Bean to Bar
Our Punta Gorda factory takes graded beans through eight stages to a wrapped bar — with roast profiles developed farm by farm, not one setting for everything.
Hand sorting
On arrival we run a random cut test of at least 50 beans from each bag to confirm fermentation and drying, then sort a second time to remove pod placenta, flat and broken beans, and transport damage.
Roasting
Small test batches establish the temperature and duration for each variety and each new farm. Roasting both develops flavour complexity and sanitizes the bean.
Crack & winnow
An FBM cracking machine breaks the beans into nibs while a series of fans and ducting separates the lighter shell from the heavier nib.
Pre-grind
Roasted nibs pass through a grinding head to a very coarse chocolate liquor — the texture of chunky peanut butter — reducing the load on the refining equipment downstream.
Butter press
A 25-tonne press separates cocoa butter from cocoa solids. The butter returns to our own recipes; the hardened cake is reprocessed into cocoa powder.
Refining & conching
A mélanger refines the liquor with sugar and cocoa butter over roughly 24 hours. An FBM Rumbo handles production batches while smaller grinders run tests; a Kleego conche then drives off volatile aromatics, for as long as the flavour target requires.
Tempering
Controlled warming and cooling sets the beta-V crystal — the only one of the five possible forms that gives proper snap, mouth feel and the contraction needed to release from the mould.
Moulding & packaging
Tempered chocolate fills polycarbonate moulds on vibrating tables to drive out air. Solid bars set in 20 to 25 minutes before demoulding; bonbons take a ganache or filling before being closed with a final layer of chocolate.