The Chocolate Garage

Your guide to happy chocolate. Visit us at The Chocolate Garage

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How to find more Happy Chocolate going forwards...

OCTOBER 2018                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Greetings Sweet Garagistas, It has been a while since I wrote. I hope the chocolate bars you bought up before we closed have been lasting you, as I have been taking some time to breathe, enjoy quiet and bring my full presence to time with my kids. Who knew even homework, baking and cooking can be so much fun, if you are free and satisfied in the other areas of your life! I was waiting to hear about a new source for Momotombo before sending you an email on how to get your favorite Happy Chocolate bars that we used to bring you at The Chocolate Garage, but I think that may take some time, to work out a new importer, we were the only ones bringing it in... but I can still point you at the places I recommend and where you might end up seeing Momotombo, and you can keep an eye out yourselves. I will say that I may not do justice to my peers who sell craft chocolate, since I don't buy retail bars from my colleagues, so you can look that up yourself to see if they are willing to ship, but here is a short list of the close by shops I know and admire, who sell mostly Happy Chocolate (and some I wouldn't consider Happy) that you can frequent. Locations closest to home, I won't go into the whole country: Chocolate Covered and Fog City News in San Francisco. Dandelion Chocolate where you can visit their factory, buy their bars and all kinds of other pastries and cookies that are using their chocolate. Chocolat Maya in Santa Barbara. Chocolopolis (Seattle), Cacao Portland, Monsieur Marcel, Farm Shop LA. As for specific makers... Patric Chocolate, our all time favorite maker of both plain single origin and fanciful inclusion bars, you can sign up for his notice to hear when he makes his http://patric-chocolate.com/store/ known, and you can also find his online shop at this same link. I recommend signing up for his newsletter, because he doesn't have a traditional online store. Also, if you want to learn more about Alan McClure and how he sees the world of food and chocolate, you can listen to our latest episode of Unwrapped, my podcast co-hosted with Brian Beyke of Abandon Coffee. I know of no other nearly two hour interview that leaves you feeling like you now have an inside look at the perfectionist that is Alan McClure of Patric Chocolate. in addition to being a great chocolate maker, one of the greatest I would venture to say, he is also a dear friend. CRAFT MAKERS Charm School Chocolate, Fruition Chocolate, Ritual Chocolate, Sirene Chocolate, Arete Fine Chocolate, Letterpress Chocolate, Maverick Chocolate, Rogue Chocolatier, Askanya Chocolaterie, Bar au Chocolat, Castronovo, Dandelion, Dick Taylor, Lillie Belle, Lonohana Estate Chocolate, Manoa Chocolate, Marou Chocolate, Michael Mischer, Potomac, Pump Street, SOMA Chocolate, The Smooth Chocolator.... ALL OF THE ABOVE are bars best purchased direct from the maker. You can look up their websites and select away. Buying direct from the maker, especially if you can consolidate a larger order and make it worth their time to send you package of many bars, is the best way to support small makers. Many offer reduced prices on shipping if you buy above a certain amount of chocolate. I would go into a longer conversation on how this works business wise, and the channel conflict it creates, and the importance of small makers being loyal to their stores who ideally (good stores who do the work, like The Chocolate Garage) do a lot to educate and build up their brand, but guess what? That would probably take half an hour... maybe I will discuss this in a podcast episode. And wait for the right timing, most of us are still more concerned with saving money, short sighted behaviour and convenience rather than thoughtful empowered behaviour, so I will wait until the time is more ripe... CHOCOSPHERE The only US distributor that I will whole heartedly embrace and stand behind is Chocosphere. I have worked with them since I started in 2004, and it's rather astonishing to say this, but NEVER, in all my years working with them, has Jerry and team *ever* let me down. It is perhaps sad to say that it is refreshing and remarkable these days to have a 14 year track record with a business who always moves with the most integrity, highest customer service, and diligence that Chocosphere embodies and lives. Here is what you can find on Chocosphere, be not fooled by their old fashioned website. The substance is there and that is what matters. Some of the Garage favorites that we have always bought from Chocosphere include: Chocolat Bonnat, Francois Pralus, Grenada Chocolate Company, Ritual Chocolate, Belvie, Domori Chocolate, FELCHLIN chips, Original Beans, SIBU Chocolate, and hopefully, soon, MOMOTOMBO! MOMOTOMBO UPDATE Carlos was here a couple of weeks ago, and he brought some new bars he has been experimenting with, to taste in a small group in my home. It was so lovely to see him, and he and his dad then headed up to Seattle, stopping in on Jerry at Chocosphere to solidify their relationship, learn more about each other and hopefully begin a relationship. Carlos also went to Chocolopolis where Lauren has taken on some of his bars. Nicaragua remains in a very difficult place, but Carlos assured me that the reason Momotombo was still open was thanks to our Chocolate Garage community efforts. So thank you to all who came in and snapped up plenty of Momotombo on the day we said we would send all the proceeds to Nicaragua, it ended up being $9,000 in sales, and we sent all $9,000. I will admit that right about now, I may fantasize momentarily about how nice it would be to have an additional few thousand in my pocket, as my travel business is paused for personal reasons, and there is no revenue in the near term, but I also know that this was exactly the spirit of why The Chocolate Garage existed, and let's be real, even as a single mom in Palo Alto, life here is nothing if not safe, beauty filled and bubble like-- nothing like what it is to live in Nicaragua in this moment. These days I am loving wandering the market to get my favorite escarole, kabocha squash, collards, walnuts and apricots from Ginger and Gilbert, and hanging with Oscar of High Note Coffee, while he serves up coffee to market goers. It is glorious to not be pouring so much into The Chocolate Garage after so many years, and getting to enjoy the market with all of you. ORIGIN TRIPS & DOCUMENTARIES I am holding off on the Brazil trip I had pre-announced for later this year, but I am hoping that we can still manage a trip to Costa Rica in May 2019. If you are interested in more information about Costa Rica as it comes together, please email me. I will add you to the list and send out more information as it starts to come together. SWITZERLAND I am very excited to be getting back to putting the finishing touches on our documentary on the surprisingly inspiring chocolate scene in one of my homelands: Switzerland. No, Nestlé and Lindt did not exactly inspire me, but there are some beautiful new efforts and a fantastic much older company (Felchlin!) that really impressed me with their visions for cacao and chocolate. I love breaking rules, in fact if you tell me I can't do something, I will probably go out and prove you wrong, not always the greatest trait, but I do admire others who don't let our current limited world view keep them from dreaming up something better. And that is exactly what Choba Choba, Garcoa and Felchlin are doing... full movie soon! Alright y'all, I will sign off now. I have many ideas bubbling up about what comes next, I will use this newsletter to keep you posted and share new amazing makers that I discover and want to share with you... Also, I found this article, if true, extremely uplifting and powerful, the idea that a mistreated worker in China who is working under appalling conditions has hope that if we (the buyers) knew what we were buying, we could make different choices... I suppose most folks might find this paralyzing and depressing, but I see this as a sign of the new awareness we will slowly get tuned into, and hopefully we will start to live our lives more consciously, be it Happy Chocolate, or how we buy purses. I think we are one step closer to the day that we will be able to look more honestly at our own domestic prison labor system and bring change there too. On that hopeful and optimistic note, I bid you adieu, I am off to go see a dear friend who I originally met through The Chocolate Garage, carrying a bottle of Prosecco that was gifted to me by another dear friend who I met through The Chocolate Garage, for an afternoon of sharing, eating, laughing and maybe some tears too! All signs of a rewarding life, fully embraced. So much happy chocolate-ey-ness to you all! Sunita                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

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Momotombo Benefit: Tomorrow!

August 17, 2018

Open hours Saturday 9 am - 1pm.

Dear Chocolate loving folk, Here we are, another Friday, another end of the week. My second last weekly newsletter, after an 8 year stretch! The picture above is our first trip that we did, to Nicaragua, with all of us piled into Giff's truck at La Dahlia farm. What a great trip that way. So much has changed in Nicaragua since then... Momotombo needs our help moving all the inventory they sent us for safe keeping. The more we can move tomorrow, the more money we can send them, and not have to send it back when we close. MOMOTOMBO Those of you who are local, please come in tomorrow to take part in our Momotombo special. We have always cared for our dear friends in Managua, who make amazing chocolate and are part of building a kinder world. And now their situation is dire, and one of the ways we can help is by buying lots of Momotombo tomorrow! Tomorrow, we will be selling only Momotombo, nothing else, and we will also be sampling Momotombo so you can fall in love with your favorites. How will that help? Well, all the money we bring in tomorrow, every single dollar you spend, is going to go straight to Momotombo. We are not taking any profit or margin for the cost of operating tomorrow, we are simply totaling our sales tomorrow and wiring that directly to them, so they can keep their factory going, while they get back up on their feet. As many of you may know, I don't usually have specials, or amazing bargains in order to move product, longer story there about how this is what I call pressing the "greed" button, and I don't want to be part of that way of moving, but in our efforts to move as much Momotombo as possible tomorrow, we are going to offer certain deals! I will not benefit in any way from this, other than a great sense of pleasure to know that our chocolate community here helped Momotombo. BUY 4, get the 5th one free! If you buy 4 of any format (small box, small bar, large bar, large box) we will give you the fifth one free! So, for the small boxes, that are $24, you will save the equivalent of $6 per box, if you buy four. For the 80 gram, $16 bars, you will save $4 a bar, they will be $12 instead of $16. I think you get the point. ONLINE: We are applying the same deal online, so those of you who are far away, or can't come in tomorrow, here is your chance to try out this wonderful chocolate maker from Nicaragua.  Our store is not set up to show you the deal on our website, but if you order 4 boxes, we will throw in a fifth box for free, for all orders placed anytime between now and before Monday August 20th, by noon. You can check out our online site here! RAFFLE FOR MOMOTOMBO In addition, my kids who know Nicaragua from their two visits there, and are friends with Carlos' kids, are holding a raffle! They will be selling tickets outside of The Chocolate Garage, and you can fill out a ticket with your name and email, and we will draw the lucky chocolate winners at the end of the day. They will explain all the details to you, what the prizes are, and how the ticket purchases work. ALL the money from the raffle will also be added to what we send to Momotombo. Please go ahead and buy a few tickets, make them do some math, and learn that they can also take part in helping shape our world. CHOCOLATE MAKING WORKSHOPS & TASTINGS Carlos will be coming up to the Bay Area to host some chocolate making workshops and chocolate tasting events. So, you will get a chance to learn more about traditional uses of cacao in Mesoamerica, medicinal uses, plant medicine in combination with cacao, and also more in depth chocolate making workshops. Stay tuned, the tastings would start this fall, and the workshops will begin early next year. A perfect holiday gift for a loved one, a workshop to learn all the ins and outs of making chocolate. More on that in future newsletters! THE CHOCOLATE GARAGE CLOSING 8/25 August 25th will be our last day. I announced last week that we would be closing, as we didn't quite make it to our donor goal, for all those of you who got on board to donate to "save The Chocolate Garage" however big or small your donation, thank you so much. It helped keep us open for July and August. We will terminate the autopay at the end of the month, so you won't be charged going further. Next weekend, our last Saturday (8/25) we will sell all of what is left, including any leftover Momotombo and then we will be closing our doors. I will keep sending out a periodic (monthly?) newsletter, and in next week's newsletter, I will also point all of you to where you can keep finding all the favorites that you have discovered at The Chocolate Garage. I will include links to places to buy, that I have found to be great partners to work with, and in line with Happy Chocolate values. Ok, I think that covers it! Enjoy your evening and weekend! Sunita

Here is my friend and ever inspiring and visionary Carlos Mann, of Momotombo Chocolate. This interview in the Nicaragua documentary is one of my favorite parts of the film. 

