Calling all dark chocolate lovers, Chachalate (pronounced CHA-CHA-LIT) is the new naturally flavoured chocolate bar that you need to get your hands on. Not only is it vegan, keto-friendly, gluten-free and dairy-free, but they also aim to showcase the genetic variety of cacao and prioritize being ethical in their sourcing.
Chachalate began as a passion project by Ryan 'Ry' Lee, who, director of a video agency by day and chocolate connoisseur by night, grew up with an immense appreciation for chocolate. In fact, even the name of his company refers to his pronunciation of chocolate as a child.
The company took off in August 2020, after Ry brought in over eleven hundred pounds of cocoa beans, committing himself to build his passion project into a successful business.
The creation of Chachalate began brewing early on when Ry started to take a more profound interest in how his favourite grocery store chocolates were being made. After learning more about mass-market chocolates and disagreeing with their commodity mindset, Ry was propelled to make his own chocolate. This way, he could have a say in what ingredients would be used and guarantee that he was supporting ethical wages for cocoa farmers.
Once he began the chocolate-making process at home, Ry was encapsulated by the real fruity flavours cacao naturally had that mass-market chocolates eliminate through aiming for consistency instead of diversity in their products.
This realization lead to Ry's mission of creating the fruitiest-tasting dark chocolate and sharing his passion for real chocolate with as many people as possible; thus, Chachalate was born.
So what defines 'real chocolate'?
Ry says, "Real chocolate is all about transparently and sustainably sourcing the best cocoa beans, roasting them in ways that highlight their fruitiness and uniqueness, and of course, creating a more delicious chocolate than you've ever had before."
One of Chachalate's priorities is to be transparent in their whole production process. They make an active effort to be ethical and sustainable in how and where they source their cacao from, going beyond fair trade. As a result, their supply chain is short, going from farms to their supplier and then to them. They even outline their whole chocolate-making process on their website.
All of the products Chachalate offers are made with 75 per cent dark chocolate––a dark chocolate lover's dream. Their three origin bars, "Madagascar," "Tanzania" and "India" are each unique in flavour as a result of the different regions where the beans are harvested. They're made with cocoa beans and organic cane sugar––that's it.
Chocolate doesn't get any more real than this.
Real chocolate has over 600 flavour compounds. Ry encourages your palate to get creative and pick up some of these tasting notes, as one would with coffee or wine, by providing a short descriptor of what he commonly tastes while tasting the bars.
For instance, the Tanzania bar is made possible through the Kokoa Kamili fermentary and is described to have notes of raspberry, cherry and lemon. Information about what farms the cacao is sourced from and the suggested flavour notes are accompanied with each bar on the sleeve of their packaging.
"Chocolate was my first love and likely it was yours too," Ry says. He hopes to share this passion of his with as many people as possible. A dream would be to break into the retail market himself and increase his offerings.
Speaking of offerings, aside from the wide selection of chocolate bars that include flavours like "Hojicha," "Red Miso" and "Coffee Crunch," Chachalate also carries their own roasted cacao nibs, roasted cacao beans and the occasional baked treat.
After a successful Valentine's Day release of their "Lava Cake Tasting Flight," Ry has decided to bring that back for another round of pre-orders, set to deliver March 13. What makes this package even more special, aside from the warm and gooey decadent chocolate that melts effortlessly, is that each lava cake is made with a different chocolate. The three chocolates used are the Origin pack ones: India, Tanzania and Madagascar, and they're accompanied by a homemade raspberry coulis––the perfect refreshing topping to balance out the rich lava cakes.
Be sure to follow Chachalate on Instagram to stay up to date on the products they're offering, as well as get an inside look at their extensive chocolate-making process. For orders, visit their website to arrange pick up or delivery and when the weather gets warmer, catch them at your local farmers market.
