Our commitment to quality and doing things right

We choose to make bean to bar chocolate not because it is easy but because it is hard.

STEP 1

Source

Our dark chocolate flavor with complex fruit notes all starts with the cacao bean. We searched for the perfect blend of bean varieties whose flavors pair with our sweeteners to make zero sugar chocolate taste luscious, creamy and satisfying. We source our Cacao from organically certified farms in South and Central America, and the Caribbean, and support sustainable practices and economic development as much as possible. Beans arrive by container ship in giant 50kg (110lb) bags in the port of Oakland, which we transfer to our warehouse until it’s time to roast.

STEP 2

Roast

There’s nothing like the overwhelming sensation and smell of Cacao roasting in our factory. Similar to coffee roasting, we roast our cacao beans in small 10kg batches at just the perfect temperature to reduce acidity and nurture a true chocolate flavor. Cacao beans are a superfood because they are the seeds of the cocoa pod – and the source of antioxidants and polyphenols – and must be roasted with care.

STEP 3

Winnow

A cacao bean is 80% cocoa nib and 20% shell. Like wheat, the shell needs to be removed and the “kernel” (the cacao nib), preserved for chocolate making. The cacao nib is the source of all the goodness of chocolate … the complex flavors, the rich cocoa butter, and cocoa solids, including antioxidants. Winnowing is a process whereby gravity pulls the cacao nib down, and a vacuum powered suction pulls the shell upwards, leaving us with the precious nibs – and finally ready to make chocolate.

STEP 4

Grind

We grind cacao nibs and sweeteners for 3 days in large melangers to transform roasted cacao nibs into luscious chocolate. Cacao nibs are 54% fat (a.k.a. cacao butter) and 46% cacao solids, so it takes hours of grinding to turn the cacao nibs into a paste and finally into a liquid (called chocolate “liquor”). The grinders keep working to make the chocolate molecules small enough to yield that luxurious sensation everyone loves when chocolate melts on the tongue.

STEp 5

Temper

The magic happens here. Once the chocolate has become a smooth liquid, we bring it to a specific temperature in a special machine called a “temperer”. This is where the crystal structures in cocoa butter align to transform the chocolate liquid into a solid. It’s the critical step to bars with a perfect breaking point – the snap you feel when you break off a piece of chocolate.

STEp 6

Mould

Hurry! We have about 1 minute to pour chocolate into our custom molds and shape them into bars before they start to harden. There are a host of factors like internal temperature, air temperature, and humidity that can affect the process. Chocolate is more art than science!

STEP 7

Package

Every single chocolate bar and square is carefully inspected for quality before it is packaged by hand. Our bars are wrapped in recyclable gold foil to preserve the chocolate and then enclosed in special custom-designed paper envelopes to protect them and preserve their quality and flavor. Our squares are placed in special pouches made in part from recycled paper, with a unique lining that extends their shelf life.

We choose to make bean to bar chocolate not because it is easy but because it is hard.

STEP 1

Source

STEP 2

Roast

STEP 3

Winnow

STEP 4

Grind

STEp 5

Temper

STEp 6

Mould

STEP 7

Package

(415) 910-2266

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