Origin

There is more to this chocolatey flavor that we have all grown up loving. Cacao beans possess a wide variety of inherent flavors, which vary greatly depending on their origin.


Most people think of chocolate as just one fudgy flavor because the vast majority of cacao used to make chocolate comes from one region that exhibits this flavor: West Africa. The reality is chocolate is one of the most diversely and densely flavored foods in the world, surpassing even coffee and wine. Yep, that's right - there are more flavors in the chocolate world than in your favorite wine shop. Who knew? (Clue: We did!)

Chocolate is layer upon layers of certain flavors. You have the typical chocolatey-fudgy taste we all know and love; then you have other flavors we categorize as Fruity, Nutty, Citrusy, Earthy, and Floral. We'll expand upon each in a minute, yet why are there so many flavors, you ask? Well, just as grapes are to wine, cacao is grown worldwide and picks up its flavor notes depending on its origin.

Each cacao origin has its unique genetics of the cacao plant (fancy people call this varietals). The soil, atmosphere, fermentation, and drying processes are different from origin to origin, all of which highly impact the flavor of the origin's cacao beans. Roasting also has a very high impact on the final taste, just like in coffee, we have light to dark roasting levels across the board.

Finally, we chocolate makers get to work with the cacao on our own to conch, blend and ultimately control the final flavor profile. It's truly an art, and our final product is dependent on the quality of the cacao beans we buy from origins and how we select these various flavors to use when making our chocolate. So, without further adieu, let us dig into each flavor specifically.

Local Partners

While TCHO Source was built to co-create better cacao by working directly with farming partners globally, we certainly don't stop there. We have the same high quality standards when working with farming partners and ingredient suppliers in the United States.

Maisie Jane's
Chico, CA

TCHO has made all kinds of chocolate over the years, from straight-forward to straight-up-funky. And just cause we're going plant-based doesn't mean we'll stop making bars that will dance with your taste buddies.

When we began talking about launching an entirely new line of bars, we knew we had to reimagine our best sellers. We worked with many formulas and tasted a ton of chocolate before we eventually nailed them all. From Mokaccino to Choco Latté, Toffee + Sea Salt to Toffee Time, and Almond + Sea Salt to Aww Nuts!