiate.
Fruity Pebbles is the one children talk about afterwards: a cereal-milk filling under a white drizzle and a scatter of coloured cereal. Adults take one to be polite and then come back for a second.
See also: Fruity Pebbles macarons · Birthday macarons
If it needs to look expensive
Chocolate hazelnut, with its dipped shell and gold leaf, and tiramisu with its cocoa dusting. These are the two that read as a considered gift rather than a nice one.
For a client or a thank-you, pair one of them with coffee or Earl Grey. The combination says you thought about the person rather than picked the first box.
See also: Chocolate Hazelnut · Corporate gifting
If it needs to match a colour
Strawberry gives you soft pink, lavender violet, lemon pale yellow, matcha green, mango gold, passion fruit violet and gold together, and chocolate hazelnut a deep brown. Between them you can build most palettes without a custom order. Exact colour matching runs through a custom order with 14 days’ notice.
| Palette | Flavors that build it |
|---|---|
| Blush and pink | Strawberry, Mango |
| Lavender and violet | Lavender, Passion Fruit, Earl Grey |
| Sunny yellow | Lemon, Banana Chocolate, Mango |
| Sage and green | Matcha |
| Neutral and brown | Coffee, Chai, Tiramisu, Chocolate Hazelnut |
| Autumn orange | Orange Chocolate, Fruity Pebbles, Chai |
See also: Custom colours
By occasion
- Weddings: lavender, lemon and strawberry for a soft palette; chocolate hazelnut for an evening table with gold accents.
- Baby and bridal showers: strawberry, lavender and blueberry — pink, violet and deep berry on the same table.
- Office and client gifts: coffee, Earl Grey, orange chocolate and chocolate hazelnut. Nothing too sweet, nothing that needs explaining.
- Birthdays: Fruity Pebbles and strawberry for children; tiramisu and passion fruit for adults.
- Autumn and the holidays: chai, orange chocolate and chocolate hazelnut.
- Summer: mango, passion fruit and lemon — the bright, tart end of the collection.
See also: Weddings · Baby showers · Holiday gift boxes
What the classic Paris flavors become here
The traditional Paris line-up is raspberry, pistachio, chocolate, vanilla, salted caramel and lemon. If someone asks for “the classics”, lemon is the direct match, strawberry stands in for raspberry, chocolate hazelnut and orange chocolate cover chocolate, and coffee or chai take the place caramel usually holds: the warm, rounded flavor in the set.
The rest of the collection — Earl Grey, matcha, chai, passion fruit, Fruity Pebbles — is where a box stops looking like any other box.
How many flavors to order
About one flavor for every 12 to 24 pieces. Two flavors for a small gathering, three or four for a shower, five or six for a wedding table. More than six starts to look busy rather than generous, and guests spend more time deciding than eating.
See also: How many macarons per person
Allergies and dietary questions
Every macaron is made with almond flour, egg white and sugar, and most fillings contain dairy. They are made in a kitchen that also handles wheat, so they are not suitable for anyone with a nut allergy and cannot be sold as gluten-free. If you are ordering for a group, it is worth checking before the box arrives rather than after.
A note on mixing
Each box holds a single flavor. That is deliberate — shells and fillings keep better when they are not sharing a box — so a mixed order means several boxes arriving on the same delivery rather than one assorted box.
