Our process

You could say our process is getting a bit long in the tooth: we make chocolate using the same basic steps that have been used around the world since at least 1847.

What makes our approach different, is that we always start with fairly-traded and we make two-ingredient chocolate from just cacao and organic acne sugar.

When roasting cacao, we want to highlight the strengths of the origins that we work with and showcase their unique “personalities.” That means we want fruity origins to be really fruity, nutty origins to be nutrageous, and floral origins to have the flower power turned up to 11. It also means that sometimes we blend different cacaos together to find the right balance between their most interesting notes.

When it comes to flavor development, we put our energy into being thoughtful about the beans that we buy, how we roast them, and how long they stay in our stone grinders. Most of our chocolate is stone ground for four days straight.

from bean-to-bar

A look at our process

Sourcing Cacao

Our process starts by looking for great cacao that we want to work with. To us, “great” cacao is fine flavor, organic, and traded in a way that respects the time, energy, and expertise of the people who grow it.

Sorting

Once we get the beans, we hand sort the cacao to remove any broken beans, any flattened beans, and any surprises — like sticks or pebbles — from the bags. What’s left is the very best cacao beans of the shipment, ready for roasting.

Roasting

We then roast the cacao beans to develop their chocolate flavor and any unique tasting notes that we are looking for. The roasting process also helps loosen the outer husk of the bean from the inner nib, which is important for the next step.

Winnowing

Next we crush the beans and winnow them to separate the husk from the center of the bean. After winnowing, all that’s left is the nib. If the nibs are being sold as-is, we put them in a bag. If the nibs are being used to make chocolate, they go into our granite stone grinders.

Stone Grinding

Our stone grinders have a granite base and two granite grinding wheels which crush the nibs until it starts to look and smell a lot like chocolate. The nibs will work in the stone grinder for two to four days straight, depending on the flavor profile that we are looking for. Grinding for this long is also an important step to developing chocolate that is silky-smooth.

Tempering and Pouring

We temper our chocolate and then pour the tempered chocolate onto baking sheets or into molds and let them cool to set. This is also the time when we add any inclusions that will be going into the bar like candied oranges, coffee, or ginger.

Enjoying with friends

The final step is enjoying with friends and family! Everything that we sell is something that we love and would be proud to share around the table with friends and strangers alike.