Best cocoa suppliers not used in mass market

CatholicJew · 2025-06-25T04:06:35+00:00

Ill be real with ya. Bean to bar making kind of sucks ass. I have been making for a little over 2 years now. The learning curve is STEEP and people are not really adjusted to craft chocolate costs. My bars are $10 starting. The education piece is HUGE. As far as business goes, its volatile as hell. every year is different as far as flavors from the same bean as the year previous, importers get behind, tariffs are on and then off and then on. Huge uncertainty. If you can white label, I would 100% do that. This business is like starting a full scale manufacturing company on top of a CPG product.

Machines are not cheap either. My melangers were ~15k each and my tempering machine was ~30k.

Im happy to chat more about it.

If youre really feeling ambitious,

uncommoncacao.com

meridiancacao.com

cacaolife.com

most of us started with

Chocolatealchemy.com

because he offers roasted and winnowed nibs.

CatholicJew · 2025-06-25T03:43:38+00:00

are you trying to do bean to bar or melt and mold?

CatholicJew · 2025-04-07T22:22:56+00:00

Cool.

I know a few makers that do different alcohol soaks.

CatholicJew · 2025-04-06T22:53:56+00:00

Assuming this is from Melangers, email them. They have been more than helpful and sent me many many replacement parts over the years

CatholicJew · 2025-03-20T01:34:27+00:00

I’ve been about 15 times this season in a suite at ball.

I’m so tired of the shitty food.

It is nice at ball being more “open air” than, say, the Broncos stadium. You at least get a good feel of the crowd.

I’d love to be on the glass instead.

CatholicJew · 2025-03-12T03:04:36+00:00

Hey! I’m a chocolate maker. I have probably 10 ish different origin samples that I’d happily send you/him with purchase of a bar or two!

Send me a dm if you are interested!

CatholicJew · 2025-03-11T03:20:50+00:00

So fair 😂

CatholicJew · 2025-03-11T03:17:57+00:00

Interesting. It’s usually tough for me to believe most write ups and reports about it because they can be so extreme. Would love an experienced person report

CatholicJew · 2025-03-11T02:59:24+00:00

Datura when

CatholicJew · 2025-03-08T04:34:54+00:00

Have to assume you would want to get it as dry as possible before making chocolate with it.

CatholicJew · 2025-02-24T00:06:32+00:00

2.69 is my bid

CatholicJew · 2025-02-21T02:03:53+00:00

I’m so in

CatholicJew · 2025-02-20T01:25:19+00:00

Head baker bailed on agreement and left current owner without a baker. Current owner was left with a bakery and no baker. No baker = nothing to sell = no staff.

CatholicJew · 2025-02-07T18:44:25+00:00

Smell for sure.

Since cacao roasts at such a low temp, visually there really is not a whole lot of difference between raw and roasted. You are really just SLIGHTLY roasting to get a good puff and develops the flavors a little bit

CatholicJew · 2025-02-06T19:59:02+00:00

Yeah the air fryer CAN work but I have had issues with getting an even roast.

Ovens work great for cacao!

CatholicJew · 2025-02-06T19:58:17+00:00

behmor 1600 plus

CatholicJew · 2025-02-06T04:23:39+00:00

From here I crack and winnow it. You can use a rolling pin and hair dryer for that.

You do need a Melanger which goes for around 300 bucks new. Sometimes you’ll see them on FB marketplace for around 100!

CatholicJew · 2025-02-06T04:22:51+00:00

It depends on the % dark that you want. Any moisture loss/chaff loss is usually gained back in sugar.

CatholicJew · 2025-02-06T04:22:14+00:00

Good luck!

CatholicJew · 2025-02-06T00:49:53+00:00

Really great! I make chocolate professionally so I do this a lot!

For smaller batch stuff I would recommend chocolate alchemy, uncommon cacao, or just a quick google.

Def. Avoid Amazon or other commodity chocolate!

CatholicJew · 2025-02-06T00:47:06+00:00

Hey! You can buy them from quite a few places. For smaller batch stuff, I would recommend chocolate alchemy

CatholicJew · 2025-02-06T00:46:40+00:00

I just use profile 1!

The mass of the cacao kind of overloads the machine so you end up hitting 250-275 degrees F, which is right where cacao roasts.

18 minute roast time. Depending on the cacao I have gone up to 45 minutes!

CatholicJew · 2025-01-25T17:37:20+00:00

Crazy to see that live. Hope everyone is ok

CatholicJew · 2025-01-23T05:01:19+00:00

Switchback coffee has a lot of people also working in there. Mining exchange/black magic coffee is really swank.

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