It is hard to believe I've not offered a basic chocolate making class in 20 year.  I hope to make this and other more in depth ones a more regular thing. This first one I’m giving a small nod to Fathers and Father’s day. Hint hint.

I wonder when beans go out of stock, would it be possible to preserve an archive section with the spider charts, your tasting notes, and roasting notes for these beans?

All markets are built upon the backs of slave labor....until they aren’t

First time maker. We had some issues for sure but the one thing you for sure take for granted is how to work somewhat cleanly, and how to handle liquid chocolate well. We made a serious mess and it was quite a process to get the melanger clean again. So turn that big brain on and dump all your knowledge about working with chocolate and cleaning.  Please be gentle with me.

The new crop of Ecuador Palo Santo has arrived and it is delightfully lively.

I’m not joking around today, we’re talking about a sensitive topic in the Chocolate Industry. Cocoa Moths.

How does latent moisture in your ingredients (like Cocoa beans) change the working properties of your chocolate? Alchemist john ran some experiments to find out.

“A year ago I took a chocolate tasting class from the IICCT.  During a tasting in the class, the instructor said that he tasted a little rancid cocoa butter in one of the samples.  He said that it is something that many of the tasters are starting to notice during some tastings.  So, if rancid cocoa butter is an issue, what temperature are we supposed to be storing it at?”

After such a long and in depth viscosity discussion last week, I think we all deserve a simple speed round of Q and A.

First up, our super popular 'it hardly stays in stock'

The subtle peated umami seems to throw some people for a loop. If it isn’t clear, I love it. Please go check it out!

Piura Blanco Organic 2022 - The aroma is an interesting mix of persimmon and apricot.  

Insert the question of your choice about the big headlines about lead and cadmium in chocolate.

I am opening a chocolate factory and want to make the best chocolate and know price is very important to sales. What is the cheapest bean you have? They must support the farmer. And can you turn them into nibs for me so I don’t need to buy so much expensive equipment.

As promised last week, the two new crops of previous favorites have landed.

Think of this as the start of a FAQ. I also want to note there are some oddly phrased questions below and I’m leaving them as written, not to make fun of anyone as it is pretty obvious they are from folks who do not speak English as their first language and being monolingual myself, I applaud them for writing in. Their English is worlds better than my Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin or Italian.