Maker Profile: Indahphoria Chocolatier

company name	Indahphoria Chocolatier
website	http://www.indahphoria.com
email	indahphoria@gmai​l.com
chocolate maker	Aaron Koch
factory location	Bend, OR, USA
factory tours	no
direct online purchase	Indahphoria
direct stores	N/A
retail store purchase	several stores in western U.S.
selling bars since	2010
plantation bars	none
single origin bars	Dominican Republic Papua New Guinea
blend bars	none
production cycle	bean to bar
added fat	cocoa butter
sweetener	coconut sugar
flavoring	none
emulsifier	none
organic	yes (not certified)
sustainable	no
economics	fair trade (not certified)
last updated	February 16, 2012

The name Indahphoria means Carry the Beauty. U.S. chocolate maker Aaron Koch founded Indahphoria Chocolatier in 2010 to hand-craft bean to bar organic chocolate infused with medicinal herbs. He also makes unflavored single origin chocolate from the Dominican Republic and Papua New Guinea. During a recent trip to Bali, he investigated sourcing cacao from Indonesia as well.

Indahphoria purchases cacao beans from a broker. The beans for its Dominican Republic bar originate from La Red cooperative.

Sharing a roaster in Eugene, OR, with John Nancy of Chocolate Alchemy, Aaron roasts his cacao beans at low temperatures to release flavors with minimal loss to the flavonoids and antioxidants.

He sweetens his unflavored chocolate using coconut sugar rather than cane sugar. The lower glycemic level of coconut sugar makes his chocolate accessible for diabetic consumers. The other ingredients he uses are cacao beans and cocoa butter made from those same beans. There are no added emulsifiers or flavorings. Although Indahphoria's chocolate is not certified, all of the ingredients are organic, and the cacao is purchased at fair trade prices.

You can buy Indahphoria chocolate online directly from Indahphoria.

Maker Profile: Ritual Chocolate

company name	Ritual Chocolate
website	http://www.ritualchocolate.com
email	ritualchocolate@gmai​l.com
chocolate makers	Robbie Stout and Anna Davies
factory location	Denver, CO, USA
factory tours	no
direct online purchase	Ritual
direct stores	N/A
retail store purchase	where Ritual is sold
selling bars since	2011
plantation bars	Balao Costa Rica Madagascar
single origin bars	Belize
blend bars	none
production cycle	bean to bar
added fat	none
sweetener	cane sugar
flavoring	none
emulsifier	none
organic	yes (not certified)
sustainable	yes (not certified)
economics	direct trade (not certified)
last updated	January 28, 2012

In 2008, Robbie Stout and Anna Davies met, soon fell in love, and began making chocolate together. On a 2010 trip to Costa Rica, they took a course with renown chocolate maker Steve DeVries, learned about his factory in Denver, Colorado, and arranged to use it. Although they now share the same equipment and some of the same cacao, Robbie and Anna use different techniques to craft their own unique chocolate. In July 2011, they released their first chocolate bar: Ritual Costa Rica.

They source their Trinitario cacao beans from the same farm as Steve DeVries in Costa Rica. Ritual makes their chocolate in small 80 pound batches in the factory in Denver, but does not quite follow the standard formula for making chocolate. They roast at lower than typical temperatures, use a roll mill for more consistent particle size, and age their chocolate about one month before remelting it to temper and form into bars.

Ritual uses only cacao beans and cane sugar in making their chocolate. No additional cocoa butter, emulsifier, or flavoring is added. The cane sugar is certified organic and fair trade. The farm where their cacao is grown is organic and certified sustainable by Rainforest Alliance. However, their chocolate bar does not yet have any certifications.

Robbie and Anna are also considerate of the environment in their chocolate making. The only waste product at present is cacao bean shells, and they are investigating having their wrappers made from the shells. Their current wrappers are made from foil and recycled paper. Even the local delivery of chocolate bars in Boulder, Colorado, is done by bicycle.

You can purchase Ritual chocolate online directly from them, or in person at retail locations in nine cities in the western United States and in New York.

Maker Profile: Mindo Chocolate

company name	Mindo Chocolate
website	http://www.mindochocolate.com/
email	info@mindochocolate.com
chocolate makers	Joe Meza and Barbara Wilson
factory location	11061 Trinkle Road Dexter, MI 48130 (734) 660-5635
factory tours	by appointment
direct online purchase	Mindo
direct stores	N/A
retail store purchase	where Mindo is sold
selling bars since	2009
plantation bars	none
single origin bars	100% (Ecuador) 77% (Ecuador) 67% (Ecuador)
blend bars	none
production cycle	bean to bar
added fat	cocoa butter
sweetener	cane juice
flavoring	none
emulsifier	none
organic	yes (not yet certified)
sustainable	recycling, composting
economics	direct trade (not certified)
last updated	December 15, 2011

In 2008, Barbara Wilson and Joe Meza built a winter home for themselves in Mindo, Ecuador. Over the following year, that home transformed into El Quetzal de Mindo, a restaurant and hostel. In 2009, Barbara and Joe established a cacao processing station to do their own fermenting, drying, roasting, and winnowing of cacao. They ship their cacao nibs (by air) back to their place in Dexter, Michigan, to press cocoa butter and make chocolate. (Note: In the past, Mindo sometimes shipped beans to Dexter and roasted them there). Factory tours may be arranged by appointment. They began selling their single origin Ecuador chocolate in 2009.

