And how can we argue with that?

Curiosity killed the…chocoholic? But as the story goes something brings them back.

It seems that every corner of the food world has been well and truly explored, with experts bringing the best of the best to every foodie’s door. (Think coffee culture, wine connoisseurs, the flakiest croissants and even chubby steaming hot dumplings).

But for some reason, the best bit about chocolate – a centuries old treat that we all love – has been hidden away and kept out of sight… until now. The first Australian Chocolate Festival highlighted the real heroes of the chocolate world (and it’s not the chocolate bars!)

Bean to bar chocolate is the biggest change the chocolate industry has embraced since the first chocolate bar launched over 150 years ago.

For 130 years, chocolate has been made the same way, using the same ingredients and following a (dare we say) relatively bland philosophy where chocolate that is fine in texture, is king. The big chocolate factories have tweaked the process to bring us the smoothest (not the most flavourful) chocolate we’ve ever tasted. What they’re missing is the effort to create and highlight the best ingredients – the cocoa bean.

And that’s what we got to see at the first Australian Chocolate Festival.

Here are the heroes reviving chocolate, one bean at a time:

Hero #1: The Cocoa Farmers

Chocolate would not exist without the cocoa bean. It’s as simple as that. In time, we’ll cover cocoa farmers and everything they do in much greater detail.

For now, the main thing is that cocoa bean / cacao bean farming AND harvesting is an art form. While science can give the correct basis to grow and harvest the beans needed to make chocolate, the art form is when the farmer is given the means to go beyond the bare minimum and create flavours in the beans. Instead of simply harvesting and passing the beans onto the big chocolate factories, these farmers can take their time and artfully ferment the beans and dry the beans before they’re used to make flavorful chocolate. (This unfortunately has not been a priority of the big chocolate factories for the last 130 years).

The Australian Chocolate Festival took the most crucial step in the bean to bar world, and that was introducing the public to the farmers. It’s a rare opportunity to meet the people that create the very thing we love, let alone have full blown conversations about how they started, how the farm has been passed down generation from generation and how they’ve found ways to make sure their cocoa beans lend the best flavors to bean to bar makers.

We can’t emphasize this enough.

Hero #2 The Chocolate Makers

Now this group of people are on a whole other level of special. Australian newspaper The Age wrote an amazing article on how Australia’s chocolate makers have come from different fields of work, and how their love of ethical chocolate has led them to work directly with the farmers to make chocolate from scratch. (Rather than buying chocolate in its basic solid form, only to be melted and remolded again to form a “new” chocolate bar).

But this article may have missed their most heroic factors:

• Instead of sitting back and allowing chocolate to be dominated by the big chocolate factories, bean to bar makers are intentionally breaking the mold and are making chocolate adventurous once again.
• Instead of settling and making the same chocolate bar over and over again for decades, bean to bar makers focus on the origin of the bean and find methods to make that particular bean taste phenomenal.
• And instead of pouring their effort into marketing budgets, they place their focus on the farmers and their communities to make them equals in the process.

These bean to bar makers aren’t huge businesses. Some even started out as curious chocolate eaters, which very quickly spiraled into a passion. At the Australian Chocolate Festival, we met these individuals, talked about how they got involved, all the manual steps they follow to craft their bars and the battle ahead to make sure they can continue to make the best small batch chocolate. The list of tasks these makers do is endless, and we’re in awe of everything they’ve crafted in such a short span of time.

Here’s a taste of some of the chocolate handcrafted by some very talented makers:

And finally Hero #3 The Chocolate Eaters

For a different perspective, I’m going to say hi! It’s Steph here (and I’m obviously a chocoholic). And I’m introducing myself because I’m one of these – a “Chocolate Eater”.

I was lucky to help out and attend the festival. Over an intense 48hrs of chocolate festival-ing, from setup to pack down, you could see the room shift from hosting people that “just ate chocolate” to —-> hosting and breaking bars with curious chocolate lovers.

And there were two tell tale signs:

1. The chocolate sampling process slowed down. Instead of scoffing and moving on, you could see the consideration. You could see the “what does this one taste like?” moment for each bar sampled.
2. (And my favorite) The crowd started asking “where do your beans come from?”. This question is all I could ask for. It shows that the end to end chocolate making process, from bean to bar, was less unknown. And by the end of the day it wasn’t just something we were familiar with, it was something we wanted to know.

The bean to bar movement has really taken off in the last 20(ish?) years.

