We finished leading our second farm-to-bar craft chocolate workshop in Costa Rica the first week of July. The wonderful Macaw Lodge and Macaw Kakau hosted our group and the event was a great success! This year’s participants came from a variety of food related backgrounds. It was a great mix of people including a food scientist, a baker and a few chefs. Three participants were even IICCT (International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting) certified tasters and judges! The variety of perspectives and experiences greatly added to the class and the learning process. We certainly appreciated and learned from all of the wonderful exchanges that took place.
Attendees experienced all aspects of craft chocolate. We started with harvesting ripe pods and then processing the cacao for fermentation, which included sampling lots of fruit and drinking the fresh juice. After learning about cacao’s place in agroforestry, participants then worked through every step of the bean to bar process. We were told over and over how unique it was to have hands on experience every step of the way.
This year, Macaw Kakau invested in building a chocolate classroom at their factory! Our lucky group was the first to use and enjoy the new facility. This wonderful addition allowed students to work in their own space and to experiment and practice at their leisure. At the same time we were close to the factory and all necessary resources.
One of our goals was to give students a deeper understanding of the decisions that go into chocolate making. To facilitate this, we prepared 11 different chocolate tasting comparisons for the class. Each tasting directly related to each day’s activities. For instance, on the day we roasted, we tasted chocolate made with the same cacao harvest, but different roasting profiles. These multiple, daily tastings were very well received. One of the highlights, on the last day of class, was holding a blind tasting of everyone’s chocolate. We all tried to guess the correct maker for each chocolate. It was so much fun and invited a lot of speculation and laughter.
We are inspired by everyone’s engaged participation and enthusiasm for learning this fascinating process. We can’t wait for the next craft chocolate workshop which is scheduled for April 7 – 12, 2025. To find out more about the next class, visit our workshop page or send us an email. If you’d like to learn more about the eco-lodge and chocolate factory, visit Macaw Lodge or Macaw Kakau.