We are getting closer and closer with our Switzerland choco-doc! We are reviewing it again, after some time to get a fresh perspective in India and Brazil... stay tuned! 

[thechocolategarage]

Important Happy Chocolate News!

Open from 9 am to 1 pm, Saturday only. August 10, 2018

Dear Garage-goers! And other far flung, chocolate loving humans!

Lots to pack into this week's newsletter, many things I have been wanting to cover now for many weeks, but wasn't sure how to share it all with you. Here is a little preview of the topics covered in this newsletter, feel free to scroll and skip sections:

Tomorrow's Tastes

Kickstarter for Tinker Kitchen

Momotombo Day August 18th

Last Day August 25th

Where to buy Happy Chocolate going forward...

Tomorrow's Tastes

Momotombo 72% Single Origin dark

Baianí Mild Roast 70%

Sibu Chai bar

Askanya Wanga Neges

Tomorrow we'll be tasting two plain darks and two flavored bars, we may also break open a Francois Pralus Infernale bar, with Praline and Hazelnuts... We only have about 16 of these very large bars left, so there will be a sample bar for those who come taste early, and 15 left to snap up before they disappear.

Kickstarter for a wonderful local start up!

Check out Dan Mill's beautiful community building Tinker Kitchen, just opening in the Mission district of San Francisco, a place to go if you love to eat and love to learn how to do magic with food! Have you ever wondered how to roast coffee? Or cook sous vide? Or wanted to learn how to make ice cream with liquid nitrogen?

I met Dan many years ago, as he was passionately building a small community here locally, around tinkering with food and food equipment. Many of you already met him years ago here at The Chocolate Garage, even if not, I encourage you to support this lovely project that is about building community and learning how to make food with restaurant calibre equipment. Dan's vision is to create a space that is like a "kitchen playground", I think of it as like a Tech Shop for food making. There are various ways to get engaged, buy a year's membership, sign up for a class, or become a founding  member. Go get more info at the Tinker Kitchen Kickstarter page!

Momotombo Day Saturday August 18th

I have been contemplating how to best serve Momotombo as Nicaragua goes through these difficult times that don't seem to be coming to an end anytime soon. We had planned to close end of May 2018, but instead stayed open indefinitely when Carlos asked if we would be open to storing their current inventory for safe keeping. It felt like right action to not only store it, but to remain open and also make it available to you all, since there are so many dedicated Momotombo lovers here. Three months later it looks like this will be a much longer affair, and so I am working on getting Momotombo imported by a favorite distributor of mine, so that Momotombo can keep serving the US market, grow their market here and you all can keep getting access to your favorite items. As a last celebration of what has been nearly 8 years of beautiful relationship with Carlos and his team, we decided that next week, August 18th, we will have a Momomtombo extravaganza Saturday! What does this mean? We'll sample many of their delicious chocolates and have some deals available to encourage you to purchase lots of Momotombo, and we commit to sending every last dollar made on the 18th of August, straight to Momotombo. We will take zero margin, and all of what you buy on that Saturday will go straight to their beautiful social enterprise.

So, stock up on hostess gifts, birthday gifts, Thanksgiving chocolate, and schedule a chocolate tasting party for you and all your friends. Please come and stock up on all things Momotombo, and share it widely. That way you can help Momotombo, help us move the rest of our stock, and also bestow others with the deliciousness that is Nicaraguan cacao. Last Day August 25th Well, here we are, three months later, and one "Save The Chocolate Garage" campaign later. Our campaign is just shy of the $2K mark we needed to hit (we reached ~$1700/month), I know we could get there, if I encouraged you all a bit more, and kept asking, but that doesn't feel right. My feeling is that the time and place and idea is not right. Sure, I could stubborn it further, and keep it going, but in truth, I have been keeping it open for the wrong reasons, and I can see that clearly now.   In reality this was not the first Save The Chocolate Garage campaign, a few years ago when I attempted to roll out this idea of an optional "Membership" program, I already saw the writing on the wall, that my business was precariously positioned in an ever crazier and changing Palo Alto, a Palo Alto where the only new food businesses are primarily large chains. It was clear that as soon as we lost our very unusual small and very cheap rental spot, we would need to close. And we needed a path to get to a place where we would be able to keep bringing what I felt was much needed change to the chocolate industry. As much as I love all of you, and watching your faces light up as you discover the amazing flavors of Happy Chocolate, chocolate made with the utmost integrity within a traditional supply chain with close to no integrity, my interest has never been "selling" chocolate. It is so much bigger than that. So, it was clear to me that if using a brick and mortar to engage you all around chocolate and beyond was not going to be sustainable, then the shop needed to close. I tried membership in an attempt to engage the citizen in their local community. I tried going back to Future Chocolate, we got rid of Future Chocolate, I tried to find new ways to find great staff and pay them what they are worth so that we could continue to provide a unique experience to customers coming to The Chocolate Garage.... And now, as I integrate my personal and professional life even more deeply, and sincerely commit to following my truth and following my heart, I know that it is time to close The Chocolate Garage. I have put in so much of my heart, my energy, and my plentiful determination since 2010, and yes it is possible to make the business work ok, but the sacrifice it requires of me is not acceptable to me anymore. In 2018, as a 45 year old woman with kids who will be teenagers before I know it, I want to really be present and enjoy them. I want to spend my day pursuing what captivates me these days, not searching for new chocolates in the complexity of what is the craft chocolate industry today. Will I still lead trips? Looks like we have Brazil and Costa Rica in queue. Will I still make chocumentaries (chocolate origin trip documentaries)? Yes, we have Switzerland nearly ready to publish, and all the India footage to start piecing together... Will I keep doing the Unwrapped podcast? Yes, our next interview with Alan McClure of Patric Chocolate is nearly tied up and ready to go. Will I still send you (less frequent) emails pointing you at the best new Happy Chocolate that I find? Yes, I may have a few things up my sleeve on that front too. But, we will have our last day of brick and mortar sales on August 25th. If we have some bars left over, we may maintain our online platform for a few weeks, as we work out how to move the rest of our bars, but our wee little Garage space will go back to being a space for dreaming big garage dreams. It is with a sweet fondness that I think of our little space, so many amazing moments, tastings, parties, tears, so much laughter, madness, beautiful love, acts of generousity to break your heart wide open... wow. So. Very. Much. I am so grateful for having had this chance to know you all, share, taste, hold hands together as we lived our lives over the past 8 years. I can't even begin to list all that I have learned, about business, humans, chocolate, scarcity vs generosity, loyalty, I could go on. I am not going away, I plan to send monthly (or so) newsletters once we close on the 25th, and will announce special events that may pop up, new bars that must be tasted, new trips I plan to lead, or wild new ideas I want to throw at you. :) I plan to find the redwoods many weekdays, either for a long effortless run, or to sit at the base of a redwood and look up. So best bet is to look in the redwoods for me... if you don't find me, the upside is that you may find some peace and quiet and yourself! That reminds me, I had wanted to do a special offer where I gifted you all a free bar of chocolate, for becoming a member of our state parks. Another time. Where to buy Happy Chocolate going forward? I will be posting more on this in the coming weeks. I will be listing where to find all your Garage favorites, and sharing all my favorite vendors and distributors, who have always operated with the utmost integrity. If I don't list someone, please ping me, and I will add them if it was accidental. Guess what time it is? Time to go find out for my kids who their new teachers will be this year, and who their classmates will be! Very exciting for them, they await with baited breath as they visit their grandparents in the midwest. I hope you have a beautiful weekend, and I will see you soon! Maybe tomorrow if you make it to The Chocolate Garage! Warmly and with sweet gratitude, Sunita

So many people took part in remodeling this space a few years ago. It was a gorgeous adventure, so much laughing, so much late night chocolate nibbling and scotch sipping... 

Remember the time we went to visit The Arete Chocolate Factory? That was fun. David and Leslie made it a truly exceptional experience for the lucky group of us who went. Maybe we hit up their new spot in Tennessee next summer? 

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Pralus Infernale, Bonnat bars, Sibu is back too!

August 3, 2018

Open tomorrow (Saturday) from 9am until 1pm.

Hi there! This one is going to be an unusually short one, as I am savoring the last drops of summer coming to a close, school starts in about ten days, and I plan to squeeze out every bit of yumminess before it is time to pack lunches and get breakfast happening on schedule. So, as the title suggests, we have some new bars in, Bonnat Kaori, Los Colorados, El Rosario... Sibu is back (cardamom and coffee, chai and more) Pralus has a new Barre Infernale Nougat, and we also have the Praline and hazelnuts bar (my favorite!). We also will have some of Le 100%, Cuba, Ghana, and the Fortissima 80%. We'll be tasting a few, almost certainly the nougat bar that is new to most of us. You'll have to come in to see which ones we are featuring, and wait for a future week for more waxing on about small local business and how we can all make incremental changes in our lives to bring about much larger change that will be a soothing balm for all... but seriously, I have some important updates to share with you, stay tuned, that will be coming soon. Until then, I will see some of you tomorrow, I will be there with Katie and Claire, you may not recognise me, Hawaii got me good, I am super brown and very chill. You might want to get Katie to do your checkout, I am still doing the island thing... ;) Aloha, Sunita

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Happy Chocolate is about being aligned

July 27, 2018

Currently open Saturdays only, from 9 am - 1pm. 

