Process

What the heck is Bean to Bar? Something similar to the phenomenon we see with craft beer: we move away from mass production to opt for a model that values QUALITY, and not quantity. Opposed to what the billion dollar chocolate industry does, we pay fair prices to farmers and producers, because the quality of their crops and the history of their farms deserve it.

Its translation would be "from grain to bar,“ and we could compare it to making tortillas. Is it the same to buy corn, dry it, nixtamalize it and grind it instead of buying a bag of instant dough? Bean to bar is the equivalent of turning an ear of corn into a tortilla.

Ejecutamos y vigilamos TODO el proceso del cacao desde la semilla hasta que se convierte en barra: escoger, tostar, quebrar, pelar, moler-refinar, temperar, enmoldar y empacar.  Nosotros dos personalmente nos encargamos de todas las etapas de CADA barra y así podemos garantizar que lo que llega a sus manos sea exactamente lo que queremos entregar nos encargamos de todas las múltiples y complejas etapas de convertir una semilla de cacao en una barra de chocolate:

1.     Source: those of us who make chocolate from bean to bar deal directly with farmers and cocoa producers, making sure to pay fair prices for their cultivation, which ensure sustainable working conditions for them, and for us cocoa of the highest quality

2.     Selection and Roasting: After removing some seeds that do not pass the quality control, we apply a light roast so that the flavor of each cocoa stands out and prevails.

3.     Break and peel: the seeds are broken into small nuggets (the famous "cacao nibs") and now, with the help of air, we separate them from the thinner shell that covers them

4.     Grind / refine: The melanger, our electric stone mill, is responsible for grinding cocoa and organic sugar to less than 20 microns, so fine that it becomes liquid. Fun fact: from here it is called "chocolate"

5.     Temper: where chemistry reigns as chocolate must be heated, cooled and reheated to specific temperatures to achieve a crystallization of cocoa butter and the characteristics that we love such as being shiny, smooth and brittle.

6.     Mold and pack: the tempered chocolate is poured into the molds, vibrated to remove air bubbles and cooled; then each bar is wrapped and boxed manually to ensure the gentle handling it needs.

We seek to revalue the different flavors that each cocoa contributes depending on the region in which it was grown. Like wine, the flavor of cocoa will be very different depending on its origin (altitude, climate, other crops, etc.) and how it was treated post-harvest (fermentation and drying being the critical point of the process). Little by little we educate our palate, and yours if they allow us, to appreciate the unique flavors that cocoa has from each part of the country.