The Sweet Couple Behind French Broad Chocolates Their sweet journey started after a trip to Costa Rica - they dropped out of graduate school, left their Midwestern life and packed their lives into a 40-foot vegetable oil-powered school bus (converted by Dan), and drove south to Costa Rica. They... View Post

Reasons To Not Give Up Chocolate This Lent I’m always looking for a reason to scoff chocolate. Normally my reasoning is, it’s there. Which is good enough for me, but not for the friend who’s suddenly missing a candy bar. Luckily, there are actually lots of health benefits to eating dark chocol... View Post

The Big Story Behind A Small Bean, Cacao Bean Do you know where your chocolate comes from?!?! It might be easy to find out where it was manufactured from the wrapper but it’s unlikely to tell you where its ingredients are sourced. As a follower of Cococlectic you no doubt take an interest in t... View Post

Once a Marine Biologist, now a Craft Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Maker Mike Orlando started Twenty-Four Blackbirds in 2010 as a side job. At the time, he was working as a Marine biologist and chemist in Santa Barbara, California. He originally made chocolate in his free time; an enthusiast, utilizing... View Post

Why Bean-To-Bar Chocolates and Ingredients Matter You are probably asking why bean-to-bar? Why should I pay $10 to $12 per bar? It’s simple, really. When consuming something, do you read through your labels to understand all the ingredients before eating it? Sometimes, sure. If you are particular... View Post

Now Launching Cococlectic! It’s been a crazy 2 months getting Cococlectic Club launched and we're so excited that it’s finally official!  Thank you to all the great supporters of this project and also to the chocolate community. We’ve been in touch with many craft bean-to-bar chocolate makers and... View Post