Forum Activity for @Clay

Clay Gordon
@Clay Gordon
08/18/09 17:55:53
1,689 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

I have re-posted the online Chocolate Makers database . It is an Add-Only database, which means you can only add an entry, not edit them. This is an international directory, not just US companies.If you have any questions or comments about an entry, please submit them in this forum so that they can be make public. I will make the changes as they are brought to my attention.
Sacred Steve
@Sacred Steve
08/17/09 15:59:40
116 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Being a micro-batch bean to bar company ourselves, i can vouch for the difficulty in doing HIGH QUALITY bean to bar in the USA without cutting corners while bringing to market a retail price point below $4 which is most of these companies. I don't blame them for not being bean to bar. It seems most grinding is being done offshore these days except for some of the hugely automated stateside comanies with massive infrastructure investment.
Masur
@Masur
08/17/09 15:18:18
31 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Cote dOr is owned by Kraft Food and not a bean to bar company. I've never seen bars from Equal Exchange and Rapunzel. A Check at their websites convinced me they are not bean to bar companies.
ChocoFiles
@ChocoFiles
08/17/09 13:41:12
251 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Does anyone know if any of these companies are bean to bar?-Cote dOr-Equal Exchange-Rapunzel
Clay Gordon
@Clay Gordon
08/14/09 06:51:41
1,689 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

The data are still available but I haven't found a good way to present it and make it both usable and useful. Still working on it.
updated by @Clay Gordon: 09/07/15 14:34:39
ChocoFiles
@ChocoFiles
08/14/09 06:38:37
251 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Clay,You said on 4/28/08-- "I have created a simple database that will enable us to track these companies more easily. It is located here.PLEASE DO NOT ADD ANY MORE COMPANY NAMES HERE. Please add them in the database. If you have added a company to this list, please consider making an entry in the database for it."Is this database still on TCL? The link you provided doesn't go anywhere, and I can't find anything else to get to the database.
Sacred Steve
@Sacred Steve
08/14/09 01:33:44
116 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Hi Samantha, We are looking into the possibility of making our own winnower. Do you have any tips? What sort of volume can your machine do? How much did you spend on it if you don't mind me asking? Are you happy with it?Any help would be much appreciated since there just doesn't seem to be many resources out there on winnowing machine design or even companys that make them for sale.Steve
Sacred Steve
@Sacred Steve
08/14/09 01:29:52
116 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Just for the record, Sacred Chocolate is both a WHOLE BEAN WITH SKIN to Bar company as well as a nib to Bar company. We include the skins of the beans in the chocolate we make for nutritional reasons. The vast majority of the naturally occuring iron in cacao amongst other phyto-nutrients show up in the skins. (just like virtually all the calcium in sesame seeds show up in the skins or husks of the seed). Sometimes we mix processes as well as do single types of processes to achieve both unique flavor an nutritional profiles. We do very "out of the box" chocolate making. We only use raw nibs and raw beans for nutritional reasons. We only stone grind.Steve
ChocoFiles
@ChocoFiles
08/13/09 07:00:21
251 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Are these companies b2b?Cote dOrEqual ExchangeRapunzel
updated by @ChocoFiles: 01/24/15 05:18:20
ChocoFiles
@ChocoFiles
08/13/09 06:57:03
251 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Clay,You said on 4/28/08-- "I have created a simple database that will enable us to track these companies more easily. It is located here.PLEASE DO NOT ADD ANY MORE COMPANY NAMES HERE. Please add them in the database. If you have added a company to this list, please consider making an entry in the database for it."Is this database still on TCL? The link you provided doesn't go anywhere, and I can't find anything else to get to the database.
david castellan
@david castellan
07/18/09 13:06:34
12 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

i heard that they have duplicated all the processes in Illinois, including a new Barth Tornado roaster (very cool!) and a much bigger melangeur made in Russia etci bought some of their equipment from the Berkeley location - one of the roasters and the bean cleaner. if i ever find the appropriate location, it will be set up again along with an old winnower from a Lindt factory in Northern Italy and some other vintage goodies. Maybe that will move me up from microbatch to small batch:)Celebrating 6 years of microbatch chocolate making ....
Alan McClure
@Alan McClure
06/16/09 07:48:03
73 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Let me add that I also don't have proof that they are still bean-to-bar. i don't know one way or the other. I was just pointing out that despite the Berkeley facility being closed, Scharffen Berger is still being made, just in Illinois.
Clay Gordon
@Clay Gordon
06/16/09 06:35:25
1,689 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

