I was particularly interested in the origin of the cocoa beans, as they’re sourced from different plantations around the world. We got to chew raw beans (there’s around 40 of them in a cocoa pod) from Java and Cameroon, and they each had a different taste. So I started asking questions, “Do they taste differently if the soils are different?” and “does the climate affect taste?” Of course they do, and of course it does. “It’s very much like for wine—location matters. Each plantation has different characteristics and the flavors of each bean is very distinct. That’s why we never mix beans of different origins.”

As they carry out every step of the production in house, they have total control of what happens. “Every detail counts and every step is very important. We have machines, but the process is very manual. We can make some chocolates a little bit faster, the ones that are not painted or written on—some have the origin of the cocoa written on them. For those, the process is less automated and thus slower.” The whole thing seemed quite manual to me and required quite a lot of people. 

 “A great percentage of the employees here at Pierre Marcolini are chocolatiers, people trained in the making fine chocolate. Not the staff involved in mechanical operations that require no specific chocolate-making skills, but those working on the actual production. It’s hard to keep young chocolatiers with us, because many of these people come here for experience for their CV, and once they have it they want to set up their own businesses. It’s a natural process, of course.”

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