Most chocolate makers purchase dried cacao beans and have little control over the fermenting and drying processes. Mindo, however, buys fresh wet organic cacao beans from a small cooperative in Ecuador, and does their own fermenting and drying locally. In making their chocolate, Mindo adds only organic evaporated cane juice and, when necessary for viscosity, cocoa butter made from the same cacao. No emulsifier or flavoring is added (except in their flavored chocolate, of course :-)

Mindo chocolate bars are made from organic ingredients (both the cacao beans and cane juice are certified organic), but the bars themselves have not yet been certified. Barbara and Joe established direct trade with the farmers of the cooperative, but have gone beyond a financial relationship (including teaching the cacao farmers the process of making chocolate). They also use only recyclable or compostable packaging.

You can buy Mindo chocolate online directly from them. Mindo chocolate can also be purchased at retail locations throughout Michigan and some other locations around the United States, as well as at El Quetzal de Mindo in Ecuador (as listed on their website).

Maker Profile: Dandelion Chocolate

company name	Dandelion Chocolate
website	http://www.dandelionchocolate.com
email	info@dandelionchocolate.com
chocolate makers	Todd Masonis, Cam Ring, Alice Nystrom, Chiann Tsui (left to right)
factory location	(coming spring 2012) 740 Valencia St San Francisco, CA 94110
factory tours	starting spring 2012
direct online purchase	Dandelion
direct stores	(coming spring 2012) 740 Valencia St San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 349-0942 Mission Community Market (Thursday evenings) Noe Valley Farmers Market (Saturday mornings)
retail store purchase	Dandelion locations
selling bars since	2010
plantation bars	Camino Verde, Ecuador 100%
single origin bars	Butuo, Liberia Colombia Elvesia, Dominican Republic Mantuano, Venezuela Maya Mountain, Belize Ocumare, Venezuela Papua New Guinea Patanemo, Venezuela Rio Caribe, Venezuela Sambirano, Madagascar Upala, Costa Rica
blend bars	none
production cycle	bean to bar
added fat	none
sweetener	sugar
flavoring	none
emulsifier	none
organic	no
sustainable	no
economics	see text
last updated	December 13, 2011

Last year Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring started Dandelion Chocolate, their bean to bar chocolate company, in California. With a garage factory in East Palo Alto and a shared commercial kitchen in San Jose, Dandelion uniquely crafts each small production run. Just this month they moved to a temporary location in the Dogpatch neighborhood in east San Francisco until their new factory and store are completed. They intend to keep their batches small even after they move to the new factory next year.

Dandelion sources high quality cacao beans and then experiments with them to adjust their process to bring out the best from each batch of beans. For example, they try a series of roastings, and then have a group tasting and decide by consensus which roasting process suits that batch.

At present, they purchase Madagascar cacao from Åkesson's, Venezuelan cacao from Cacao San José, and Costa Rica cacao from the Upala region from a broker. Eventually, they hope to establish direct relationships with specific farmers.

Dandelion makes their chocolate using only cacao beans and cane sugar, with no added cocoa butter, emulsifier, or flavoring. While many of their beans are certified organic, not all are. Dandelion has been seeking an organic sugar, but has not yet found one with a neutral taste that will not alter the flavor of the chocolate.

While not yet having any sustainability or trade practices, Dandelion wants to build direct trade relationships with farmers and become knowledgeable enough to support responsible and sustainable cacao farming and chocolate making.

Even before their factory opens next spring, you can directly buy Dandelion chocolate online. Dandelion chocolate can be purchased in person at the Mission Community Market on Thursdays and Noe Valley Farmer's Market on Saturdays, as well as at some retail stores in the San Francisco Bay area and at Chocolopolis in Seattle.

Maker Profile: Taza Chocolate

company name	Taza Chocolate
website	http://www.tazachocolate.com/
email	info@tazachocolate.com
chocolate makers	Alex Whitmore Mike Schechter
factory location	561 Windsor St, Somerville, MA 02143
factory tours	$5 per person click here for more information
direct online purchase	Taza
direct stores	Taza Factory Store 561 Windsor St, Somerville, MA 02143 (617) 284-2232
retail store purchase	Taza retail store finder
selling bars since	2006
plantation bars	none
single origin bars	Cacao Puro Mexicano 70% (Dominican Republic) Stone Ground 87% (Bolivia) Stone Ground 80% (Dominican Republic) Stone Ground 70% (Dominican Republic) Stone Ground 60% (Dominican Republic) Wicked Dark (Dominican Republic)
blend bars	none
other bars	nine single origin flavored Chocolate Mexicano bars
production cycle	bean to bar
added fat	cocoa butter from same cacao beans
sweetener	cane sugar
flavoring	vanilla bean
emulsifier	none
organic	all bars USDA certified
sustainable	zero percent waste, local bike delivery, carbon neutral shipping, etc.
economics	direct trade
last updated	November 15, 2011

From their website: "Taza Chocolate was born out of a desire to combine the Mesoamerican tradition of chocolate with a modern, high-quality product manufactured in a socially responsible way."

