Taste, a chocolate factory and cafe in downtown Provo, hosted a chocolate-tasting experience on Friday, Jan. 17 to demonstrate how their chocolate is made.
Char and Morgan Coleman originally started the chocolate shop and factory. Taste later began holding these experiences every week to draw customers in and familiarize them with the process of chocolate making, employee Garret Skinner said.
“This place originally started out as just a chocolate shop with the factory, and then to get more publicity they made these events … so that they could get more people to come in and try out chocolate and really try artisan chocolate, because a lot of people aren't really familiar with that type of chocolate, “ Skinner said.
Lauren Petersen and her husband Bryce came from Bluffdale to the event.
“We were looking at date night ideas in Provo and saw this one, and it just sounded really high-end, classy, fancy. So we thought that it would be fun,” Lauren Petersen said.
Friends Christine Hansen and Aimee Thompson attended the event together as a birthday surprise.
“We’re excited to have something different to try and learn more about chocolate,” Thompson said.
The experience began with a tour of the factory. Skinner held up a large cacao fruit and explained to the crowd that the pod is where chocolate comes from.
Skinner then led the crowd through the factory past a series of machines, each with a special job in the chocolate-making process.
The whole process includes fermentation, roasting, grinding, conching, tempering and refining.
“They’re called melangers," Skinner said, gesturing towards the small grinding machines lined up on a table. He added the machines are like an automated version of a mortar and pestle.
The melangers run for several days, grinding the cacao nibs into a paste.
“We call it chocolate liquor,” Skinner said.
After adding other ingredients and additives, each melanger makes about 150 small bars of chocolate, Skinner said.
During the chocolate tasting, the guests were seated in the cafe and each was given a plate containing nine different chocolate samples, as well as some olive oils and vinegars to sample.
“I like to tell people that chocolate has a personality,” Skinner said, while explaining how the chocolate tasting works.
Skinner also explained the background, brand and origin of each morsel before guests tasted them.
"We have people try it out and let it melt in their mouths so that they can really taste the difference in flavor, because ... let's say it's from Ecuador, it's going to be more of an earthy and smoky flavor. When it's from Madagascar, it's going to be more citrusy and acidic, “ he said.
Bryce Petersen appreciated the chance to learn more about the chocolate-making process.
“It was different than what I was expecting,” Bryce Petersen said. “I was just expecting to kind of try some chocolate, which we did, but it was really cool to tour the facility and hear him explain the whole process of making chocolate because I've never known a lot of that stuff.”
Olivia Griffith attended the event on a double date and shared that it was a fun and unique activity compared to just going out for dinner.
“I don't feel like you can find stuff like this in Provo or Utah Valley area, “ Griffith said. “I didn't know we were going to take the tour, but it was fun to learn about the process, and to just try the different chocolates.”
The experience requires a reservation via the Taste website and a $22 fee to attend.