Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate is a bean-to-bar maker in Eureka, California, founded by Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor, who came from woodworking and boat building and began making chocolate in 2010.
Its bars are made from organic cacao and organic cane sugar with no vanilla or emulsifiers, and the maker says the whole process from bean to bar takes about three weeks.
Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor came to chocolate from woodworking and boat building, and they say that craft has guided them from the start. In 2010 they bought small-scale equipment and began making chocolate from raw cacao, doing every step themselves. Today their small factory in Eureka, on California's far north coast, also houses a cafe and tasting room.
Their bars are as plain as a bar can be. Organic cacao and organic cane sugar, with no vanilla and no emulsifiers, so you taste the bean and the roast.
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Sort | By hand. Every bean goes past an employee's eye |
| Roast | A Barth Sirocco Model 300 from 1934, with a profile for each bean |
| Winnow | Vacuum and vibrating screens separate shell from nib. The shells become garden mulch |
| Refine | Hammer mill, then a ball mill for about six hours, down to 20 microns |
| Mill | A roughly half-and-half mix of sugar and liquor through a roll mill three times |
| Conche | 24 to 48 hours, starting dry for the first day |
| Temper, mold, wrap | Wrapped in envelopes letterpressed on restored vintage presses |
Old machines, kept running
The process page reads like a woodshop tour. The roaster is a Barth Sirocco built in 1934, which replaced a Royal #5 from 1910. Each origin gets its own roast profile, and sometimes profiles are blended in one batch. After roasting, the beans are cracked and run through vacuum and vibrating screens that pull the light shell away from the heavier nib.
Then comes a sequence most small makers skip. The nibs go through a hammer mill and a ball mill for about six hours, down to 20 microns. A mix of sugar and that liquor then passes through a roll mill three times, which breaks the sugar into fresh surfaces and coats them in cocoa butter. The conche runs dry for the first 24 hours before more liquor goes in and the speed comes up to work air through it. Altogether, Dick Taylor says a bar takes about three weeks.
It shows in the bars, which are very smooth while still tasting of where the beans grew.
Two bars to try
The 72% Madagascar, Sambirano comes from Bertil Akesson's estate in the Sambirano Valley. The maker lists molasses, orange and toast, with the citrus and red berry Madagascar is known for. It is a bright, easy bar, and the one to start with.
The 78% Vanuatu, Malekula Island goes the other way. Dick Taylor calls it bold and wild, with deep flavors and an almost tobacco-like richness. Taste the two side by side and you have a lesson in origin with nothing but cacao and sugar on either label.
The wrapper is part of it
The bar envelopes are hand letterpressed on vintage printing presses the company restored. That fits everything else here: old machines kept running well, simple ingredients handled carefully, and only what the bean needs in the bar.
Questions
Who makes Dick Taylor chocolate?
Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor, who started making chocolate in 2010 after careers in woodworking and boat building. Their factory, cafe and tasting room are in Eureka, California.
What is in a Dick Taylor bar?
Organic cacao and organic cane sugar. The maker leaves out vanilla and emulsifiers so the cacao's own flavor leads.
How does Dick Taylor make its chocolate?
Beans are hand sorted, roasted on a 1934 Barth Sirocco, winnowed, milled to about 20 microns, conched 24 to 48 hours, then tempered and molded. The whole run takes about three weeks.
Which Dick Taylor bar should I try first?
The 72% Madagascar, Sambirano, from Bertil Akesson's estate, for bright citrus and red berry. The 78% Vanuatu is the bolder, darker pick.
