Website: Taste Artisan Chocolate
Date Established: October 2014
Ingredients Used: 3 - Cacao Bean, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Cane Sugar
Allergy Information: All bars are processed in a factory that handles nuts and dairy.
Taste Artisan Chocolate was started by a group of friends who had a dream and a love of high-quality chocolate. Nestled in the shadows of Mount Timpanogos in Downtown Provo, Utah, Taste Artisan Chocolate is currently owned by the Coleman family and Grant Fry. What started as a fascination and connoisseurship of artisan chocolate grew into a passion to create amazing chocolate through the flavor development process. The Taste team had never dabbled in the culinary sphere prior to opening their own chocolate company, but all it took was some tenacious self-teaching, practice, and a drive to create flavorful, ethical, and sustainable chocolate.
Morgan and Char Coleman are both Utah natives and habitual entrepreneurs. Morgan, an artist, met Char on a blind date while she was getting her MBA, and they’ve been busy ever since. They started learning more about the world of artisan chocolate about eight years ago, and with their love of food and travel, the Colemans realized that chocolate was where they wanted to be. After assembling a team of chocolate lovers and world travelers, and with minimal experience in the business of chocolate, coupled with no prior experience in making chocolate, the team embarked on a serious adventure.
Their first store employee, Grant, started as a cashier/factory worker and over the course of seven years, meticulously learned the craft of chocolate making from his mentor, Morgan. Thousands of hours working side-by-side with Morgan qualified Grant to even take some ownership in the business.
Along with owning a portion of the company, Grant is now the head chocolate maker and has a small team of creative locals assisting him in the manufacturing. Grant is from Portland, Oregon, originally and has always had a passion for the finer things. His tasting palate, knack for innovation, and attention to detail is impressive.
What originally started as a dream for the Colemans has become a reality, and they love to share their experiences. In addition to manufacturing chocolate, Grant and the Colemans also run a small artisan chocolate and dessert shop where they feature the chocolate of many top manufacturers as well as other fine foods from around the world. The café also offers in-person and virtual chocolate tasting events. Just as in fine art, they believe that chocolate is subjective and that there is a perfect bar for a variety of tastes.
Taste Artisan Chocolate doesn’t want every bar of chocolate it creates to taste the same. Even if the team had worked with a bean in the past, each time they receive beans from a new harvest, they start over from scratch because as growing conditions change from year to year, so can the flavor profiles for those beans. What Taste Artisan Chocolate loves is the variety of flavors that come through in the chocolate when processed well. The true genetic flavors of each bean are what you experience when you enjoy Taste Artisan Chocolate.
The factory utilizes traditional chocolate-making methods and modern technologies that showcase the extraordinary flavor range of the world's best cacao. When you enjoy Taste Artisan Chocolate, the hope is that you experience chocolate in a way that you never have before.
