I source beans that are fair trade, organic, and or direct from farmers that use sustainable practices and no slave or child labor. I receive the beans once they have been fermented and dried.

I will experiment with the roasting settings to highlight the natural flavor of the beans.

It is time to crack the cacao into nibs and winnow away the husk. The husk can be used to make a light chocolate herbal tea. I enjoy mixing the husk with green or chai tea.

Stone grinders will grind the nibs into a liquid. At this point other ingredients will be added as well, which will leave you with a delicious untempered chocolate ready to use for baking, hot chocolate, and many other musings.

Once the chocolate is made, it's time to temper into bars, bonbons, or anything chocolate that we want to not melt in our hands. Tempering is raising and lowering the temperature of the chocolate to get the fat molecules to align like lego blocks, which builds resistance to heat and produces that classic shine and snap. Once the chocolate is tempered it can be molded, then wrapped.