A local chocolate-maker embraces traditional techniquesPrint this Page
Artisanal chocolate-makers are cropping up all over the country, and the Boston area is lucky to have one right in its midst. Taza Chocolate is located in an office building in the Boston suburb of Somerville. But its mission of handling chocolate production “from bean to bar” means that its work begins much further away: with farming cooperatives in both Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.
Taza sources organic cocoa beans from both countries, explains co-founder Alex Whitmore. The beans are brought to the Somerville headquarters, where Alex and his team make chocolate bars that showcase the cocoa’s complex, natural character.
"We basically want to preserve all the flavors that are inherent in the cocoa beans," Alex explains. That means minimal processing in old-school Mexican stone mills called molinos. Alex learned about traditional chocolate production methods on a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, and was inspired to begin his own career in chocolate. The name "Taza," Spanish for "cup," is a tribute to his experiences south of the border, where chocolate is often drunk, not eaten.
Taza chocolate is fruity, intense and even a bit gritty due to the lack of conventional refining methods. Formaggio Kitchen employees Emily and Morgan recently spent some time with Alex at Taza to get a glimpse of the company’s bean-to-bar process.
1. After the cocoa beans arrive in the U.S., the first step is to roast them. Taza roasts its beans lightly to maintain the cocoa’s natural fruitiness. Until recently, the roasting happened at a facility in Boston, but to keep up with demand, Taza has installed its own roaster at the Somerville headquarters.
Co-founder Alex Whitmore standing with the Taza roaster.
2. "These are what we’re going to grind this afternoon," Alex tells Emily, scooping up a handful of roasted cocoa beans. But before they can be ground, the beans need to be "winnowed," or separated into the nib -- the part of the bean that is used to make chocolate -- and the chaff.
Cocoa nibs.
3. The loud winnowing machine, which is housed in a room on the first floor of the Somerville building, separates beans by size and then gently crushes them. Taza winnows about 200 pounds of cocoa beans a week, Alex says.
The window looking into the winnow machine.
4. The nibs fall from the winnowing machine into buckets. The chaff, which is essentially the shell of the cocoa bean, is commonly used as garden mulch. (Who wouldn’t want a chocolate-scented lawn?)
5. "Bitter, but good," Alex proclaims as we taste some nibs. This is pure chocolate, before any sugar has been added.
6. "This is where we turn the nibs into chocolate," Alex continues, leading us into an upstairs room. This is also where we see more of Taza’s unique chocolate-making machinery. Here, production manager Mike Schechter shows us the molinos -- the old-fashioned Mexican stone mills -- that will grind the nibs into the chocolate "liquor" that is the base of the finished bar.
7. At the heart of the molinos are the stones, which rub together to grind the nibs. Traditional rollers are usually made of steel, Alex explains, which would make the chocolate smoother. The rough surfaces of the stones, which Alex has engraved himself, keep Taza’s chocolate from getting too smooth and helps preserve flavor.
The stones used in Taza's traditional stone mills.
8. The nibs are brought upstairs from the winnowing room, ready to be put through the molino.
9. Because the nibs contain both cocoa solids and fatty cocoa butter, they liquefy when ground -- almost like making peanut butter. This oozy paste is called chocolate liquor.
10. The chocolate liquor is transferred to a refining machine, where organic cane sugar, vanilla beans and a little bit of extra cocoa butter are added. The lower the sugar content, the higher the cocoa -- Taza’s 80 percent bar has the least sugar, for example, while its 60 percent bar has the most.
Mike, working at the refiner.
11. Taza buys vanilla and cinnamon from a biodynamic farm in Costa Rica. The company adds vanilla to all its bars, and cinnamon to its Mexicano discs, which can be used for drinking chocolate or eaten as is. The cinnamon resembles bark and has a mild woody taste.
12. After it is refined, the chocolate is tempered, or carefully melted so it will stay smooth and shiny once it is molded. Mike, who wears headphones to protect against the machine's noise, and colleague Brendan Gannon shape the tempered chocolate into bars and discs...
Mike and Brendan tempering and shaping the chocolate.
13. ...and leave it to cool.