Scharffen Berger chocolate factory tour write-up

On Saturday, November 5th 2005, some of us converged on Scharffen Berger, the gourmet chocolate producer, in Berkeley for a tour of its factory and a little poking around the gift shop. While seeing the machines on the tour wasn't that cool, all the neat facts about chocolate and samples they shared with us were really interesting.

Some things we learned: 

• Chocolate is fermented. The beans are left for about a week to sit. Some producers skip this step or shorten it, sometimes using chemicals.

• Because some chocolate is fermented in different areas, environments, growing conditions, and climates, beans from different sources taste different. Beans are usually mixed from multiple sources to make chocolate; the more different sources, the more intricate the secondary flavors.

• Nibs. Nibs are the seed of the cocoa plant and, when roasted and ground, are what makes chocolate. But you can eat them directly too; some people bought some.

• Cocoa butter is the fat/oil in the nibs, extracted and made pure. It's solid at room temperature but will soften/melt a bit in one's hands and leave a greasy residue. (They passed some around.) One can eat it (preferably with something); some attendees bought some for home.

• Cacao plants generally only grow in the tropics. This can cause chocolate producers issues because many of the countries in which they grow (Central America, Africa) experience political turmoil at times. Scharffen Berger does not buy from such countries.

• Cacao plants need indirect sunlight -- i.e., they grow only under a protective canopy of taller trees.

• Scharffen Berger is a new company -only around a decade old- in an old building - about a century old. The building, a solid warehouse of brick, was built shortly after the 1906 earthquake. (The foundation was laid before that. (We know that because one of us asked it.) And, yes, the building has been reinforced in recent years.) The machines they use are all antiques; most were made in the early part of the century and refurbished. (New chocolate processing machines generally aren't made anymore.)

We also saw many pictures of the cacao plant and the machines and chocolate in various stages of the process. And we got to see the machines in person, although they weren't on. (I'm not going to describe how the machines work because that's easily found on the Virtual Tour section of Scharffen Berger's web site.) Despite the machines being off, the tour required hair nets for all hair (including facial hair).

During the tour, we got to sample:

• 70% bittersweet 7-9 bean chocolate. Very dark and with a quite complex flavor (probably from interaction of beans sourced from so many different areas).
• 62% semisweet 3-5 bean chocolate. In contrast with the previous one, seemed like a fairly simple standard dark chocolate.
• 41% "milk" chocolate. Milk is in quotes because technically 41% chocolate is still easily enough chocolate to count legally as dark. The chocolate was quite creamy and had a caramel flavor.

After the tour, they put out a few more samples:

• 99% pure chocolate. Very very bitter. Many of us didn't think this tasted like chocolate at all. But it does serve as a nice point of reference to help in understanding what these percentages really mean.
• 75% Venezuelan chocolate. Similar to the simple semisweet above, but slightly darker.
• 45% "milk" chocolate with hazelnut. Some people really loved this one.

I was surprised by how people can gobble up chocolate. Personally, I found that some chocolates like the first bittersweet were so densely chocolatey and complex that I had trouble finishing it. It was good but the size of the sample combined with the senses it produced was almost overwhelming. And other chocolate, like the two "milk" ones, had secondary flavors I just didn't appreciate. But I seem to be in the minority in all these regards.

Many people left with goodies, whether chocolates, nibs, truffles, cocoa butter, or something else.

After the tour, we headed to Zax Tavern for dinner.

Original Announcement

I'm sure you'll all heard of the deluxe chocolate maker Scharffen Berger.

http://www.scharffenberger.com/

Well, you may not know that their factory is in Berkeley and that they offer tours during the daytime. I was thinking about going on a tour and trying their affiliated restaurant, Cafe Cacao, for a meal (whether lunch or dinner).

http://www.cafecacao.biz/

Rumor has it the food is decent (but not good enough to merit this as counting as a traditional outing) but the dessert, as one much expect, is supposedly quite good.

Please tell me if want to come on this outing and we'll schedule it around those interested! (If so, tell me whether you can do sometime during the week (morning and/or afternoon) or can make a weekend tour (morning and/or afternoon).)

Further details:

Everyone,

Let's meet at Scharffen Berger's factory at 4:00pm on Saturday. The factory is

914 Heinz Avenue, Berkeley, CA (on the corner of 7th St and Heinz Ave)

They state, "your ENTIRE PARTY must check in at our gift shop AT LEAST 10 MINUTES BEFORE the start of your tour." They will drop you from the tour if you are late (and fill it with walk-ons). Remember, our tour starts at 4:30pm. Meeting early is safer and will give us a chance to look at the gift shop (which will be closed by the time the tour ends). Also, they say open toed shoes and sandals are not permitted.

As for dinner, Cafe Cacao, as of recently, no longer serves dinner. (For a little while I was mislead because the web page lead me to this conclusion but the voice mail when I tried to call still gave dinner hours.) But I got through in person and confirmed this fact.

Instead, I will nominate the following for dinner as appropriately upscale to follow a tour by a gourmet chocolate producer. As I will make a reservation soon, please tell which you prefer or what type of food you prefer or whether you have a limit on how expensive the place is or whether you'd like to suggest a restaurant not on this list:

- list omitted

Or, please tell me if you don't plan to come to dinner. (If you already told me that, tell me again just to make sure.)

Comments from Other Attendees

Feel free to add remarks here.