This afternoon I want to share what is on my mind and heart as of late. And reflect on some moments of the past 8+ years of running The Chocolate Garage. Note: If you would like to scroll swiftly down to the bars we are featuring and a short update on our donor campaign status, feel free to zip down to the bottom! Sometimes we lose sight of what we do, and we lose sight of how others receive what we do. As I got bogged down over the years working like a mad (Silicon Valley) woman, I lost sight and even lost the pleasure of the work I was doing. How can you lose sight of the pleasure of chocolate? Well, to keep it short, just believe I did. I remember once I was driving to the East Bay, and grabbed the special bar called "The Boss" that Patric Chocolate co-created with us, that was our exclusive (and best seller for many years) until a few months ago, and since driving is meditative for me, I got calm, and broke some pieces of The Boss off and nibbled and tasted as I drove. I remember being astounded at how insanely delicious the bar was. I was actually, sincerely blown away. And I remember thinking to myself: "Wow, this is why people come to The Chocolate Garage. This stuff is good!" How could that be a surprise to me? Well, as you get bogged down in inventory, customs brokers, payroll, new ways to engage and make your cash flow more healthy, etc etc, oh and dealing with two kids and maybe care for myself once a month, well, you lose sight of a lot. I am sure many of you reading this can identify within your own work and lives. A second moment that was so significant to me was the moment I was grinding up my friend Oscar's coffee that he sources, roasts, and sells under High Note Coffee. I had purchased a bag the weekend before, and I noticed how much more richness there was to my smelling the beans when I opened the bag, grinding and then brewing the coffee... I felt like Oscar was with me, and my cup of coffee was so much more than the premium beans, or the fancy commodity that they are in our market place. It occurred to me then that perhaps some of you feel that way towards your chocolate purchases at The Chocolate Garage. That the connection I have with Oscar, my trust in him, my relationship with him and the stories he recounts of his roasting, and sourcing, bring alive my morning sips of coffee. And that perhaps I am able to transmit the love and care that went into each bar made by the makers we carry, their struggles, possibly their direct connection to the farmers who produced the beans... all of this richness translates into an experiencing and enjoyment of the chocolate that makes your life feel more alive, more connected and ultimately more meaningful. This is something that we aspire to do at The Chocolate Garage, only carry chocolate that we whole heartedly stand behind. Both the end quality of the bar, but also as importantly the bean source, the farmers situation, and the ethics of the maker. If I hear stories of a maker mistreating cacao farmers who dared to sell their beans to another source, and threatening to stop being their biggest buyer of beans if they continued, and my sources are trustworthy, and there are other red flags that have come up, I choose to drop that maker. Even if many other parts of the work they are doing seem to line up. Everything needs to be in alignment, as much as possible. Sometimes there are very real challenges that need to be understood and tolerated, or slowly worked on, but I believe that in my own life, and therefore also in my business life, I am looking to engage with things that I am inspired by, that are in alignment with what I believe, and with how I live my life. I think all of us are more peaceful, satisfied, more fulfilled when we are able to live a life that is in alignment with our values. When I buy a gorgeous pie from Three Babes Bakeshop, I pay triple what I would pay were I to buy a pie at Whole Foods. BUT, the Three Babes pie is in another category altogether. They source their fruit from local Sacramento Valley farms, often farms they know through their families, and their grain sourcing too, everything is thoughtful, and is aligned. Honestly, the pies I have had from Whole Foods are ok, but not really worth eating. They are what I would call "why bother" pies. So much chocolate fits into that category for me. Why bother? Eat some gorgeous aged gruyere instead. Ok, I know, I am very particular. I love me some delicious food! I have been thinking about this lately, each time I go to Whole Foods here in Hawaii, and they ask me if I am a Prime member, and I either just nod "no", or if the employee seems open, I tell them I used to be, but I quit when Amazon bought Whole Foods. Sometimes we have interesting discussions sharing with the newbie cashier, that their peers who have been there for decades, have had their stock options converted when Amazon bought Whole Foods, they can't count on those stock options anymore for a possible cushion and retirement. Big wide eyes are usually what I get from new cashiers who are naively (?) grateful for their job with watered down benefits that they don't even know they can expect. Is this really the direction we are going in, in 2018? Do we really support this? Are we all so focussed on cheap at all costs that we don't want to think about the very people who produce our food, shelve it and sell it to us? Is this really the future we want? The only short sighted "upside" of the Amazon purchase is that prices have gone down. But how? Cheaper work force, lower benefits, squeezing suppliers, trapping larger "at scale" producers who can't say no to new large contracts that shave more pennies per pound of produce, Costco style... There are so many reasons for us to bring more awareness to our every day life choices, so many reasons to slow down, sit on the proverbial Chocolate Garage couch and taste some of the best chocolate you can find, and notice the flavors. The texture. Listen to the story of how the bar came to be. Pay what we now think of as a lot of money for a hand crafted, lovingly made chocolate bar, that is part of a movement to connect all of us again. Bring us together on this planet in a way that has never been possible before. Access to information and transparency has never been so available, so shareable, so understandable as it is now and is becoming. The real question is: Are we willing to make changes in our own lives once we have access to this information? Can we trade convenience and cheap, must we keep getting fooled by manipulative price tags, deals and the race to the bottom? Can we see that two day, or same day "free" delivery is not necessary and doesn't actually always truly make your life better? I had a lot of resistance to quitting Amazon Prime. Ironically, I used it to buy business supplies (I was part of helping Congdom & Chrome, our local office supply shop, go out of business) when I realized I needed something in the middle of the night, and instead of walking over the next day, crossed it off my frenetic list of stuff to do, by using Amazon Prime. When I quit Amazon Prime, suddenly I found that a lot of the stuff I was buying on there was not needed, it was just that the friction was so low that I could double click and magically, with the extra juicy & deceptive hit of "free" shipping, that I was buying away! When I quit, I noticed how my behavior changed. The friction of either looking online for a local shop, or driving somewhere, was enough to make me realize I didn't need to buy whatever it was. If getting into a car and driving to Redwood City for an item is too much of my (or my kids) time wasted, then I really don't need that thing. I have been pleasantly surprised at how easy and freeing it is to not use Amazon Prime anymore. It is also so very clear to me that the withering and disappearance of our small, mom and pop local shops are in large part due to our desire for cheap and convenient online. But what about the value of relationships? What about the value of running into your neighbors while you are shopping for food, or some new school item? We are collectively the most isolated, (self) medicated, drugged and unhappy collection of people in our first world environment. Part of what we crave is community, is connecting with fellow chocolate lovers, we crave a third space where we can gather, without our phones for warding off awkward moments or boredom, where we can slow down and connect. With ourselves and with each other. I invite you to look at your own life, your family life, and find a habit or two, that are completely out of alignment and commit to moving that habit or activity into full alignment with your beliefs and values. If you believe in local food grown by local farmers being cooked into a meal with friends, do that once this week. You already do that, that feels like child's play? Great, push yourself to find another area that is unexamined and is out of alignment and course correct. If it wasn't enough to know that Amazon buying Whole Foods is a long term lose for almost everyone who uses and works for Whole Foods as well as small local business, the recent stories about how Amazon is working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help arrest, detain and separate immigrant families might give you an extra push. :) Or you can do some research on Amazon's labour practices, and shoot me an email if you discover that they are in alignment with your values. So many reasons. And the time is ripe in this moment of many people feeling so powerless, to really stand up and stand by what you believe in. I don't mean to pick on Amazon, I only choose Amazon because I suspect most of the readers here are members, and it is now the most common way to buy most things. I have also previously picked on Costco... ;) I recently saw that Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters turned down a $40K contract with Salesforce because of their contracts with US Customs and Border Protection. Wrecking Ball is not a huge company, and a $40K contract is not trivial, and I am not saying that immigration is the thing to care about in this moment, but I am admiring that for them, this was important and they did not hold their nose and engage just for the money. They opted to bring their personal values and ideals into how they run their business. For Nick Cho and Trish Rothgeb, this was right action, and a move they made. What does this have to do with Happy Chocolate? Everything. Or nothing? Maybe both. I do want to express how grateful I am to all those of you who have gotten onboard with our latest effort/idea to Save The Chocolate Garage. Patron names (unless you requested to be anonymous) have been added to our website*, and also slowly to our wall at The Chocolate Garage. I have been so sweetly surprised to see support coming from so many parts of the world, from locals who benefit from the use of our curated boutique, as well as makers who enjoy selling their bars through our space, and also from spirit supporters, who want to see the idea of The Chocolate Garage thrive. Thank you to all of you who have gotten on board. We stayed open in July, even thought we didn't hit our goal (you can read the previous newsletter here for more info, just scroll down to June 29th) and we are committed to staying open through August. *if you do not see your name here, and you did not request to be anonymous, please email me. But for now, let's move on to what we are featuring tomorrow! Saturday Tasting Menu Momotombo 72% Single Origin Dark Momotombo Chocolate Chia and dark milk   Momotombo Milk (35g) Grenada Chocolate Company 60% Nicaragua is still in a very difficult situation, so please show your love and concern by buying Nicaraguan chocolate, made by Momotombo supporting dozens and dozens of local families through their local Managua factory. The ripple effect of small factories in country of cacao origin can easily be underestimated. Both Momotombo and Grenada Chocolate Company are amongst the highest ranked (by The Chocolate Garage) for truly ethical, integrated businesses creating finished bars in the country where the cacao grows and is harvested. Grenada Chocolate Co has hit some bumps in production over the past few years after losing one of their main drivers, the late Mott Green, but they are still here, and adjusting and moving together as a team. Momotombo has also been hit with a lot of adversity, the country is breaking down into a civil war, as they are trying to get rid of an unfair, corrupt government and are being attacked violently as they do so. I hope you find something delicious of the above featured bars, and enjoy them for yourself, or get some extra to share with friends, who may not be aware of Happy Chocolate and maybe you can move them to opening their experience to super yummy, and super happy supply chains. Katie and Claire will be helping you find your faves tomorrow! I am still away, getting rest after a bumpy summer, my kids are away in Yellowstone, so I am moving very slowly these days, which is so good! It is so fun to let each day unfold and see what comes up as a fun thing to do next, and follow that. I have also been having some neat new ideas drop in, that may shape up into something interesting to share with you all! In the meantime, back to the breeze, maybe a trip to the ocean this afternoon, perhaps some poke for lunch? Warm breezey wishes to you all, Sunita

Above L to R, Juliana of Baianí, Arcelia of Mission Chocolate, and Tuta in Vale Potumuju. This is their phenomenal drying room, right next to their fermentary. What a gorgeous set up!