I think the jury is out until we have more information. For at least the last couple of years, Hershey has outsourced all liquor production in their Hershey, PA facility.Will they get (or are they already/still) back in the bean roasting and grinding business?Does anyone know for sure one way or another?
Sacred Steve
@Sacred Steve
06/16/09 06:27:07
116 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Oh, ok! I suppose it is really Hershey who is doing the bean to bar then...?
Alan McClure
@Alan McClure
06/16/09 06:25:30
73 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Scharffen Berger's production has been relocated to Illinois by Hershey, who has owned them since 2005 iirc. That doesn't mean that they are no longer bean-to-bar.
Sacred Steve
@Sacred Steve
06/16/09 04:12:02
116 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Sacred Chocolate is a TRUE BEAN TO BAR MAKER in SAN RAFAEL, CA, USA. I know first hand because I built the machines and the whole factory for that matter.Hearts!Sacred StevePS. Scharffenberger Plant recently closed, so you may want to remove them from the list...
Brad Churchill
@Brad Churchill
06/12/09 16:06:20
527 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

I would say so.Not that I'm defending them or anything, but one of the most important processes of making chocolate next to fermentation, is roasting. If they control the roast and processing of the beans they use, I don't really think it makes much difference whether or not they use someone else's equipment.Economically speaking if I had access to the roasting/cracking/winnowing facility to do all of our beans before we shipped them, I'd most likely do the same thing.
Eric Durtschi
@Eric Durtschi
06/12/09 15:05:25
38 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

They do say that they supervise the roast. However, they have claimed that they are a bean-to-bar chocolate maker. Can this be accurate if they use other companies to do a large part of the production. Even if they are "supervising"?
Brad Churchill
@Brad Churchill
06/12/09 14:58:02
527 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

I've read in other online locations that TCHO in fact DOES supervise the roasts. However don't take my written word here at gospel. It's only a regurgitation of my previous research.Having said that, as a chocolate maker myself, I can completely understand the economics behind their decision to roast and process the liquor in the country of origin. Some of the following reasons are:1. Cheap Cheap Cheap Labour2. Big savings in transportation costs (roasted beans weigh less, and processed liquor is as much as 20-25% less than the roasted beans due to no need to ship the shell.3. Disposal costs for shell are non existent4. Equipment costs are less (no destoning equipment, roasters, winnowers, etc etc)The fact that people have seen boxes from other origins may not mean what it appears. I am currently sitting on 3800lb of cocoa butter from Cargill. It's made and boxed in Brazil and labeled in big red letters as a product of Cargill. I also have Callebaut Cocoa butter in my shop. The boxes are labeled as such too. However beside that I also have over 7,000lb of sacked cocoa beans.Just my two cents for what it's worth.Sometimes things aren't all they appear to be - and that saying goes both ways.Regards
Eric Durtschi
@Eric Durtschi
06/12/09 14:46:01
38 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

So I thought this was an interesting new addition to Tcho and their claims of being a bean to bar chocolatier. I have been hearing rumors about this for the past year and, unfortunately, now it looks like it is official. This is taken directly from their website.We generally roast and convert our cocoa beans to cocoa mass (also called cocoa liquor) at the country of origin then import the cocoa mass to our San Francisco factory, where we continue the process of making our chocolate from scratch. While more difficult for us, roasting at origin has many advantages: its more efficient and it creates more "value add" at origin. And we personally manage each individual roast, with one of our San Francisco obsessives traveling to origin to ensure all of our carefully-researched optimum roast times and temperatures are used.Now it sounds to me like they are saying this is a good thing for their chocolate?! What do you think?So what happens at the other factory is:1) bean sorting and cleaning2) roasting (the most important step in flavor development)3) winnowing4) grinding of cocoa nibs into liquor5) molding liquor into blocksThis means that Tcho:1) Sources beans2) Ships them to someone elses factory.3) grinds sugar4) conches5) Molds barsSince there are a lot of companies who make chocolate from liquor, what do we call them? Sugar grinders?Why has it taken Tcho over a year -- this whole time talking about transparency and saying that they do it all -- to make a public statement such as this?I would love if someone who has actually seen Tcho making chocolate comment on this. Ive heard several people say they have been there but never seen the machines operating and that they have seen boxes of cocoa products from Costa Rica. Will the next thing we find out be that they don't make their own chocolate?I would love for someone to tell me that I have this all wrong. Please give any feed back that you may have.
Brad Churchill
@Brad Churchill
06/10/09 09:53:06
527 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Brad Churchill here from Choklat ( www.SoChoklat.com ) in Calgary Alberta.We're definitely a bean-to-bar company.Opened in August 2008, and to date have sold over 10,000 hand made bars, and over 35,000 hand dipped/rolled truffles.
Melanie Flores
@Melanie Flores
06/10/09 08:53:32
2 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

i found a great bean to bar in brooklyn called Mast Brothers.
holycacao
@holycacao
12/22/08 16:05:56
38 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Holy Cacao Chocolate is a bean to bar chocolate maker in Israel (sold 49th and 50th bar today). -We're young still!
Sacred Steve
@Sacred Steve
12/22/08 10:22:34
116 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Sacred Chocolate is a bean to bar maker in the USA.
ChocoFiles
@ChocoFiles
12/22/08 10:06:09
251 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

