The Cocoa Forge
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ABOUT
THE COCOA FORGE

Stoneground, bean-to-bar, artisan chocolate ~ crafted locally
of heirloom and fine-flavor cacao varietals;
direct-sourced from vigilant farmers around the equator.
Responsibly Farmed
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Reverently Processed
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Respectfully Presented
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The Adventure Begins
Adventure statement: Seek out the world's most extraordinary, rare and exquisite responsibly grown cacao, direct-sourced from smallholder farms around the equator.  Reverently craft this "food of the gods" into the purest form of chocolate possible.  Respectfully present it with candid frankness and transparency. 

The Cocoa Forge is a small factory crafting stoneground, bean-to-bar chocolate
with rare heirloom and fine flavor cacao.

 First, I should define a couple things: a chocolatier is someone who sources their preferred chocolate and makes wonderful sweets with it like truffles and confections.  A chocolate maker, particularly one identifying themselves as "bean-to-bar", sources cocoa beans (AKA cacao) around the equator then takes it through all the steps to becoming chocolate: sourcing, evaluating, testing, shipping, sorting, roasting, cracking, winnowing, grinding, refining, conching, tempering, moulding, wrapping and packaging.  At The Cocoa Forge, the chocolate making process is even further nuanced and specialized - all of my chocolate is made from "heirloom" (less than 1% of all the beans grown in the world) and "fine-flavor" beans (about 5 to 7% of the worlds harvest) sourced from responsible small-holder farmers and cooperatives in micro-lots.  All of my chocolate is slowly stone-ground, minimally refined and minimally sweetened resulting in intense, flavorful chocolate that has its personality and particular uniqueness to its origin and varietal left intact.  This is as close as I can get to when chocolate was considered truly special. 
Before commercialization, chocolate was thought to be more precious than gold; and in fact used as currency (still is in remote areas).  It was used to pay taxes and tributes to the heads of state.  It was present at every birth, death and wedding ceremony.  Wars were fought over prime growing lands.  The cocoa pod and chocolate made from its seeds so resembled the human heart and human blood and they were publicly used as symbolic religious offerings and in homes and places of worship, placed upon the altars. Traveling merchants carried cocoa beans on their backs for thousands of miles - it has been found in the tombs of kings and royalty as far away as Pueblo Bonito.  Cool beans, right?
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The chocolate pool is vast.  It is deep, dark and mysterious.
Are you ready to jump into the deep end?  

The Cocoa Forge is an artisan, micro-batch chocolate factory crafting rare heirloom and fine-flavor cacao varietals into stoneground, bean-to-bar chocolate.

Stay tuned in and sign up for our newsletter - we are excited to share our cacao varietal discoveries!
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OUR PROCESS: A PHOTOJOURNAL FROM
THE COCOA FORGE

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.....AND that's how it's done!
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MORE ABOUT
the COCOA forge

The Spirit of the Forge
Meet the Founder
Cycle of Discovery
Cacao by Sail
FAQs
CF Network
Our turn in the limelight...
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For the Love of Making Chocolate:
Micelli Interviews The Cocoa Forge

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Interview with The PT Leader:
'It Was Like a Lightbulb Moment'

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Forging Ahead With Beans and Bars: Peninsula Daily News Interview with Diane Urbani de la Paz

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Bitter & Sweet:
Cocoa Forge  offer unique hand-crafted chocolate
PT Leader Getaway Guide 2020


The Spirit of the Forge
Meet the Founder
Cycle of Discovery
Cacao By Sail
FAQs
The Cocoa Forge Network
A Chocolate Meditation
Shipping
Farms, Regions & People
Weights and Measures
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Chocolate.
The slowest food of all...
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The Cocoa Forge
234 Monroe St
Port Townsend, WA 98368

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Copyright © 2022 The Cocoa Forge.
All rights reserved.

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