Amano Chocolate

At Pizzeria 712, they had a dessert with a chocolate that was labeled amano. I remember having this dessert, and the chocolate was not overly sweet, and it made me think, that perhaps this amano type of chocolate was one where I could take it not being completely milk chocolate.

It made me curious, so I wanted to look up and see what it was. I found this. I went through their website and read everything, and it made me like them even more. They pay a premium for their beans, which means that the people who are growing these delicious cocoa beans are being given a decent wage, and not forced to remain in poverty, which is something I am definitely a fan of supporting.

So I have been planning to buy from them for a while, and they had mentioned that you could call before to stop by their factory to buy directly there, and since it is right in Orem, I figured that would be a better option than paying a whole lot to ship it over to Provo. Then the other day I was reading on their blog that they are opening the factory for the holidays, and that people could stop by between the hours of 10 and 4pm. So for about a week, I have been planning on going over there, but never had gotten around to it. So I decided that today I was going to go.

I went over to see if Prairie wanted to go, and she did. She took a long time to get ready, and by that time, Autumn was ready to be picked up from school, so we picked her up on the way there. I expected that we would just get to go there and buy some chocolate, but I was very surprised by the great treatment we got.

We went there, and an employee came and let us in, and started showing us around the factory, explaining to us how the chocolate is made and what all the different machines do. They had just finished a bit of white chocolate, and it was in the cooling room, ready to be cooled down, so he got us some spoons and dipped them in and gave us each a bit of the slightly warm white chocolate. It was very good. Then he took us over to the place where they had lots of different bits of chocolate, and gave us bits of 4 kinds to try. He asked the girls which chocolate they liked the best, then handed them a bag of 1/4 kg of the jembrana milk chocolate they liked. I couldn't believe he just handed it to them. It was a big bag, and this is high quality chocolate.

Then I told him I wanted to buy a pack of 10, which retails for $62 on their website (which is a good deal as it is), and so he put me together a specialized pack with one of each of the kinds. So then I asked him what I owed him, figuring I'd need to add on tax, and he said, "How about like $50?" So I was really surprised. I handed him $60 anyway, because I really want to support such a good company.

The chocolate is amazing, and I have decided that dark chocolate is the same experience as with orange juice. It is not that I don't like it, it's that I only like really good stuff. It is amazing to taste all the amazing flavors in the chocolate, and I can't wait to try all of my different flavors.