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Fair Trade Store
> Chocolates > Taza Chocolates
> About Us
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Taza
Chocolates
Organic, 100% Stone Ground, Fair Trade
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 Taza is a true bean-to-bar chocolate maker located in Somerville, Massachusetts, and is the only maker of 100% stone ground chocolate in the United States. Taza sources organically grown cacao beans directly from small farmer cooperatives ensuring those farmers receive more than fair trade prices for their high quality cacao. Taza is one of the few independently owned, socially and environmentally responsible chocolate makers in the country.
Taza's chocolate making process is designed to capture the true flavor of the cacao bean by minimally processing the chocolate every step of the way. By putting care into the entire process, from the sourcing of ingredients from our proud farmers, to molding finished chocolate bars, Taza is dedicated to quality, and to serving our customers, our local communities, and the environment. |
What makes stone ground chocolate different:
 1.
We keep the bean in the bar - By minimally processing our chocolate, we are able to maintain all of the incredible flavors that are inherent in cacao beans. A great range of fruity and nutty flavors can be found in every bean and in every one of our chocolate bars.
2. This chocolate is food, not candy - Taza Chocolate's unique texture comes from our antique Mexican stone mills. Each millstone is hand dressed to bring out the maximum flavor potential from the cacao beans giving our chocolate the appeal of real food, not just candy.
3. Full Flavor Roasting - The light color of Taza chocolate is indicative of our gentle roasting and high quality beans. Our roasting process preserves the beans natural flavor and healthful properties. |
How we source our ingredients:
 1. Direct Trade - By working directly with small farm cooperatives, Taza is able to pay a substantial premium above Transfair
(FairTrade) prices for our high quality organic cacao beans. We support having that direct relationship with all our ingredient suppliers and are committed to Slow Food ingredient sourcing principles.
2. Organic sustainability - By buying organic and biodynamic ingredients, we are cultivating a sustainable business and future for our planet. By keeping our supply chain simple (from the farm to us to you) we minimize our carbon footprint.
Taza Chocolate is:
- 100% stone ground
- small batch
- minimally processed
- made with all organic ingredients
- made with direct trade cacao beans
- origin verifiable |
 Bean to
Bar
Our chocolate is unlike any other chocolate. You want to know how we do it? Simple greatness equals naturally complex goodness.
Cacao Beans
It all starts in a Tree, and that tree doesn't grow in New England.
As chocolate makers in Somerville, MASS, we couldn't get too far without the farmers who tend to and harvest cacao in Central and South America. Like a vinter is to wine, their mastery of cacao bean fermentation defines our chocolate. We couldn't be Taza without them. That's why we trade directly with small farming cooperatives, who receive a higher than fair trade price for their cacao. |
Roast
Lighter is better - if you want to retain the natural flavor of the bean. And we do. We keep the bean in the bar, whether it is fruity, nutty or something else altogether (you tell us!). We light roast our beans to retain the fermented goodness that our farmers worked so hard to evolve and perfect. |
Winnow
(This step is for the machine geeks out there.
)
Winnowing is the process of removing the chaff, or shell, from the cacao bean. (Think of the skin on a peanut). Once the shell is removed, the bean naturally breaks into small pieces, called cacao nibs. The shell (or chaff) goes on to be used as ground cover by local gardeners or is shipped off to tea companies and breweries.
It isn’t simple. It involves blowing air, relative density, conveyors, traps, chutes and motors. Luckily we found a winnower in the Domincan Republic that never fails to impress us. |
Stone Grind
This is where cacao becomes Stone Ground Chocolate. We use two
Molinos, which are traditional Mexican stone grinding mills, to transform cacao nibs into chocolate liquor. By minimally processing the cacao with stone mills, we can maintain all the goodness and flavor of the tropical cacao tree. This is our favorite part! |
Refine
We continue our stone ground process in our two stone roll refiners, which are used to reduce the particle size of the sugar we mix into the chocolate and transform it into an eating chocolate. (skip this step for
mexicanos!) |
Mould & Hand Wrap
This step doesn’t need much explanation. The finished chocolate is deposited into moulds, cools and is then wrapped by hand. Only to be quickly unwrapped and enjoyed by happy, healthy Taza Chocolate lovers! Yum. Eat often for health and happiness. |
No
Conching, you say?
For any of you chocophiles reading this page, you might notice that we don't
conche. Conching is a part of the chocolate manufacturing process that intensely works the chocolate mass to round out the cacao particles and mellows the flavor by releasing some of the more volatile acids and fruity flavor components. We skip this step in order to preserve the texture of our chocolate and to hold in as many natural flavors of the beans as possible. We make some of the most pure and intensely flavored chocolate in the world, and we aim to keep it that way! Minimally processed, organic, stone ground chocolate. The way it used to be! |
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 Sustainability
(We're Green)
We don’t just think green, we are green. That sounds about as hokey as you can get, but when we were thinking about it, we started to list off all of the ways we are obviously green: direct trade, supporting organic and biodynamic farming, our involvement in Go Green!, a local green business association, and donating bean chaff to Groundworks Somerville, a local community gardens organization.
Recycling
All of the corrugated boxes and paper generated by our business is reused or recycled. Our packaging is made with 20-100% post consumer recycled materials.
Energy Efficiency
Though we are operating a factory, we use compact fluorescent bulbs and conserve power however we can throughout our operation.
Packaging
All of our product packaging is fully recyclable.
Direct Trade
By buying our cocoa beans directly from small, organic farmer cooperatives, we are able to ensure that a higher than Fair-Trade price is paid to the farmer in exchange for higher quality beans.
Local
We love Somerville! Whenever possible we work with local businesses and have many vendors who are right here in
beantown. For our local deliveries we utilize the New Amsterdam Project, a cargo bicycle delivery service, to bring our chocolate to the many retail outlets in the greater Boston area. |
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