Wild Kauai Chocolate (920) 475-5405
TUESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY 12pm - 5pm
CLOSED Saturday & Sunday
CLASSES ONLY on Monday (pre-register)
(See Below For Weekly Special Event Hours)
Wild Kauai Chocolate is a labor of love, created by three committed partners determined to give you (our friends and clients) a hands on experience with the wonderful world of bean to bar chocolate.
We offer:
Chocolate Tasting Flights ($5) available anytime during open hours
Chocolate Kitchen Tours ($10) available from 1-5 pm daily Monday-Friday
Chocolate Making Classes ($55) available 1-3pm & 3:30-5:30pm Monday, 9-11 am Tuesday-Friday mornings
Chocolate Making Certifications / Internships ($1500) available on custom dates
Chocolate + Adventure Retreats in Kauai, The Galapagos & beyond
It’s not just chocolate, It’s a process
We are dedicated to bringing you Kauai’s most natural, small-batch, handcrafted, bean-to-bar, single-origin chocolate. Our exquisite craft dark chocolate is made in its simplest and purest form with only two all natural, organic ingredients – cacao beans and sugar.
Our dream is to have a pod-to-table approach by sourcing our cacao from backyards, farms and plantations around the Island of Kauai. Our local families farm cacao with loving care knowing that our guests will experience a taste of their home.
Our mission is to share the love and super-food benefits of craft chocolate with friends and guests while hosting one-of-a-kind events, trainings and tasting experiences.
Debbie and Mark Williamson and Kellie Lin Knott
Our yoga business and adventures led us around the world (Africa, India, Costa Rica, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Equador, and Bali) where we experienced wonderful cultures, people and chocolate. Bali, Indonesia became our annual stop for years and eventually we invested in a yoga studio in Ubud and called Bali our second home. We continue to build cacao farmer relationships, everywhere we travel and hope to expand awareness around the exotic taste of chocolate sourced from around the globe and especially in our home of Kauai.
Sorting
Once the cacao beans arrive in our kitchen, we hand sort every bag and inspect the beans for their quality. We cut, taste, roast, and taste again in the process of choosing the beans we use. It’s labor intensive, but we love the work we do and know that in the end, our final product will be that much better for the extra attention to detail.
Roasting
The beans are slowly and gently roasted to reduce bitterness and bring out the natural flavors and characteristics of the bean. Different origins require different temperatures and roast times. We carefully monitor each roasting along the way to ensure proper levels of humidity, and superior aroma, and taste.
Winnowing
Following roasting, the beans are cooled, cracked and winnowed. Winnowing is the process of removing the shells or husks from around the bean. A fan is used to blow the husk away leaving the cacao nib, which is the base ingredient for making chocolate.
Grinding & Conching
Our cacao nibs are stone ground into a paste or chocolate liquor. Later, organic sugar is added in small amounts and thoroughly blended with the chocolate to release and enhance the natural flavor and aroma profile of the beans. Our tour participants giggle with joy as they pass our grinder where the air is rich with the delicious aroma of chocolate.
Aging
Our chocolate is formed into blocks, wrapped and aged for a minimum 3 weeks as the tannins and flavors mature. Aging chocolate is an unrefined science, but we know from many personal taste tests that the flavor of our chocolate changes as the chocolate is allowed to age, similarly to the way the flavors of wine mature and shift as they are aged.
Tempering
After the aging process is completed, the chocolate is melted and tempered through cooling and warming to the perfect temperature, creating even crystallization of the ingredients. Tempering is an art which gives chocolate its smooth, creamy texture and crisp snap when broken.
Molding
The tempered chocolate is scooped into our bar molds. Our specialty partner bars have inclusions (coffee, fruit, spices, etc.) from Kauai growers and businesses. Once cooled and solidified, the chocolate is gently removed from the molds. The bars rest for another 24 hours prior to wrapping.
Wrapping
Our finished bars are hand wrapped in cellophane compostable sleeves for easy access, and rewrapping. You may choose to eat the entire bar and rewrapping isn’t necessary. Once wrapped, the bars are placed in an envelope for storage and reuse.
Tasting
This step happens before, during and after every batch of chocolate we make. If you come to meet us, you’ll do a lot of this. Much like wine-tasting, chocolate tasting has pleasurable subtleties that change as the seconds pass. We’ll help you to name and appreciate each.
To learn more, or to book a chocolate making class or kitchen tour, pre-register at www.wildkauaichocolate.com.