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Scharffen Berger: From Bean to Bar
By Renee Kim
Every time I move to a new city, one of the first things I look for is really
good chocolate. You know, the Ôto die for' kind. If you're
a chocolate snob like me, you might understand this endless quest from department
store to boutique shop to premium grocery market for the finest of fine chocolates.
In San Francisco, I met my first Scharffen Berger dark chocolate bar in the
Ferry Building: chocolate so good you can eat them like potato chips. Even Julia
Child loved Scharffen Berger chocolates. So when I heard that the Scharffen
Berger factory was located right across the Bay Bridge in Berkeley and offered
free daily tours, I didn't hesitate to make my online reservation.
As we walked into the red brick building housing the chocolate maker, the aroma
of roasting cacao beans greeted us at the door. The tour began with a 30-minute
talk where we learned all about the intricate and involved process of making
chocolate. We learned that we pay more for Scharffen Berger chocolate because
unlike your giant, run of the mill chocolate makers, Scharffen Berger pays cacao
growers to leave the cacao seed inside of the cacao fruit for longer periods
of time so that the sugars in the fruit can ferment the seed in order to reduce
the astringency of the bean and to introduce the beginnings of complex flavors.
They also pay more to have their beans sun dried, which produces a better flavor
and prevents mold from growing inside of the bean.
The beans used by Scharffen Berger come from all over the world. We were told
that each year, with the help of the cacao broker, they search for the world's
best cacao crops. At this moment, I considered dropping out of pharmacy school
to pursue my newfound dream of becoming a cacao broker, traveling throughout
the world in search of prime cacao beans.
But I soon became distracted as our tour leader began passing out samples of
various types of chocolate. First, we were introduced to nibs. Nibs are basically
roasted and crushed cacao beans before any sugar has been added. We expected
to taste chocolate but instead were encountered with a nutty, bitter, slightly
coffee-like flavor with a texture between a nut and chocolate. Many people on
the tour did not seem to enjoy the nibs but I found them to be quite tasty.
Then the tour guide passed around the semisweet and bittersweet chocolates.
Scharffen Berger blends many types of beans from around the world to create
various types of flavors. Like a fine wine, I discovered that chocolate is deep
and complex, with rich fruity notes, tannins, and hints of other types of flavors.
And speaking of fine wines, we also learned that John Scharffenberger, co-founder,
used to own and run a successful winery.
After the 30-minute talk, we were instructed to put on hair nets, beard nets,
and noise-blocking headphones. I've been to my fair share of factory tours
around the country including ones to the Tillamook Cheese factory in Oregon,
the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut factory in Hawaii,and the Brooklyn Brewery in New
York. But my experience on the tour of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker has
been the most interesting and informative of all factory tours so far. It is
the only tour that I've been on that actually allows you to walk around
on the floor of the factory. And the machinery was actually working too Ñ
the beans were roasting, the nibs were getting crushed, the ingredients were
being mixed, the chocolate was being tempered and molded into perfect squares
with 90 degree angles, and the product was passing by us on a conveyer belt.
Just stay behind the brown lines.
After we passed through the factory floor, we ended up in the factory store
where I sampled the hot cocoa and proceeded to purchase my $30 worth of chocolate.
If you decide to go on this tour, I'll be amazed if you're able
to leave the store without purchasing at least one piece of the finest chocolate.
Then, like us, you might even pay a visit to the restaurant located in the factory,
CafŽ Cacao. I had the best piece of chocolate bread pudding that I've
even had in my life. CafŽ Cacao offers an array of chocolate desserts
as well as lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. Unfortunately, we didn't
have a chance to try their lunch of dinner menus because our visit was between
their lunch and dinner hours but they supposedly use cacao nibs in their salad
dressing, pesto, and cookies.
Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, Inc.. is conveniently located in Berkeley
just off of the Ashby exit on I-80. Reservations for a free public tour can
be made online at www.scharffenberger.com. Reservations are recommended for
dinner at Cafe Cacao.
Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker
914 Heinz Avenue
Berkeley
(510) 981-4050 for general information
(510) 843-6000 for Cafe Cacao
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