Here is the beginning of the list of patrons being added to the wall at The Chocolate Garage. Thank you again to all those who have become patrons!

[thechocolategarage]

Bean to Bar at Origin!

July 20, 2018

Aloha and another Happy Friday to you all! I posted the above image on Instagram this week, because even though I am out of town and taking a long vacation (and writing very short newsletters), this is a bar I was really excited to bring into The Chocolate Garage. The beans are from Uganda, hardly a famous origin for specialty cacao, and yet a bar that really surprised me, in a very positive way. Jeff Steinberg is the driver behind the bar, not only is he the one who works to bring together these beans from the Semuliki Forest area, but he also decided to try to turn these beans into a two ingredient bar. I have said many times before that making great bean to bar chocolate is not easy. Finding good beans, and then getting all the steps right to turn out a delicious and smooth textured bar is very challenging. I have also said many times that the vast majority of the new bars that come to market miss the mark, either mildly or severely. It is not an exaggeration to say that >90% of the new bars I have brought in over the years to test, missed the mark. The Chocolate Garage quality mark. Some bars also failed the transparency and ethics mark, but far more often, new bars fail the quality mark. So, when Jeff pulled out a bar a couple of months ago during our chat in The Chocolate Garage, I was pleasantly surprised (given the odds) that not only was the texture fine for a 70%  two ingredient bar (no added cocoa butter) but the flavors were also really good. It had so much deep brownie, fudge, cocoa flavors, with hints of brightness, and subtle splashes of fruit. At that point, I was planning to close The Chocolate Garage on May 26th, and so it was getting very late to bring in any new bars before closing... I was bummed. This is exactly the kind of business I want to see more of and that I want to celebrate. Then, as most of you know, Momotombo (another producer making bars at origin) was in a very difficult situation and needed our help, so we decided to stay open. I promptly reached out to Jeff and we moved quickly to bring this bar to you all. We plan to taste it tomorrow, so come on by! Tomorrow's Tastes: Latitude Trade Company Uganda 70% Charm School Chocolate 70% Belize Sirene Dark Milk Momotombo dark milk with cashews Stay tuned for an upcoming announcement for our Brazil trip, looks like it will be smaller than usual, because on our research trip, we found the most gorgeous places to stay, but they were all more cozy than would work for our regular 12 guest sized trips. Also, if you are interested in Costa Rica, May 2019, that's our current window. Other than all that, I am off to the North Shore of Oahu this weekend, for some splashing around, more sand, surf and maybe some turtle spotting. Katie and Claire will be there to help you find your favorite bars. Aloha, Sunita

[thechocolategarage]

Ecuador, Madagascar, Nicaragua and Uganda!

July 14, 2018

Open tomorrow (Saturday) from 9am until 1pm.

Aloha and Happy Friday! Another week of a micro-newsletter, since I am enjoying the breeze, the sun and the ocean while on vacation with my kids. Tomorrow's Tastes: Ritual Ecuador 75% Ritual Madagascar 75% Latitude Trade Company Uganda 70% Momotombo dark milk with nibs Tiny chance that we have received more Askanya, bars made by that inspiring company from Haiti. We love the 90%, and also their milks! There is still some Charm School bars to pick up, a few Dick Taylor bars to boot, Original Beans. Some Patric bars, as well as some SOMA that are often sold out (Arcana 100%), and also some Baianí bars, our latest tree to bar discovery from Bahia, Brazil. Come and see what we have, and taste the bars we are featuring tomorrow. Stay tuned for an upcoming announcement for our Brazil trip, looks like it will be smaller than usual, because on our research trip, we found the most gorgeous places to stay, but they were all more cozy than would work for our regular 12 guest sized trips. Also, if you are interested in Costa Rica, May 2019, that's our current window. I'll stop here, because I think it's time for a mid-afternoon nap. Then I will head to the ocean to swim, take in some sun, make a sand castle? Or maybe read a bit. I highly recommend taking some real time off, and just deeply resting. Especially for those of you who (like me) are used to doing so much all the time. After living in the US for 14 years, and getting caught up in the insane work culture here, it feels sooooo good to just stop. And rest, and sleep and eat and enjoy the breeze. Katie and Claire will be there tomorrow to help you find the best bars. Enjoy your weekend, or summer vacation if that is what is happening for you! Aloha, Sunita

[thechocolategarage]

Sirene's Fiji and Guatemala darks, and Baianí and Momotombo dark milks

July 6, 2018

Open tomorrow (Saturday) from 9am until 1pm.

Aloha and Happy Friday! Keeping it very short this week, cutting to the chase with what we are featuring tomorrow: Sirene Guatemala 73% Sirene Fiji 73% Baianí 57% dark milk Momotombo dark milk with nibs We do have some Patric and SOMA left from our last order, so tomorrow is a good time to snap that up. Plenty of Momotombo, and things don't seem to be getting any better in Nicaragua, at least in this short term. Please consider getting some Momotombo for dinner party gifts, for sharing with co-workers and generally spreading the word about bean to bar in country of bean origin. Charm School is back, Dick Taylor is also in stock, Original Beans and more... Come and see what we have, and taste the bars we are featuring tomorrow. We hope to see you tomorrow! Sunita

[thechocolategarage]

All the way from Uganda... update on Garage!

June 29, 2018

Currently open Saturdays only from 9 am - 1pm. Hoping we can save The Chocolate Garage for the cost of a couple lattes a month... or about the monthly cost of an Amazon Prime membership!

Happy Friday everyone! First, thank you to all those who have signed up to donate monthly to The Chocolate Garage, to those who can contribute $5 a month, or those who opted $10, $20 or $50, and to our wonderful supporter of local small business who decided to change their donation from $20 to $200, I am grateful and moved to see so many of you (78 to be exact) put in your dollar vote for supporting local business and local community building. We are closer to our goal, being at just under $1400/month currently. For those of you who missed last week's newsletter with more details on why we are offering this and what we need the money for, you can read last week's newsletter here. You will see the next time you come to The Chocolate Garage that we have started adding the names of our supporting patrons, onto The Chocolate Garage wall. You are welcome to stay anonymous, or to add your name to the wall of supporters (and take a selfie next to your name!). We also have a new page that lists our current patrons on our website, and has a direct link for folks to become patronsas well. (Note: we do reach out to all donors and get explicit permission to write your name on our wall and website, before adding you, this also means a small delay after you donate, before you will find your name listed, feel free to add in the notes that you are ok with your name, or some version of your name, being added.) If we can hit our goal, we will stay open. And if we exceed our goal, we can start thinking about how we can use the extra funds to have more events, or bring in more makers, or use the funds in other ways to better serve our community: holiday hours, extra pick up times during the week, reduced shipping costs? Latitude Trade Company: Straight from Uganda! A couple of months ago, Jeff Steinberg reached out to come and visit The Chocolate Garage, all I knew was that he was working with cacao farmers in Uganda, trying to improve the post harvest process, so that farmers in Uganda could also partake in the craft chocolate market. If you as a cacao farmer are able to get the quality of your cacao up to meet the craft chocolate requirements, what this means for a farmer is doubling or tripling the price your cacao fetches. So it is a powerful motivator and great tool for cacao farmers to really improve their situations. When Jeff and I met, my feeling was that he was one of those really serious ones, dedicated to creating change, having worked in many different countries, usually with a focus on how folks can empower themselves. He started up a business in Uganda (Latitude Trade Company) and started working on getting high quality cacao out of Uganda, to buyers who will pay a premium. Before he knew it, he started playing around with making chocolate, and had brought a sample to share. As I have said before, the vast majority of new bars I taste have significant flaws, either texture, or often times problems with the cacao itself. Jeff had made a 70% two ingredient bar (cacao and sugar) and it was both a lovely texture and also had deep chocolatey fudgey notes, with some accents of fruit. I was blown away, and told him that even though we were planning to close very soon (I thought back then right after selling all the Momotombo, how quickly things change!) I would LOVE to bring in these bars. The reason I started The Chocolate Garage and was moved to build something that could contribute to changing the traditional, ugly ways in commodity cacao trade. Mott Green (Grenada Chocolate Company) was my first and deepest inspiration, of someone who broke the rules, refused to accept the status quo and built a company and a movement out of sheer stubbornness, willpower and a beautiful vision. Years after starting The Chocolate Garage, when I finally met him and told him about this idea that I called "Happy Chocolate", he laughed and told me that I had to come visit their factory, that it was the happiest chocolate factory around. I think that one of the most powerful models for changing the industry is to make finished chocolate in the countries that produce the cacao. Ideally I think it would be great to see local companies in Uganda, Cote d'Ivoire, Guatemala and Peru all making chocolate for the local market, but I think there is also room for making bars for export too... So, I am extra excited that Jeff has started making chocolate too, his packaging is elegant while humble, he is using the same company name he uses for his trade business, and he is just getting started, but I am delighted to be able to bring this chocolate to The Chocolate Garage! Please come by tomorrow to taste, or if you want to get this bar and are far away, feel free to order it online. I hope that our "Save The Chocolate Garage" efforts are fruitful, and we can stay open to bring more bars like this to you, and bring small makers doing really good work into the limelight. Jeff added a little note on the bar wrapper in his efforts to support our "Save The Chocolate Garage" efforts, you can check it out tomorrow in person. :) Saturday Tasting Menu Latitude Trade Company 70% Semuliki Forest 2017 Harvest Grenada Chocolate Company 60% Baianí 70% with Orange Zest Baianí 57% dark milk Yes! We will be tasting four bars all made in their respective countries using their own countries cacao. Baianí goes one step further in that they also grow, harvest, ferment and dry their own cacao before then turning it into chocolate. I am away at a meditation retreat this whole week, (I wrote most of this before going offline!), so I won't see you tomorrow, but Katie and Claire will be there to answer any questions and make sure you walk away with all the best Happy Chocolate bars that you want. Warm, chocolatey wishes! Sunita

Above L to R, Juliana of Baianí, Arcelia of Mission Chocolate, and Tuta in Vale Potumuju. This is their phenomenal drying room, right next to their fermentary. What a gorgeous set up!

Here is the beginning of the list of patrons being added to the wall at The Chocolate Garage. Thank you again to all those who have become patrons!

[thechocolategarage]

New: Baianí of Brazil & Garage half way saved!

June 23, 2018

Currently open Saturdays only from 9 am - 1pm. Hoping we can save The Chocolate Garage for the cost of a couple lattes a month... or about the monthly cost of an Amazon Prime membership!