Taza makes chocolate using granite millstones to stone grind their cacao beans and they do not conch their chocolate, resulting in a grainy texture and unrefined flavors. The cocoa butter they use is from the same cacao beans. Taza does not use an emulsifier in their chocolate. All of their ingredients are certified USDA organic and grown using sustainable agricultural practices.

They have built direct trade agreements with the suppliers of their cacao beans. Their primarily suppliers are the La Red Guacanejo cooperative and Finca El Vesia in the Dominican Republic. This year, Taza also sourced cacao from the Central Integral Agroecologica de Alto Beni cooperative in Bolivia and they are in the process of expanding and diversifying their cacao suppliers.

Taza pays at least $500 per metric ton above market price in exchange for quality cacao beans with at least 95% fermentation and a maximum of 7% moisture. They are quite open about the details of their direct trade practices and document them on their website. Taza published an Annual Cacao Sourcing Transparency Report in September.

In addition to disclosing information about their suppliers, Taza generously shares information about how each batch of chocolate was made. On their home page, you can type in the batch number from the back of the wrapper and Taza displays where the cacao beans and other ingredients came from, when the beans arrived, roasting details including temperature and time, grinding date, etc.

The company was founded by Alex Whitmore (pictured above), Larry Slotnick, and Kathleen Fulton. Mike Schechter joined Taza in 2007 and took over for Alex as head chocolate maker. You can read more about the people of Taza in the About Us section of their website.

Taza has its factory and store in Somerville, Massachusetts, just northwest of Boston. They give public factory tours (with sample chocolate) nearly every day for $5, and you can purchase chocolate at the factory store. You can buy directly from Taza online, and Taza chocolates are found in many retail stores.

Maker Profile: Kallari

For several months now, I've been meaning to write a series of postings highlighting information about each chocolate maker, but it took meeting several of them at the Northwest Chocolate Festival to motivate me to actually start writing. Here is the first of hopefully many to come...

company name	Kallari
website	http://www.kallari.com
email	info.kallari@gmail.com
chocolate maker	Carlos Pozo
factory location	Quito, Ecuador
factory tours	yes
direct online purchase	N/A
direct stores	N/A
retail online purchase	Chocosphere
retail store purchase	Whole Foods Market local cooperative and natural food stores
selling bars since	2005
plantation bars	none
single origin bars	85% Cacao (Ecuador) 75% Cacao (Ecuador) 70% Cacao (Ecuador) Sinchi Supreme 85% (Ecuador)
blend bars	none
other bars	none
production cycle	tree to bar
added fat	cocoa butter from same cacao beans
sweetener	cane sugar
flavoring	whole vanilla bean
emulsifier	none
organic	all bars USDA certified
sustainable	all bars Rainforest Alliance certified
economics	farmer owned profit-sharing among cooperative
last updated	October 27, 2011

Kallari Chocolate is a chocolate maker from Ecuador. As a farming cooperative that produces chocolate bars, Kallari manages the entire production cycle from growing the cacao trees to packaging the final chocolate bars. They sort their beans by hand, keeping the best for themselves and selling the rest to other chocolate companies.

From the back of their chocolate bar wrappers: "We are KALLARI, a cooperative of 850 indigenous Kichwa families in the Upper Napo Region of the Ecuadorian Amazon. We plant, care for, and harvest our award-winning heirloom cacao beans to create this single-source organic chocolate. We share 100% of chocolate profits amongst our 21 rainforest communities to maintain our way of life in one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth."

The motto of Kallari Chocolate is "sustainable pleasure for palate and planet". Kallari's chocolate is certified organic by the USDA. It is also certified by the Rainforest Alliance that it was produced in a socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable way.

Kallari makes both couverture and chocolate bars. They use organic cane sugar as a sweetener, add cocoa butter made from their own organic cacao beans, and include organic whole vanilla beans. Kallari does not use an emulsifier in their chocolate. Their chocolate maker is Carlos Pozo. He is also the general coordinator of the Kallari Association and still continues to grow cacao as well!

Because their factory is close to their farms, there is much less delay after the cacao beans are dry before they are processed into chocolate. Kallari currently makes three chocolate bars that vary by the amount of cocoa solids: 70%, 75%, and 85%. They are also in the process of introducing four new hand-tempered bars (which won't be available in the U.S. until later next year).

During the harvest season (January to June), Kallari encourages tours of their farms near Tena and their factory in Quito. Lin-Mar Associates in New York organizes trips that include Kallari tours. The current leased factory in Quito will be replaced next year by a new one they are building in Tena.

Kallari chocolate is available for purchase online at Chocosphere and in stores at Whole Foods Markets and many local cooperative and natural food stores, such as PCC Natural Markets in the Seattle area.