I'm currently tasting a bar (Ecuador 75%) by Baratti & Milano, an Italian company. It appears that they are fondeurs NOT B2B. Can someone confirm this?
updated by @ChocoFiles: 09/08/15 22:07:35
Sacred Steve
@Sacred Steve
11/13/08 00:27:30
116 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Sacred Chocolate is a Bean to Bar Manufacturer of Chocolate Bars located in San Rafael, CA USA. http://www.SacredChocolate.com
Koa Kahili
@Koa Kahili
10/05/08 14:33:06
7 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Hawaii, KauaiGarden Island Chocolate
Amanda
@Amanda
09/18/08 20:07:09
1 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Here's a new updated list with one more addition: Pacari Chocolate, an Ecuadorian Organic Chocolate:AfricaMalagasy (Madagascar)Claudio Corallo (So Tom)AustraliaHaigh's ChocolatesTavaEuropeAustriaZotterBelgiumBarry CallebautPierre MarcoliniDenmarkCarlettiTomsFranceBernachonBonnatChocolaterie de L'OperaMichel CluizelPralusValrhonaWeissGermanyCoppeneurEuromarHachezHerzaLudwigLudwig WeinrichStorckItalyAmedeiAntica Dolceria BonajutoCioccolato PeyranoDeBondtDomoriDon PuglisiFerreroICAMMajaniVenchiSpainChocovicNatraSwedenMalm ChokladfabrikSwizerlandConfiserie BernerFelchlinUnited KingdomCadbury-SchweppesSir Hans Sloane of LondonNorth AmericaCanadaSoma ChocolatemakerUnited States(On other thread)South America & CaribbeanArgentinaFenixColombiaSantanderEcuadorPacari ChocolateVintage PlantationsGrenadaGrenada Chocolate CompanyNicaraguaEl Castillo del CacaoVenezuelaEl ReyHacienda Bukare
Clay Gordon
@Clay Gordon
08/24/08 09:47:27
1,689 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

I posted a couple of links to less expensive options in a forum thread on Winnowers in the Home Brew Chocolate group. Sam Madell posted a picture of the winnower she mentions below in Photos.
Eric Durtschi
@Eric Durtschi
08/18/08 19:50:32
38 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

How did you do that? I would love to know. As of now I have to pay almost double for them when I get them from different growers. I'd love to try to make my own.
Alan McClure
@Alan McClure
08/18/08 13:37:33
73 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

That is the least expensive cocoa bean winnower being manufactured in the US or Europe--by far. You can find some used machines for less than that, but they'll need quite a bit of work.
Eric Durtschi
@Eric Durtschi
08/18/08 07:54:22
38 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Thanks for the insight. I was just curious as to whether or not he should be added to the list.In his case the reason he uses nibs is that he is a new company and small ans doesn't have the money to buy the winnower yet. Maybe when he gets a little bigger he'll truly become bean to bar.By the way, any idea what a winnower would cost? Do they make small ones. The cheapest I have found is $70,000.
Eric Durtschi
@Eric Durtschi
08/17/08 22:22:10
38 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

The reason I asked is that this guy does just what you mentioned of making chocolate from raw unroasted nibs. Sounds pretty crazy but he is sending me some samples for me to try as I am going to be getting him some of the nibs from a few other countries. I can't wait to try it. So, in this case do you think it qualifies as bean to bar?
Eric Durtschi
@Eric Durtschi
08/17/08 19:55:39
38 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Could a company that starts from nibs be considered bean to bar? I know that is not "bean to bar" but what do you think. I know a company that does this.
ChocoFiles
@ChocoFiles
07/27/08 06:46:11
251 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

As always, thanks for the knowledgeable replies to my LCC question.Now, I'm curious about this one too-- Why is Kraft on this list? What chocolate do they make from bean to bar?
Clay Gordon
@Clay Gordon
07/26/08 08:32:27
1,689 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Lake Champlain is definitely not b-2-b. They are just down the interstate from St Albans VT where Callebaut has a factory. All of the chocolate LCCC uses comes from Callebaut. The clue is to take a look at the origins and percentages.:: Clay
Alan McClure
@Alan McClure
07/26/08 07:12:41
73 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

99.99% sure that they don't.
ChocoFiles
@ChocoFiles
07/26/08 05:56:09
251 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Is Lake Champlain, in Burlington VT, a bean to bar maker?From their website they seem to be, but I'm not sure.
ChocoFiles
@ChocoFiles
07/26/08 05:54:03
251 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

Why is Kraft on this list? What chocolate do they make from bean to bar?
ChocoFiles
@ChocoFiles
07/26/08 05:52:40
251 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

"I don't see World's Finest Chocolate listed here. "What country are they in?
Alan McClure
@Alan McClure
07/15/08 22:13:53
73 posts

Bean to bar chocolate makers


Posted in: Tasting Notes

No. Bean-to-bar requires roasting, winnowing, and grinding the cocoa beans.starting from cocoa liquor would be liquor-to-bar.
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