We spend a lot of time carefully selecting the best cacao beans. We sample and test many varieties and variations of beans, sugars, and experiment with combinations of mixes and roasting profiles. Only after we are totally satisfied do we move the recipe concept from our testing lab to our production kitchen.

We carefully sort through each sack of beans by hand to ensure only the finest quality beans make it into our chocolate. After the sorting, our beans go through an initial classifying process which carefully removes any damaged beans or foreign material such as stones, sticks or any other objects that were included during the fermentation or bean drying process at the point of origin.

We roast small micro batches of <10lbs beans at a time in our custom designed cocoa roaster. We found that roasting smaller batches provides us the level of control we need to meet the precise temperature profile required of the various bean types we roast. Roasting procedures for each bean type vary quite a lot, as beans from different parts of the world require very different roasting times and temperatures to bring out the best flavor of the chocolate. The roasting is a science in of itself and that’s why we opted to design and build a perfect roaster specifically for cacao as opposed to refurbishing or trying to modify a coffee a roaster machine as most bean-to-bar chocolate makers do. Our gas fired roaster constantly moves waves of heat in and around the rotating bean drum, but the flame never actually comes in direct contact with the beans. This unique process allows us to bring out the best flavor of the beans.