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Aside from constantly nibbling on fresh chocolate, one of the many things I appreciate about working here is that we‘re telling a different story about chocolate than you might typically hear: the story of flavor. While most of us think of chocolate as having one flavor, in actual fact, pure chocolate can have any of a kaleidoscope of flavors, depending on the cacao's genetics and terroir, as well as how it was harvested, fermented, dried, roasted, and conched. Much like wines or coffees can have different primary flavor notes, (some are particularly nutty; others can be particularly fruity), our chocolate is categorized by its primary flavor—flavor that is inherent to the cacao bean. No fruits or nuts added.

This is a different approach than many specialty chocolate companies have taken. Specialty dark chocolate is typically classified either by cocoa percentage and/or by origin country. From a customer's perspective, neither classification accurately tells us what the chocolate will taste like.

Cacao percentage has no standard definition – a 65% cacao can be 50% cacao solids and 15% cocoa butter, or it can be 65% cacao solids with no added cocoa butter; each formulation creates a very different flavor and mouthfeel.

Meanwhile, having an origin label on your chocolate bar also doesn‘t translate into a consistent flavor. Within a single country, different regions might have different genetic varieties of cacao, or different climactic and soil conditions – yielding very different flavors. An Ecuador chocolate from one region can have nutty flavor notes and from a different region have floral flavor notes.

In simple terms, with both of these classifications, you can't know what your chocolate will taste like until you taste it. But in the heart of all of us foodies, is a distinctive palate, right? We all like different things. And we make our food purchase decisions based on the flavor profiles we prefer. I like medium roasted, full-bodied coffee from Sumatra over bright, more acidic coffee from Guatemala. You might like Cabernet over Chardonnay.

We use a flavor spectrum as a guide in sourcing our cacao beans. Then, we "tune up" a specific flavor as we craft our chocolate from scratch—with meticulous attention to roasting, conching, and finishing. The result is a line of distinctive tasting chocolates from all over the world—a celebration of the diverse flavors of pure dark chocolate.

We'd love to hear what you think of this approach.