Kohana Chocolate is proud to be known as a true Bean-To-Bar chocolate maker.

More a movement than a method, Bean-To-Bar is a term applied to their products by chocolate makers themselves, skilled, often self-taught artisans, that have discovered the joy and satisfaction of managing every step and stage of crafting fine, nuanced dark chocolate. Sourcing unique, single-origin cacao beans, blending them precisely and subtly with organic cane sugar to capture each cacao’s unique flavour, minutely adjusting and refining processes and procedures, even creating unique, environmentally sensitive packaging, these are the arts and gratifications of the practitioners of the Bean-To-Bar movement.

Sourcing:

Cacao beans come in many varieties and from many regions. Not all are equal. Kohana searches diligently for varieties best suited for Kohaha Chocolate, insisting on only ethically grown, top-grade beans from direct trade producers.

Sorting:

Careful sorting is important to remove any unwanted debris and to eliminate any poor-quality beans.

Roasting:

The roasting process expels or tempers any bitter notes in the cacao while developing and enhancing the chocolate flavour. Roasting initiates complicated chemical processes unique to each bean type, thus each type has its own roast profile. Moisture content of the beans is reduced by the roasting process, and the husk is loosened from the nib.

Cracking:

After roasting, the beans are cooled. Then they are cracked into smaller pieces so that the shells can be separated from the nibs.

Winnowing:

The fractured beans are dropped into a winnowing machine, a device that passes air through a series of pipes. The nibs, being heavier than the shells, are allowed to fall into a container, while the lighter husks are sucked up into a secondary bin. The husks can be used to make cocoa tea, so nothing is wasted.

Refining/Conching:

The melanger is a device consisting of two heavy granite wheels above a stone slab. The cocoa nibs are ground between the wheels and the slab, heat is applied, cocoa butter is released, and the nibs are gradually ground into a fine cacao liquid. This onerous, time-consuming process removes any bitterness or acidity. Kohana Chocolate is conched for up to four days.

Tempering and Molding:

To temper or stabilize the finished chocolate and give it a smooth, glossy finish, successive periods of heating and cooling are applied. Well-tempered chocolate will resist melting and give a perfect snap.