Happy Friday everyone! A few happy announcements, and then lets talk about the delicious new bars that are new to The Chocolate Garage this week. First, thank you to all those who have signed up to donate monthly to The Chocolate Garage, to those who can contribute $5 a month, or those who opted $10, $20 or $50, and to our wonderful supporter of local small business who decided to change their donation from $20 to $200, I am grateful and moved to see so many of you (53 to be exact) put in your dollar vote for supporting local business and local community building. We are just under halfway there, being at $990/month currently. For those of you who missed last week's newsletter with more details on why we are offering this and what we need the money for, you can read last week's newsletter here. You will see the next time you come to The Chocolate Garage that we have started adding the names of our supporting patrons, onto The Chocolate Garage wall. You are welcome to stay anonymous, or to proudly add your name to the wall of supporters. We also have a new page that lists our current patrons on our website, and has a direct link for folks to become patrons as well. If we can hit our goal, we will stay open. And if we exceed our goal, we can start thinking about how we can use the extra funds to have more events, or bring in more makers, or use the funds in other ways to better serve our community: holiday hours, extra pick up times during the week, reduced shipping costs? Baianí: Straight from Brazil! As you may know, I was in Brazil in May, as part of their bean to bar week. I met many talented bean to bar makers, and I am excited to bring more of them to you, but as a start we will be featuring Baianí Chocolate tomorrow at The Chocolate Garage. Juliana and Tuta are a husband wife team who have a sophisticated tree to bar operation in Bahia, Brazil. When we head out on our next origin trip to Brazil, we plan to spend some time on their magical farm, that has a gorgeous river running through it. Each farm I visited in Bahia was unique and distinct and this one was no different. So lush, and green and peaceful. It was a truly magical and serene spot. Tuta has been working on a top notch harvesting and fermenting operation, to make sure he can get Juliana the best cacao with which to make her chocolate. And Juliana does her magic out of their small factory in São Paulo. Being a stickler for flavor and quality, her bars even in her first years of production are delicious. A sign that the post harvest is going really well, and she is bringing out the beautiful flavors locked in the cacao. Tomorrow we'll taste four bars, two plain dark 70% (with two roast styles), one 70% with orange zest, and one dark milk 57%. Saturday Tasting Menu Baianí 70% Bold Roast Baianí 70% Mild Roast Baianí 70% with Orange Zest Baianí 57% dark milk In other chocolatey news, Charm School Chocolate is back! So come and stock up on your favorite bars by Charm School! For anyone who is looking for dairy free milk chocolate, this is the chocolate maker who nails it, and doesn't leave even the biggest dairy lovers missing the milk. Stay tuned for next week, we should have a new bean to bar maker to introduce, also making finished chocolate in the same country as the bean production. Jeff Steinberg came to see me at The Chocolate Garage a month or so ago, and even though at that time we were winding things down at The Chocolate Garage, I was too excited by his work to not bring in at least a few dozen of his bars. We'll get his 70% two ingredient bar in next week, I heard today that DHL picked it up! First craft chocolate shipment from Uganda! I hope you have a lovely weekend, Katie and Claire will be there tomorrow to help you. Sunita

Above L to R, Juliana of Baianí, Arcelia of Mission Chocolate, and Tuta in Vale Potumuju. This is their phenomenal drying room, right next to their fermentary. What a gorgeous set up!

Here is the beginning of the list of patrons being added to the wall at The Chocolate Garage. Thank you again to all those who have become patrons!

[thechocolategarage]

Save? Or Close The Chocolate Garage?

June 15, 2018

We remain open for now on Saturdays from 9-1, come stock up on SoMA and Momotombo!

Aloha Happy Chocolate Lovers, I am back. The past two weeks were intense. Intense pain, strep throat with a slow festering infection in my tonsil, making it nearly impossible to swallow. Seems a relatively rare occurence, for most folks who get this, the pain gets very bad very quickly, and a quick slice to the tonsil allows for release of the building pressure and immediate relief. I lucked into a different form, the one that slowly gets more and more painful, and doesn’t respond to needles, suction nor eventual incisions and suction. I had no idea an abscessed tonsil could be so painful. SAVE OR CLOSE THE CHOCOLATE GARAGE? When I wrote about this two weeks ago, I was already in the thick of the growing pain, so I did a terrible job of explaining. The reason for my change of heart, and my willingness to be open to the idea of The Chocolate Garage staying open if the community wants to save it, is as follows, starting with some background on our original mission. Or if you already know you want to take part in saving The Chocolate Garage, and don't care to read all the background below, you can escape this substantial email and start Saving The Chocolate Garage already! ;) Social Enterprise? A large part of why I started The Chocolate Garage was because I strongly believed that our current models for groups and organisations are too divided. One model is the "do good" model (aka a not for profit), the other is a "maximize profits" model (aka a business). I believe that businesses need to become more human and non-profits likely need to learn a bit more pragmatism and efficiency, and perhaps one day, we have (social) enterprises that reflect what we humans value. Enterprises that make money, but not at any cost to the environment, to the humans in the supply chain, the animals in the supply chain... I believe this is our necessary future, and our current model of forever growth is obviously foolish and misguided. And short sighted. And not even necessary! So, over the years, when folks suggested that The Chocolate Garage should get grants, or become a non-profit, out of principle my answer was always "no", because I wanted to show that a business can do well, while creating value up and down the supply chain. I still believe that, but what I am learning is that the way I have done that has mostly been through personal sacrifice, strong will and stubbornness. And it has slowly depleted me, and cannot be successful long term. There needs to be a more collaborative, reciprocal resource input for The Chocolate Garage to continue to be a place that fosters local community, connects community to our best chocolate crafts(wo)men, and redefines and shifts what has been (and is) an extractive and exploitative supply chain. Is a "charity" model ok? The idea of a "charity" model for The Chocolate Garage has always been anathema to me. It previously felt to me to be the equivalent of closing. Now I see things differently, I see that there is value in The Chocolate Garage existing even if it is a not a robust social enterprise incarnate. And suddenly the idea that it might be being "artificially" supported by community members (local and afar) doesn't seem to be a problem to me anymore. Regardless of the model, and my previously ambitious, egoic driven, desires to build a specific thing, for a specific reason, I have come to soften into realising that it doesn't actually matter so much to me anymore. To be honest, I think we are not done yet with our mad climb to maximise profits, our tunnel vision collective desire for cheap, quick, convenient, we are still playing with that, learning what we gain from that, and eventually we will start seeing what is missing from that proposition. I feel this needs the time to play out before we see the full picture of what is lost in this feverish pursuit.... I also think that this is a case where other communities in the US are more protected from this mad pursuit, seems to me the cultural drive and obsession to work and succeed above all else, above leisure, health, friends, community and well-being, perhaps manifests most strongly here in Silicon Valley. For many reasons. Whatever the case may be, I don't feel as strongly about the form of the business, if community benefits (local customers, small makers and folks working at TCG) then who cares if it is partially supported via donations. Transparency: Business Details I won't go into crazy detail about numbers, mostly because I think most of us have no need, no desire and no background to understand how small businesses work, but in the interest of  transparency here are some rough numbers. Our rent is extremely cheap, we just started sharing it with another business who uses it during weekdays, so we just halved it to $450/month. For Palo Alto that is basically free. In order for us to open on Saturdays and fulfill online orders*, we need to track inventory, manage orders, track shipments, ensure they arrive safely and get to cold storage promptly, unpack and process inventory, break down boxes, dispose of ice packs, restock The Chocolate Garage, prepare samples for Saturday... to illustrate a few of the tasks. We also need to track billing, invoice, reply to customer inquiries, individual requests for special orders, or requests for special times to purchase. This is the combined work of two part time workers (Alice and Katie), both highly skilled and knowledgeable who work independently, without much direction from me, freeing me up to do sourcing, relationship building, vetting products, preparing newsletters, oversee new product release and development. Together this totals a minimum of 32-40 hours a week of work, done by Katie and Alice to keep things humming for us to open on Saturdays. *Note: We basically don't do team buildings or tastings anymore, because that requires an additional 5-10 hours a week of managing by Alice. For me to retain Alice and Katie, who collectively have many years of learning and industry knowledge, I need them to have this as their primary focus, even if it is only a part time gig. And yet, even if I pay them up to $20-25/hour for the most skilled labor they provide, which is still below market and just enough to retain them, this area is the most expensive area of the US to live. Without Katie and Alice, there is no Chocolate Garage. Katie and Alice and I are the gold behind The Chocolate Garage. We are a lean and efficient trio (well, they are way more efficient than me) and we love to work together. But even loving each other, and the work we are doing that brings about changes for makers and farmers, is not enough to keep us going when it is not possible to reward them properly for their work. You do the math. Ok, I will. Just labor costs for Alice and Katie should be about $4K a month (not counting things like payroll taxes, workers comp, like I said, not things we think about when trying to understand how a business works). That does not count extra staff that is needed on Saturdays, because Katie needs at least myself and Claire there as well. But Katie is the linchpin. Without her, Claire and I showing up on Saturdays doesn't matter. And without Alice on the back end keeping all the orders flowing, shipments and books in order, invoicing, being my organisational brain, without all that she does, my unique offerings don't matter either. So, my goal with this monthly donation is to bring in an additional guaranteed $2K per month, to guarantee to cover half of my two linchpins: Katie and Alice. Without a happy and secure Katie and Alice, The Chocolate Garage brick and mortar folds. Two thousand per month? Katie is our newest addition, hardest worker, delightfully patient with customers, super smart and resourceful, very efficient and talented in so many domains even beyond what she brings to The Chocolate Garage. I believe in paying talent well, out of principle, but also because it is smart business. Replacing and training people is very expensive. The chocolate industry knowledge needed to provide the level of transparency and thorough information to our customers is non trivial. Alice is responsible for more than half of the know how and operational knowledge of The Chocolate Garage. She is quiet, steadfast, efficient and gets stuff done quickly and without a fuss. She rarely reaches out to ask me for answers, she finds the solutions and handles everything. That is a huge asset to free me up to do other things, be present with my kids and think about bigger picture vision for The Chocolate Garage, our films and trips. The trips are what subsidize my efforts at The Chocolate Garage, and they keep me engaged beyond pure curation and retail, which is hardly a continued steep learning curve. If we can secure collective monthly recurring donations from our larger community of customers, chocolate makers, and community lovers that totals $2,000/month, then I can be sure to keep Katie and Alice, find another one or two people who we can start training for Saturday hours, and remain open, serving the larger chocolate loving community. Ready to give up a few lattes a month? Great! You can join right here by entering your credit card details and choosing any amount above $5/month to support your favorite (we better be your fave! ;) local chocolate community gathering spot/shop. We suggest $10, $20 or more per month if you are a regular who delights in The Chocolate Garage and/or it is not a stretch for you. For the tech geeky amongst you: We are using Stripe's platform for monthly recurring payments, they are on par with Square, PayPal and Patreon in terms of secure payment methods. To keep our costs down, we are asking you to register yourself via this link, rather than mediate that via our own staff putting in more hours. The minimum donation is $5/month, there is no maximum, our suggested is $10-$20 if that is comfortable for you. We will have a device available at The Chocolate Garage this coming weekend if you want to enter your credit card information in person on site via our iPad or tablet. Or just take five minutes right now to Save The Chocolate Garage. Some of you have asked if you can make a yearly donation instead, we don't want to say no to that, but we are reticent to take on the costs of overseeing and tracking individual payment preferences, it is not efficient. Ironically in a world where we value cheap, quick and free shipping, and we partake in that with yearly fees paid to Costco and Amazon Prime, we expect far more from a place like The Chocolate Garage, in terms of customer service. I believe that email requests should be answered by a human who cares, I know I like that. But, since we do still operate in a world that is all about scale and efficiency, and that is what we continue to value/engage with, the smaller the operation, the more important it is for us to not pay expensive labor to handle what are your sweet quirks and desires. It's quite the conundrum, because we love you, and want to treat you like the unique human being that you are, but the service we provide is not actually truly valued in financial terms... but I digress. We do prefer monthly recurring payments, as that allows us to be able to budget and plan. It is pretty standard for businesses these days to trick you into monthly payments, most people forget they are paying $5-10 a month, and that is what subscription businesses depend on. That is not our way, we want you to be able to cancel at any time, another reason to sign up yourself, you will have the email confirmation that allows you to cancel in no time, I tested it myself, donated and then canceled. If for whatever reason you can't figure out how to do it yourself, you can email us (or hit reply to this newsletter) and we will take care of it quickly. Perks for Monthly Supporters When we have chocolate makers in town, or are throwing special book signing events, or launching new bars at special tasting events, you will get free or very discounted access to all our events. The frequency of these special events would not be more often than maximum once a month, more likely once every 2-3 months. But, the events are always really special, inspiring and always very tasty. We will see how this whole effort goes, if we don't hit our target of $2K per month, then we will finish selling Momotombo and then start winding down for our hard close. If we get close to or pass our target, we will stay open, and use any excess beyond the $2K towards a programming budget for special events with priority access for our donors. Saturday Tasting Menu SOMA Arcana 100% SOMA Starry Night Dick Taylor Black Currant & Orange Dick Taylor Espresso 68% dark with Sight Glass coffee Soma's latest batch of Arcana is outstanding, they are using Porcelana cacao to make this 100% cacao beans (no sugar, no added cocoa butter) and it is a great gift to anyone who is off sugar. A delicious 100%. The Starry night is a flurry of salt crystals on a comforting milk chocolate... Dick Taylor brings out two new flavored bars, I have tasted neither, so get there early if you want a taste of either of these two, they should sell out promptly, we have very few! PREVIEW: New Bars and New Makers! I have not been bringing my full passion and energy to The Chocolate Garage for the past year or two, but I am re-dedicating myself to continuing to find new makers, and bringing in great new origins as well as flavored bars. Currently, regardless of whether this new donor opportunity keeps The Chocolate Garage doors open, I am tremendously excited to be bringing in a new tree to bar maker from Brazil called Baianí. Tutta and Juliana are the husband wife team behind one of the farms we will go visit during our future Brazil trip, they have the most magical farm location, state of the art fermentation facility, and Juliana is not only a great chocolate maker, but I had the pleasure of staying in her home during my last visit and she is an outstanding chef as well! I also have a very exciting bean to bar maker from Uganda who is poised to ship his 70% two ingredient bar being made using cacao grown in Uganda. This bean to bar revolution, especially chocolate being made in country of origin, is just heating up. So, maybe instead of closing The Chocolate Garage, we can collectively bring new energy, heart, passion and taste buds to continuing to help it grow in new ways. I for one am staying tuned and listening to hear what is possible and what form it will take! Whatever that form, it will be a more healthy, sustainable movement for all of us, and will exist if we collectively want it to exist. In the meantime, I just arrived in Hawaii, my kids are loving their local theatre camp, and I am slowly starting to get my energy back, and take a very overdue and deserved vacation. I hope you all have a beautiful weekend, until next week! Sunita

