Welcome to our warm and delicious Cacao Space! This is a special place of rich flavors, decadent mouthwatering textures, seducing aromas and heart opening gatherings. 

My name is Ksenia and I am so excited to tell you all about my small chocolate company.

 

I created Cacao Space after diving deep in craft chocolate making a few years ago. I was completely fascinated by the chocolate making process, mindblown by the variety of flavor profiles and nuances cacao can represent. I experienced firsthand all health and emotional benefits of high quality cacao and realized that I am called to join this beautiful world of chocolate artisans. Let me share a few principles and ideas behind Cacao Space. 

Single Origin Chocolate

Cacao Space offers a variety of single origin chocolate bars. This means that only beans from certain country (and even a certain region in that country) are used to make a chocolate bar of your choice. The thing is that depending on place of origin cacao beans will taste differently and provide you with huge variety of profiles including fruity, floral, earthy, nutty and many other tasting notes for you to experience. You can see the resemblance of cacao to high quality coffee and wine here. So many factors can actually change the final flavor of the chocolate bar: soil composition, plants growing in the close proximity to the cacao trees, method of fermentation and drying of the beans, bean breed type, beans’ roasting temperature and duration, grinding time and many more. You will be amazed by how different can two or three 75% chocolate bars may taste. Try it for yourself and you will be surprised.

Micro Batch Craft Chocolate

Cacao Space is featuring very small batch chocolate production making small amounts of chocolate bars and providing you with the freshest product possible. This not only allows us to showcase different cacao varieties and open the world of flavor to you but also ensures individuality of every single bar you are tasting. I make everything myself only using small scale stone grinders, doing most of the process by hand from tempering every batch, filling every mold and packing every bar. I am truly inspired by supporting the art of craft chocolate and creating a community of fellow chocolate makers. Together we will introduce you to unique chocolate varieties. 

Premium Beans

You probably know that chocolate is made from cacao beans. What you might not know though is that cacao beans can be separated into 2 categories: high quality beans, that are also called Fino De Aroma category, and the ordinary beans, or bulk beans. Cacao “Fino de Aroma” gives a deeper and more varied taste than most people can imagine. In “Fino de Aroma” cacao we find notes of fruits, flowers, berries, herbs, wood, nuts and even caramel. Bulk beans give a much simpler, planer flavor and are used for the production of mass market chocolates. At Cacao Space I am sourcing the highest quality cacao so that you can fully experience the flavor depth of your chocolate. After trying craft chocolate you are unlikely to return to mass produced bars. 

Quality Ingredients

Ingredients matter. If you want to actually get all the health benefits of cacao and give your body a boost of antioxidants, minerals and flavonoids then your chocolate bar should mostly contain cacao and not all the unnecessary oils, additives, stabilizers, etc. At Cacao Space I am making chocolate that has only natural high quality ingredients so that you are focused on the flavor profile and do not feel guilty after having a piece of chocolate. I am also confident that additional ingredients such as sweeteners, inclusions, spices can drastically change the flavor profile and make it more attractive for you. I chose using organic coconut sugar in place of white cane sugar in my chocolate as I felt that cane sugar is way too overpowering while coconut sugar has a more nuanced mild caramel taste that deliciously supports all of the rich cacao flavors. 

Stone Ground Chocolate

Even though almost everything in Cacao Space is done by hand I heavily rely on my two helpers to grind the chocolate. Handcrafted chocolate that is not ground may taste gritty and unpleasant. This is why I use special stone grinding machines, or as they are called “melangers”, consisting of drum with granite base and two granite roller stones. Cacao nibs, sugar and other ingredients are stone ground by granite stones for more than 50 hours to achieve a silky smooth texture of the bar and fully develop the flavor profile of each cacao variety. Flavor and consistency drastically change during the grinding process allowing for cacao acids to evaporate and for original unique flavor to open up. I heard many times from my customers that my chocolate is amazingly creamy and melts nicely in your mouth. That is definitely the result of long hour grinding. 

 

We all need something balancing us in a high stress, high hectic world we live in. We all need some anchors of support and food can be just one of them together with movement, temporary unplugging from devices, being in nature, spending time with loved ones and mindfulness practices. Drinking and eating cacao is definitely a way to pause, focus, unwind, and take a breath for clarity of the mind. I am inviting you to include cacao into your daily self care routine in the form of either a drink or a couple squares of dark chocolate. You will for sure feel the change in your physical and mental state.

See you in Cacao Space! 

Warmly, 

Ksenia, the Chocolate Maker