Inside Duluth’s only “Bean to Bar” chocolate maker

DULUTH, Minn. — Just above the company’s new storefront, Duluth Coffee Company is crafting more than just coffee.

The company says they’re the only “bean to bar” chocolate producer in the Northland, taking cocoa beans from Central America and then roasting them, processing them, and finally, molding the finished product into bars.

The roasting of the beans is similar to coffee production, which is exactly why the company wanted to give chocolate a try in the first place.

“Duluth Coffee Company has always been incredible roasters, and cacao and coffee are very similar in how they’re treated at certain points in their life, and it was kind of a fun, new adventure in something that we kind of knew a little bit about, but we could transition to a different item,” said the company’s Chocolate Maker Holly Vanderport

Vanderport says that keeping their process simple is the best way to let the true flavor of their chocolate shine.

“There’s no vanilla, there’s no soy, there’s no anything else added to it, it’s just chocolate, and the sugar, and sometimes a little cocoa butter, which is part of chocolate to begin with,” said Vanderport. “It just helps it become a little smoother, so you really get the taste of that cacao the way it’s supposed to be.”

You can find Duluth Coffee Company’s 4 different chocolate flavors in stores across the Northland, or on the company’s website.