Our chocumentary The Chocolate Garage: in Hawaii will screen in Maui this weekend, at the Maui Film Festival, sadly I am not well enough to travel and attend, but I have some dear friends on Maui who will be there in spirit for me!

We have some fun schwag for buying! We don't have all sizes, but hopefully you can find something to remember The Chocolate Garage by, and Happy Chocolate. Or perhaps consider a custom framed wrapper? 

[thechocolategarage]

SoMA Is Back!

June 8, 2018

We are still open on Saturdays from 9-1, come stock up on SoMA and Momotombo!

Happy Friday! Alice here, filling in for an unwell Sunita. She asked that I express her thanks to everyone who has taken part in the Save The Chocolate Garage campaign so far. She will explain more fully about this donor drive in next week's newsletter, but at the moment she needs to rest and start to recuperate. We just received a new shipment of SoMA, with a few favorites like Old School Milk back in stock. There are still plenty of Momotombo assortments on hand, including the fresh chocolates that we sampled last Saturday. Katie and Claire will be around to help you tomorrow. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Alice

Remembering Cassie and Viola, and how much fun we had at the peak of our Garaging. See the old oil panel system for our wrappers in the background?! 

We have some fun schwag for buying! We don't have all sizes, but hopefully you can find something to remember The Chocolate Garage by, and Happy Chocolate. Or perhaps consider a custom framed wrapper?

[thechocolategarage]

Save The Chocolate Garage? Fresh (Nica) Chocolates tomorrow!

June 1, 2018

Open Saturdays 9-1pm, our 'soft close' was last Saturday, but we'll stay open to sell all the Momotombo we have and then maybe longer if we can "save" The Chocolate Garage?!

Dear Garagistas, Who would have guessed I would be writing this newsletter, it's amazing how life is always changing and each of us with it. And things that mattered (or didn't) in the past somehow become less important (or more). So, here we go! Save The Chocolate Garage?! If you would like to donate $10, $20 or any amount above $5, you can do that right now using the donorbox we set up via Stripe. You can click here to get to a secure page to enter your credit card details and decide what amount you want to contribute. Each month your card will be charged that same amount, and if ever you need to stop the charge, you can login with your email and stop the charges. Or just email me and I will walk you through it. I just tried to Save The Chocolate Garage myself... I signed up for $20/month and then learned how to cancel it. Not everyone who comes regularly to The Chocolate Garage reads my (typically very long) newsletter, so please let other lovers of The Chocolate Garage that this is a way they can try to save their reliable source of super delicious, super Happy Chocolate. FRESH MOMOTOMBO CHOCOLATES These are rarely available at The Chocolate Garage, mostly because they have a short shelf life, so they are more risky to bring in. These are made super fresh, sent quickly our way, and are ready to go home with you! Freezing them will hold them indefinitely (don't do this with regular/tempered chocolate!) and so if you buy 5 or 10 boxes tomorrow (please do!) you can pop the majority of them into the freezer, fully wrapped as they are, and take them out a year from now and they will be perfect. Each box comes with an assortment of 9 different flavors. The way Fresh Chocolates work is that they cook the milk, sugar and honey into a dulce de leche, then they add the cacao liquor into the dulce de leche and mix in various nuts, or dried fruits, and delicious spices. They are not dairy free, and the mixed box does contain nuts. So if dairy and nuts are not for you, these fresh chocolates are not for you... but they make a beautiful, unique and special gift! Instead of a bottle of wine, bring a box of unique and rare fresh chocolates. Carlos and his team released the recipe for the fresh chocolate, in this YouTube video. Mothers Day in Nicaragua was a few days ago, and since this is not really a time of celebration, given all the police violence and student protesters who have been killed and injured, rather than do their normal festive release of new flavors, Momotombo decided to give a gift to all the mothers of Nicaragua: their famous and prized fresh chocolate recipe. So that when this turmoil ends and they get better leadership, people can be prepared to use these recipes to rebuild the Nicaraguan economy and make delicious chocolates for their local communities. Cacao sales are also down currently in Nicaragua, so this is a way to use some of the leftover cacao that can't be sold. People can watch this video and learn all the tips and secrets behind the making of this technologically and culturally appropriate and accessible food. Carlos told us this in our first Chocumentary, when he spoke of the power of cacao and its long roots and history in Nicaragua. When someone taps into their unique set of skills and super powers and brings more beauty and their own truth to the world, it is wonderful to behold. Last week Carlos wanted to talk, to share this idea, and as he told me his plan, that was meeting with some resistance from his surroundings, I was moved to tears over how beautiful and generous this was. It was clear that I was witnessing his truth. Right action. Full and pure expression of his individual essence and reason for existence. So when Carlos paused and asked what I thought, I told him through inspired tears that I thought it was perfect, exactly the right expression in this moment, for him and his team. It would nourish Nicaragua and be part of the way that collectively they would spark and inspire more generousity and collaboration amongst and between Nicaraguans. And he expressed that he would like to subtitle it in English (I agreed to help, but we ran it out of time) so that not only would it be a gift to all of Latin American cacao & chocolate producers, it could be used by anyone, including all of you! We hope to make that happen soon. Anyone who speaks Spanish and would like to volunteer to translate the text for us, please reach out, help would be welcome. We hope to bring in more Momotombo nibs next, and that way you could all adapt the recipe to using a juicer or blender (instead of the corn masa grinder, very commonplace in every town in Nicaragua, but less so around here), maybe we can have a competition! Saturday Tasting Menu (note, we won't be tasting 4 bars each Saturday, we are short staffed and so we will do the tastings when we have something new that is a must try... the samples will be on the side folding table going forward, when we have samples for tasting) MOMOTOMBO Fresh Chocolates Box of 9 flavors Coconut Chia Orange Mint Cashew Rum Raisin Sesame Cherry Walnut Pineapple Cardamom nut Each box has one of each of these flavors, we will have them to sample, you may not manage to taste them all. In any case, you'll get a sense of their texture and flavors and sweetness. Omg, they took Claire hours and hours to prepare! Thank you Claire!) Final few notes We have some Grab Bags of chocolate, these contain the contents of the Taste Tubes that we have cleared out. You won't know what you are tasting, but you can test your palate! We also have some bags with one pound of chocolate that we tasted lately, that were deemed to be too flawed and problematic. You would be surprised what percent of what we taste falls into this category. These bags are called "Unapproved Chocolate" and are sorted by darks or milks and inclusions. These can be fun to taste and see if your palate is alongside ours in terms of what we consider to be not delicious enough (or sometimes revolting), therefore not Happy Chocolate. Ok, must hit send! And get this newsletter sent ASAP! See many of you tomorrow, Sunita

Remembering Cassie and Viola, and how much fun we had at the peak of our Garaging. See the old oil panel system for our wrappers in the background?! 

