Process

 

 

Sorting

We get up close and personal with the cocoa beans and sort them by hand to remove flats, cracked beans and beans harmed by machetes during harvest.

Roasting

The beans are then roasted to loosen the shell and begin the process of maximizing the inherent flavours in each bean.

Cracking

The whole bean needs to be cracked to extract the flavourful heart of the bean called a nib so that the shell of the bean can be removed.

Winnowing

Winnowing separates the papery shells from the cracked nibs. If left in, the shell can impart undesirable bitter and harsh flavours. These shells make great additions to various Spinnakers Beer and Sheringham Distillery Chocolate Vodka.

Refining

Next the whole bean is ground down to a very fine consistency. It is during this stage that pure cane sugar is introduced, the only additional ingredient in our single origin chocolate bars.

Conching

Conching eliminates any remaining impure flavours, and allows the subtle, unique flavours of each bean to shine. Friction and heat do the work.

Tempering