And while it’s a shame it hasn’t had it’s fair share of the limelight, it’s making it’s way around the world. There are hundreds of small batch bean to bar makers worldwide who have also been swept up by the wonderful world of craft chocolate. And what unites them is the satisfaction they find in what they’ve set out to do. There are also so many farmers that are working with these makers to improve their farming and harvesting process so they too can help bring us flavourful chocolate. They just need more curious chocolate eaters.

It’s rare to take part in a food discovery expedition that’s so familiar yet so mind-blowingly different. And it’s even more rare to be a part of a community that is so passionate, that is driven by curiosity and that is supported by a foundation of equality. Oh… and that’s covered in chocolate. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

A Huge Thank You

Before I sign off, I want to say a huge thanks to everyone that came together and made this festival a success – the farmers, the makers and the eaters. The first Australian Bean to Bar Chocolate Festival sold out and it was a MASSIVE day. A very special thanks to the wonder that is Debb Makin, of Ratio Cocoa Roasters, who took on the mammoth task of bringing together a CONTINENT of chocolate makers and eaters, and who generously (and crazily) expanded that out to even more amazing farmers and makers from our tropical neighbouring countries. Debb and the committee did an amazing job – and it’s all because it was done with care, from the bean up!

For those of you that missed out – here’s a list and links to all the farmers and makers that made this day possible:

(Note that a “list” doesn’t do it justice. Each one brings their own big personality to the craft chocolate world and you have to meet them to see their flair in action! Think people that are unbelievably creative, people that instantly make you feel like family, and people so levelheaded and laid-back that nothing cracks them (must be the endorphins). Oh and there’s definitely some fun-loving troublemakers in the mix too). Who have you met?

Cocoa Producers and Suppliers

• Cocoa Supply (Gold Coast, QLD): https://cocoasupply.au/
• The Cocoa Provider (Brunswick, VIC): https://thecocoaprovider.com.au/
• Makira Gold (Solomon Islands): https://makiragold.com/
• Gaston Chocolat (also a Bean to Bar Maker) (Vanuatu): https://www.gastonchocolat.com/

Bean to Bar Makers & Retailers – Australia

• Ratio Cocoa Roasters (Brunswick, VIC): https://ratiococoa.com.au/
• Mork Cacao Artisans (Melbourne, VIC): https://www.morkchocolate.com.au/
• Chocolat Philippe: (Sydney, NSW): https://www.chocolatphilippe.com/
• Cailo (Perth, WA): https://www.cailochocolate.com/
• Spencer Cocoa (Mudgee, NSW): https://www.spencercocoa.com.au/
• Living Koko (Ravenhall, VIC): https://www.livingkoko.com/
• Two Lost Pilots (Bayswater, WA): https://twolostpilots.com.au/
• Mindful Cacao (Melbourne, VIC): https://mindfulcacao.com.au/
• Chocolate by Peter M (Barossa Valley, SA); https://chocolatebypeterm.com.au/
• Cuvee (Carrum Downs, VIC): https://cuveechocolate.com.au/
• Wembley’s Chocolate Makers (Sydney, NSW): https://www.wembleys.com.au/
• Kiama Chocolate Company (Kiama, NSW): https://kiamachocolatecompany.com.au/
• Bean.Bar.You (Retailer – Sydney, NSW): https://beanbaryou.com.au/
• Cacao About Town (Chocolate Tastings – Melbourne, VIC): https://www.instagram.com/cacaoabouttown/

Bean to Bar Makers & Retailers – New Zealand

• Coromandel Chocolate (Whangamata, New Zealand) : https://www.coromandelchocolate.co.nz/
• Baron Hasselhoffs (Wellington, New Zealand): https://baronhasselhoffs.com/

Bean to Bar Makers & Retailers – Indonesia

• Jika Chocolate: https://jikachocolat.com/
• L’Ile Chocolate: https://lilechocolate.com/
• Chocolate Monggo: https://chocolatemonggo.com/
• Onuka: https://onukachocolate.com/
• Primo Chocolab: https://primochocolab.id/
• Pipiltin Cocoa: https://www.pipiltincocoa.com/
• Kalimajari: https://www.instagram.com/kalimajaribali/
• Titian: https://yayasantitian.org/

If you have any questions at all – please shout out. I’m always happy to chat chocolate.

Thanks heaps for talking beans with me and hopefully I’ll see ya soon!

Steph

Where to next?

Well if you’re new, we recommend:

And if you’re curious, we recommend:

And if you’re still not so sure, check out what events or makers are in your area:

Talk Beans with us!