We have some fun schwag for buying! We don't have all sizes, but hopefully you can find something to remember The Chocolate Garage by, and Happy Chocolate. Or perhaps consider a custom framed wrapper? 

[thechocolategarage]

Smooth Chocolator, Charm School and Patric (The BOSS!)

May 25, 2018

Potluck today, at 1:30pm. Bring some food or drink to share. And perhaps some compostable plates? See you then! (Soft close, we will remain open for Momotombo, more info below) 

Happy Friday! Bit of a late start today, been learning all about plumbing, caulking, and doing some detective work to figure out the third culprit contributing to a bathtub leak. I *think* I have worked it out and will be good to go, but had to come write to you all to let you know all the special bars we just got in for you before finishing my repair testing. Garage Gathering (Potluck) Before I get started, tomorrow is our potluck! Bring some food or drink to share, or some compostable plates? We will gather right after our Garage hours, at 1:30 pm. We need 20-30 minutes to debrief and wrap up after we close at 1pm, so we will start the nibbling and celebrating around then! It looks quite cool tomorrow (great for chocolate, not so great for us) so wear some warm layers and we'll try to find the sun. Smooth Chocolator Do you remember Yoon Kim from Australia? Her brand is called Smooth Chocolator and we have a few of our favorites back in stock, freshly arrived from Australia. I don't know how it takes less time to get chocolate from Australia then it does to get it from Toronto... In any case, we got Belize, Madagascar, Tanzania, Haiti, Ben Tre (Vietnam), Sierra Nevada (Colombia) and a few Trinidad for those who want to taste a more rare origin. These bars won't last long, the most of each origin we have is 20 bars, so come early! Charm School Chocolate Charm School also sent us what they had in stock right now, so we are re-upped on their plain coconut milk, the same milk with maple candied pecans (swoon) and also their Coconut Milk Mocha bar as well. Patric Chocolate One lovely consequence of our agreeing to take all the chocolate Momotombo could get out of the country (see last week's newsletter) given the impending civil war, is that we decided to keep ordering many of our other favorites too! We are so happy to see the four bars Patric Chocolate made this month: The BOSS (yes! our very own crowdfunded exclusive that is now available to the public), Signature 70%, Black Licorice and the Sweet and Sassy! For those who missed previous emails about the situation in Nicaragua, I will just quickly say that Carlos of Momotombo asked us if we could store all his chocolate, since things are changing day by day in Nicaragua, sales are precipitously down in country, and so instead of risking wasting all his inventory, or having it melt if the power goes or chaos breaks out, he just sent it all our way. I figured you would all step up and help buy, and I agreed to stay open until we manage to sell all the Momotombo he sends us. Fabrica de Chocolate Momotombo For those of you who really want The Chocolate Garage to stay open, this does not mean delay buying Momotombo to keep us open longer ;) please do come buy the Momotombo, because the more you buy, share and gift, the longer Momotombo will be able to stay open in Managua, and that means 12 families and their extended communities will be well and safe. Also, the good news for those who already know Momotombo well, is that a shipment of "fresh chocolates" is right now at the airport in Managua, so it should fly today or tomorrow, which means next Saturday we will have the other special product they are so famous for: fresh chocolates. If you watch our Nicaragua video, Carlos gets into some detail about his desire for cacao to play a more powerful role in Nicaragua and his efforts to create this recipe for making fresh chocolate using only local equipment (comal and corn masa grinder) so that this value add step can be widely accessible to anyone in Nicaragua, and beyond. So, definitely mark you calendars for June 2nd, we will have some of the fresh chocolates available to taste, so you can experience the brownie-fudge kind of texture and see what flavors you like! I have no idea what Carlos is sending, I just gave him a blank check. Well, not literally, that's where you come in, and buy, and then we send him the check. Saturday Tasting Menu Momotombo 72% (mini bar) Smooth Chocolator Haiti 70% Momotombo Milk bar with seeds Patric Chocolate The BOSS SOFT CLOSE For those who have not heard, given the difficult and dire situation in Nicaragua, The Chocolate Garage will stay open to sell Momotombo chocolate. I am kind of rolling my own eyes, because it feels like so much swinging change: "we are closing", um, "no, we are not". "When will you close" you ask? At this point I will say we are taking it month by month, sometimes week by week, and always day by day. So, keep coming, and we will announce when we are going to close. As long as Carlos can send us chocolate and is able to produce chocolate, we will do our best to be here to support the selling of Momotombo, until Managua is calm and back to "normal". I am thinking of perhaps doing a Patreon or Go Fund Me campaign, to ask you all who want us to stick around to contribute a monthly $5, $10, or whatever upper amount you chose to The Chocolate Garage. I am curious how many of you would be willing to put a monthly latte and scone's worth of money towards The Chocolate Garage, to pitch into our operating costs? If you would be willing to charge $10 a month? Shoot me an email, no content needed, just to signal to me that you would be someone willing to have $5 (or $10 or more) charged to your credit card each month, in order to see The Chocolate Garage staff and team stick around and keep being open on Saturdays. Part of me can't believe I am even asking this, but another part of me feels like this whole Nicaragua situation, and some of the interested buyers of The Chocolate Garage have shifted my way of looking at a few things. If any of you have brilliant ideas sparked by my musings, reach out. I am open to anything, and at this time in my life, where most everything is up in the air, and I am being nudged to let go of plans and just stay in the moment, I am not planning further than a few weeks at a time. Talking about plans, I *am* very excited about a new bean to bar maker in Uganda! I tasted their two ingredient 70% dark bar and I was very impressed. This is a very new maker, and I am working on bringing his chocolate into The Chocolate Garage. Excited to see if that can work. So, stay tuned for that, and also next week (fingers crossed) the fresh chocolates buy Momotombo, and I have a few other bars up my sleeves too... one from Brazil, a wonderful maker that a lucky few of you will get to some and visit when we do that origin trip... Enjoy your long weekend! I will be painting, caulking, testing my repairs and getting ready to go on vacation with my kids! Sunita p.s. do you know anyone who needs a dark room to rent in downtown Palo Alto?  If yes, email me!

I love cacao, for the potential it holds to transform hearts and minds and bring us a customer driven model for a clean and transparent supply chain. I also like to eat chocolate. Sometimes.

Here is Yoon, The Smooth Chocolator, she just spent time judging cacao in the Solomon Islands and upon her return, boxed up all the bars she had and sent them our way! 

[thechocolategarage]

New SOMA, New Momotombo and New news.

May 18, 2018

Open hours Saturday 9 am - 1pm. Farmers Market is open again! 

It's Friday again! So, as my title suggests, we have a new SOMA shipment in, we got the oh-so-yummy Green Tangerine back, more Old School Milk (Susan!! you know which Susan!), more Fazenda Boa Vista delicious milk using cacao from Brazil... come check it out! We also got in Dick Taylor's Fig Bar, Guatemala 70%, and Browned Butter. The title also suggests that we have new Momotombo... this is unexpected, and the New News comes out of this Momotombo news too. I mentioned in past weeks that Nicaragua is experiencing a lot of unrest. The displeasure with the current government has been simmering for a long time, and an unexpected set of events have triggered a forceful movement. The long and the short of it is that Nicaragua is moving towards civil war. The last few week's events have meant that Momotombo's sales are down precipitously. They sell most of their products within Nicaragua, and both tourists and locals are not buying these days, because the situation is so dire. If things get worse, power could become (more) intermittent, and they could possibly lose all their inventory. Carlos reached out to ask if I could take all his inventory, and hold it until he could come and sell it. Even though we are closing, I said yes, because it seems like right action. I feel like The Chocolate Garage community is uniquely positioned to be of service to the staff at Momotombo, because we have such a long relationship with Momotombo. So, the new news is that our May 26th end date just turned into a "soft close", because we need to stay open on future Saturdays until we can finish selling the Momotombo (potluck at 2pm is still on!). Realistically, it makes no sense for Carlos to try to come and sell all this chocolate, so we are going to stay open a bit longer, so we can sell as much of the Momotombo chocolate he has sent us. And, if we are going to be open to sell Momotombo, we figure we should probably get more Patric Chocolate in, and a few other brands as well. So, we will be open and I will have to keep writing weekly newsletters for a bit longer... thanks a lot Carlos! Heh. But seriously, everyone at The Chocolate Garage was unanimous in stepping up and finding ways to keep staffing the Garage this summer, so we can keep getting you the Momotombo, the faster we can sell the Momotombo, the sooner we can get them the money that will allow more than a dozen women and their extended families be employed and cared for during this difficult time in Nicaragua. More details will follow in future newsletters about our exact timing and how to get your Momtotombo. We will be adding the products we get in (many more than just the chocolate covered seeds, next week we may get some "fresh chocolates" too!) to our online site, so you should be able to order them online as well, if you are far away and can't come visit us. You want more new News? Our Hawaii documentary got accepted to the Maui Film Fest!ival. Yep. We are so excited, this is our second film to get some recognition, our first film "The Chocolate Garage: in Nicaragua", also just received "Best Documentary" from the WIFTI awards. My latest new news is that I am fading, this is being written Thursday night, because I am off to teach my favorite class at Stanford tomorrow: Bon Appetit, Marie Curie: The Science Behind Haute Cuisine, and that means my morning can't be spent writing this newsletter. So, zzzzzzz. Goodnight, also, if any of you need a beautiful space to use in the daytime, during the week, please let me know, we are looking to share the tasting space with folks who need a charming space to work, or meet clients. And, if anyone wants to swoop in and buy this jewel of a chocolate business that generates enough revenue to live well (in the midwest but is not enough to raise a family in Palo Alto) please ping me directly! See you Saturday! Eeeeek, I almost forgot to tell you what we are tasting tomorrow. Saturday Tasting Menu Dick Taylor Belize 70% Momotombo Nicaragua Origin 70%   SOMA Green Tangerine Momotombo Milk Chocolate with nibs Just come by, we'll be tasting yummy stuff. Sunita p.s. more news on the Brazil trip later... 

