TCHO Chocolate is a new chocolate producer in San Francisco. Today I stopped by their factory store and found that their version 1.0 chocolate had just been released. It is now available to the public in the form of four different types of chocolate – TCHO 1.0 ”Nutty” Peru 65% cacao, TCHO 1.0 “Citrus” Madagascar 67% cacao, TCHO 1.0 “Fruity” Peru 68% cacao and TCHO 1.0 “Chocolatey” 70% cacao. Note that these chocolates are not flavored with “fruit” or “citrus”. These flavors occur as a result of the type of beans used, the conditions under which the beans were grown, and the roasting, fermentation and other processes involved in making the chocolate.
TCHO founders, Timothy Childs and Karl Bittong, came from the technology world. They approached the chocolate-making process quite differently than do traditional chocolatiers. They decided to get input from their target audience along the way. They spent a year making various beta samples and having their ”users” test them and provide feedback. In fact, this chocolate went through more than 1000 iterations over the past year before the 1.0 product was released!
I have very strong opinions about chocolate and I couldn’t wait to get home to do a “taste test”. The result – I really love the TCHO chocolates! All four are different and delicious. They all have a smooth texture and complex flavors. My favorites are the “Citrus” and the “Fruity” but I would not turn down any of the four that I tried! I also brought home a tin of their dark chocolate-coated dried mango – delicious!
Check out TCHO online or stop by their factory store in San Francisco.
TCHO Chocolate
Website: tcho.com/
Factory store: Pier 17, The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA