Sarah and Colin Hartman came from very different paths. Sarah grew up in Brazil, one of the world’s largest cacao producing nations, and after joining the culinary industry, spent time at both Valrhona and Dandelion Chocolate. Colin served as U.S. Marine officer before jumping into the start-up world and ultimately, getting an MBA. It was in grad school where their vision for Harper Macaw was born. The couple founded Harper Macaw on an ambitious, yet, tangible objective – to turn chocolate into a force for tropical reforestation. They discovered a strong link between the quality of cacao and local rainforest health as well as the potential for cacao agroforestry and private reserves to facilitate large-scale tropical reforestation. Their brand name represents the Harpy Eagle and Hyacinth Macaw, two symbolic endangered species of Brazil’s Atlantic and Amazon rainforests.

Harper Macaw currently sources their cacao directly from select...

We interviewed William Marx of Wm Chocolate and this was his story to us:

Wm. Chocolate began in early 2015 in my home kitchen, where my passion for making nutritious, ethically sourced, delicious food from scratch spilled over into chocolate. Simply put, I couldn’t find a chocolate on the market that met my standards, so I decided to make it myself – all the way from raw cacao bean to the finished chocolate bar.

From the start, I knew I wanted chocolate that is free from additives, fillers, and refined sweeteners. But once I started making it, I was struck by the huge range of flavors across different cacao origins. My mission expanded beyond just nutrition, to making and sharing chocolate that celebrated these diverse flavors.

It took about 6 months, dozens of batches and origins, and lots of problem-solving to pin...

Recipe from Chef Cindy Mushet, The Art and Soul of Baking, makes eight 4-ounce ramekins

• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (up to 70% cacao), finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unbleached all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (6 ounces) whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
• Pinch salt
• 4 large eggs, separated + 1 extra white
• 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Position an oven rack in the bottom third of the oven. Melt a little extra butter and thoroughly brush the inside of each ramekin – just an even, light coating – do not let it pool in the...

Summary

The Square Chocolate group partnered with Cococlectic to provide a complimentary whiskey and chocolate pairing experience to folks at the Square office. Cococlectic is a company dedicated to helping new American bean-to-bar chocolate makers get the word out about their chocolate by providing a monthly chocolate subscription. In addition to that, they provide several other services such as guided tastings and other classes that can be found in their site.

For our tasting, we paired Bulleit Bourbon, Bulleit Rye, and 7 Stills Fluxuate with eight mystery chocolates!

Background

Doreen and Brent are currently attending culinary school and run Cococlectic.

Brent loves savory foods, so chocolate is a somewhat odd choice, but he loves pursuing passion, and there’s a lot of passion behind chocolate! He used to work in administration for a culinary school when he decided to switch to the other end of the...

Ben Rasmussen, a chocolate maker from Potomac Chocolate is no ordinary man. By day, he is a family man with 4 kids and works as a Linux Systems Administrator. By night and weekends, he is a devoted chocolate maker. He was introduced to craft chocolates in 2009 by his brother who had attended a chocolate class and organized a chocolate tasting for him. Despite being skeptical (growing up and loving big name popular chocolate bars and NOT a fan of dark chocolate), he gave it a try. He admitted he was completely blown away! Bar after chocolate bar continuously blew his mind as he tasted the difference in their flavor profiles – spices, various fruits, earthy notes, tobacco and nuttiness.

He then fell in love and became obsessed with learning more about chocolate through tasting. It wasn’t...

When Robbie and Anna met in 2008, they had no idea that within 6 months of their meeting, they would be setting out on a long journey to produce great chocolate. Part of falling in love, for some, is the gifting and consumption of chocolate, and Robbie and Anna were no different than the millions of couples that had preceded them in embracing this ritual. They also had an interest in fine foods, especially those that are influenced by terroir, such as wine and coffee. After several pivotal moments in their culinary repertoire, they were finally introduced to decent chocolate that wasn’t just a candy.

As with most small businesses, Ritual Chocolate was started in a small studio apartment in Boulder, Colorado, in 2010. On January 1, 2011, the couple began making chocolate at Steve DeVries’ factory in Denver. Four years later, they built their own...

Located in Northern California, Starchild Chocolate is Mendocino County's first and only artisan small-batch chocolate company. Chocolate makers Ash and Brittany Maki work with some of the world’s finest cacao, from regions across the globe, to provide an array of chocolate unlike any other. With high ethical sourcing standards and the use of only healthy unrefined sugars, the couple produce chocolate that are a true indulgence for the senses.

With gentle care and a desire to bring out each bean's full potential, Ash handcrafts the beans in micro batches using traditional methods of stone grinding. He single-handedly roasts, cracks, winnows, and refines all the chocolate and hopes that chocolate lovers enjoy eating the bars as much as he enjoys making them.

Having developed a fascination for the art of chocolate making and the amazing variation that can be found from bean to bean, region to...

Parliament Chocolate comprises of Ryan Berk and his small team of impassioned individuals striving to bring something new and exciting to the chocolate world. Their true respect for the amazing cacao bean fuels their process by deciding to only use two ingredients – high quality cacao and organic cane sugar. By creating and nurturing this simplistic approach, they are able to let the true profiles of the cacao beans come through in their chocolate. They do it ultimately for the love of producing an amazing product.

Unlike other larger production chocolate makers, they feel that they can really achieve amazing quality when they put love into every step of the chocolate-making process. The farmers put everything into what they do from the tree to the pods and the beans. And for the Parliament team, to have the ability to touch and hand-sort those beans,...

Terroir (tare-WHAR) Chocolate was founded by Josh and Kristin Mohagen to share with others a connection, appreciation, and adventure through chocolate.

After making it all the way through pastry school and living in France, Kristin thought she knew everything there was to know about chocolate. Nothing could be further from the truth! Her eyes were completely opened in 2013, and a new appreciation and never-ending learning endeavor began.

It all started when Josh and Kristin were on their honeymoon in San Francisco at a chocolate factory tour. They tasted four distinctly different single-origin chocolate pieces and their corresponding citrus, nutty, chocolaty, or fruity flavors. Kristin discovered that chocolate had complexities like that of wine and coffee, the terroir. She was hooked. She walked out of that tour and told Josh that's what she was going to do – she was going to MAKE chocolate.

Armed with curiosity, love...

The son of a candy maker, Dr. Eric Durtschi of Durci had an intense passion for all things chocolate from an early age and started developing dessert recipes at 8 years old. He decided to pursue a profession in health and wellness, and as a chiropractor, he was frequently asked to offer diet and healthy living advice. During his research, he learned that cocoa (or cacao) was an amazing superfood in its unadulterated state. He began development of the world’s first brewed cocoa in 2007.

Dr. Durtschi purchases premium cocoa beans directly from cocoa farmers. He also discovered and developed methods of processing cacao beans that help to retain more of the cocoa’s beneficial compounds. Working directly with farmers from across the world for almost 10 years now, he teaches them superior processing techniques that help them earn a premium for their beans as well as provide...