Here is my friend and ever inspiring and visionary Carlos Mann, of Momotombo Chocolate. This interview in the Nicaragua documentary is one of my favorite parts of the film. 

We are getting closer and closer with our Switzerland choco-doc! We are reviewing it again, after some time to get a fresh perspective in India and Brazil... stay tuned! 

[thechocolategarage]

SOMA, Askanya, Original Beans and Felchlin

May 11, 2018

Open Saturdays 9-1pm, May 26th is our last day.

Dear Garagistas, I am writing to you from Ilheus, Bahia. Which is in Brazil. I spent the past week or so connecting the bean to bar scene down here, and then heading out with some of the non-governmental organizations down here to visit some of the most interesting cacao farms in the area. I feel so lucky to be here, with a few other colleagues who were also invited here, and I have learned so much. This area was hit by a particular fungal disease called "Witches' Broom" in the late 1980s. There was a group of folks who had interest in dismantling the then political and cultural structure in this region and introduced this disease to do so. The disease was far more effective at destroying the trees than anyone expected and this region has really suffered from this incident. Within a few years Brazil went from being a net exporter of cacao, to being a net importer of cacao. They are now learning and experimenting with all kinds of ways to manage their cacao in order to be able to rebuild the industry, in a way that allows them to make a living and keep growing cacao. The bean to bar movement here is very inspiring. I find the quality coming out of Brazil is incredible for this nascent a movement. Every country and their people bring a unique approach to living and working, and seeing the spirit and challenges here in Brazil has been fascinating. I am very excited to return, and frankly, did not have the heart or energy coming in, to learn another language, but I feel very motivated to pick up portuguese now! I find it very frustrating not being able to chat with people and get my own feel for things and truly connect with others without an interpreter. I think because I speak Spanish and French (the chocolate languages) I took for granted the power of that tool to move through the cacao world in a skillful way. Being here has really made clear to me that language is so critical to what I do... so I am going to have to exercise my brain a bit more once I close The Chocolate Garage and have some more time... turns out Portuguese is definitely a chocolate language too. One of very few producer countries speaking Portuguese, but such a force and such a long history and tradition behind cacao. Ping us if you haven't already, and are interested in getting more info on our Brazil trip! Ok, enough about that, I have to head to the airport soon. It's a long trip back home. Can't wait to see my kids, and may catch a few of you towards the end of our day tomorrow, I should get back to Palo Alto just about noon. Nicaragua Actually, one more thing, Nicaragua is in a bad way right now, and I have been hearing a lot about it from Carlos who is very concerned about his staff, as are they. Things are falling apart, there is massive revolt after the government has cracked down really hard on peaceful students protests, it seems more than 60 people have died, mostly students. And Carlos is concerned about how long he will be able to stay open producing chocolate... I am brain storming ways for The Chocolate Garage community to help, and have offered to Carlos to store any chocolate he can get out of the country, so he has inventory safe, that can continue being sold. I am also wondering if any of you would opt into a prepayment for specific products? Timing is rather awkward right now, given our wrapping up, and cash flow, but I would like to find ways to help Momotombo in this time of crisis. If any one has ideas and is reading, and are a retailer or an online seller, or whatever, and would like to carry the Momotombo Chocolate Covered seeds, reach out.   Saturday Tasting Menu Askanya Perle Rare 90% SOMA Madagascar 70% Original Beans Femmes de Virunga 55% Askanya Wanga Neges milk 50% Starting and finishing with one of the newest brands we carry, that I am very excited about: Askanya! They are super new and their bars have some textural imperfections, but they have gotten the hardest part right, the cacao quality. I love that in their first four bars to launch, they chose to do a 90%, just beans and sugar, and then all the way down to two sweeter milks, one with rapadura and one with regular sugar. Sorry (!) for the false alarm last week, it turns out our order got stuck at the friendly border between the US and its northern neighbor, my home country. But, SOMA is back this week, we have received it and have our fingers crossed that it stayed nice and cool along its extended journey. :) Old School Milk, Arcana, Jamaica, Arauca (Colombia), Choroní. We also got our favorite Original Beans bars back, both the Esmeraldas milk and the Femmes de Virunga, and their "cousin" chocolate made by the same brilliant Swiss maker: Felchlin Arriba 72% drops. We have some more of your favorite Chocolat Bonnat bars, Los Colorados, Kaori, and the classic Venezuelas as well. We are restocked on Ritual Chocolate as well, Vanilla, Bourbon Barrel aged, Ecuador 75 7 85, Fleur de Sel. Come see! I need to say goodbye! Maybe see some of you tomorrow, feel free to snap up some of our last The Chocolate Garage shirts, or the rare farmed wrappers that we have displayed. If you have any favorite bars that you still dream about and wonder if I have the wrapper and would custom frame it for you, the answer to both of those questions is probably yes. Let me know, I can search my "collection" and then you can have a tangible memory of The Chocolate Garage for your home. Also, we plan to have a potluck on Saturday May 26th, starting about 1:30 pm, at The Chocolate Garage, to hang out, nibble, sip, and hang out and reminisce and celebrate the beautiful community that we have built together the past 8 years. Bon voyage to me, and see you soon! Sunita

Remembering Cassie and Viola, and how much fun we had at the peak of our Garaging. See the old oil panel system for our wrappers in the background?! 

We have some fun schwag for buying! We don't have all sizes, but hopefully you can find something to remember The Chocolate Garage by, and Happy Chocolate. Or perhaps consider a custom framed wrapper? 

[thechocolategarage]

Sister power! (Fresh Coast and Askanya!)

May 4, 2018

Open Saturdays 9-1pm, until May 26th, then closing. 

HAPPY FRIDAY !!!!

Yes, that was me yelling. Happy Friday to you! I am in Brazil right now, I have just finished getting way too excited about sharing too many origins with a group of eager and curious Brazilian chocolate industry folks, and am preparing to sit on a panel this evening (São Paolo is 4 hours ahead) with some colleagues, to talk about the bean to bar market in general.

A group of us will soon be heading to the state of Bahia, a 20+ hour drive... no, just kidding, we are flying. Brazil is such a huge country, you mostly need to fly between places. We will be heading north from São Paolo towards where I lived as a little three year old girl (the state of Paraíba) but stopping before we get that far. Bahia is where we will visit a few cacao farms, and learn more about the new growth in the craft sector, as cacao is making a come back in Brazil.

Brazil used to be a huge exporter of cacao, and then it got hit by disease, long sad and juicy story there, but I am so excited to be heading there to learn more and share some of what I know. And, prepare for our next Origin Trip! Who wants to come to Brazil?!

Email me if interested, I don't yet know the possible dates, but I should come back from this trip with a very good idea.

For the rest of you who are interested in joining for our Costa Rica May 2019 trip, please email me about that as well, so we can get you on the list of interested people, and get you more info as we have it.

A quick mention of the above image of two Rogue wrappers, the Jamaica 75% and the Carenero 70%, I have selected some special wrappers from my insane "collection" (nice way of saying I hoard things I get emotionally attached to...) and framed them as mementos from The Chocolate Garage, to remember some of the beautiful crowdfunding and community building that has happened over the years. You will see these framed bars in The Chocolate Garage, they are for whomever would like to own a piece of the story, in the from of wrappers, beautifully framed for a wall. I am still putting together a few more, some are grouped by cacao origin, some by maker, some by their crowd funded nature... The smaller frames are 75 dollars and the larger are 100. And, we are open to shipping!

As for the present moment, which is all that exists, ;) let's talk about what we will have tomorrow, for tasting, so you can start leaving the present moment and moving into a happy chocolate future... We have some Sister Power going on, I am delighted to see more women makers and women led companies, and tomorrow we will feature Fresh Coast and Askanya Chocolaterie. Fresh Coast is run by Nichole Warner in Traverse City, Michigan, and the snow finally melted there! Ok, I guess I don't know Michigan and have little to say.... other than Zingermans and a huge lake! :) Nichole has been on my radar for a couple of years now, she is making really good single origin dark chocolate.

Corinne Joachim Sanon started Askanya Chocolaterie and is also someone to watch, especially as someone who is interested in Happy Chocolate and wants to see ways to support empowerment in Haiti. She has a tremendous background in a traditional academic sense, and is bringing it all to bear in her grassroots building of a local ecosystem for cacao and chocolate in Haiti. Haiti is one of the countries I am really excited to go and visit, and bring some of you intrepid travelers along, so we can visit and make a film about these beautiful efforts in Haiti.

This is the time to stock up for MOTHER'S DAY GIFTS, our selection is rich, and it's smart to stock up on all the special bars you can before they are gone. Also, if you are interested in another Mother's Day option, you can consider Happy Flowers, either an arrangement, or a flower arranging class!

Tyler David lake is doing a Mother's Day floral design workshop at The Chocolate Garage. You can see details here. Or you can pre-order for Mother's Day here. Saturday Tastes

Fresh Coast Belize 70%

Fresh Coast Tanzania 70%

Askanya Minuit 60%

Askanya Paradis 47%

*Bonus* Askanya Perle Rare 90%

The two Fresh Coast bars are both two ingredient bars (cacao and sugar). Askanya Minut is a Haitian dark bar with vanilla bean while the Paradis is a playful and delicious dark milk, and the Perle Rare is a very approachable 90%. Come and check them out, see what you think, and stock up as we wind down.

We have a few boxes of Momotombo left as well, only the dark milk chocolate covered seeds, but they won't last much longer. As well as many of your favorite Patric bars, some Bonnat, and Ritual and others.

If you are so inspired, please take a moment and write in our gorgeous hand made (by Katie) journal what your favorite thing about your time coming to The Chocolate Garage has been. It isn't just for us, I think it is good for the community to take a moment to pause and think about what was unique and nourishing about visits to The Chocolate Garage. My hope is that we all bring this forth and if any of you start a business, that you bring in the warm generousity that I think is at the heart of The Chocolate Garage. If we want to cultivate more of this community in our world, we need to first see and know what it is that we value. We need to really see it and know it in order to be able to move towards it and know how to value it.

Enjoy your Friday and the coming weekend!

Sunita

Remembering Cassie and Viola, and how much fun we had at the peak of our Garaging. See the old oil panel system for our wrappers in the background?! 

We have some fun schwag for buying! We don't have all sizes, but hopefully you can find something to remember The Chocolate Garage by, and Happy Chocolate.