How We Make Chocolate

Most chocolate in the world is made to be sweet, fast, and forgettable. We believe you deserve chocolate with character. Chocolate that tells a story. Chocolate that makes you pause.

At Maverick Chocolate, every bar is handcrafted in small batches the old-fashioned way, from bean to bar. We make everything at our newest factory in Covington, Kentucky, which opened in 2025. You can also visit us at our two retail shops, one inside historic Findlay Market in Cincinnati, Ohio, home of our original factory, and the other in downtown Covington on Madison Avenue.

Chocolate making is a detailed, hands-on process. Here is how we transform raw cacao beans into the bars you break, snap, and savor. Better yet, sign up for a tour and see it for yourself.

Sourcing

Great chocolate starts long before it reaches our roaster. It starts at origin, somewhere along the equator where cacao trees thrive.

We ethically source organic, fine flavor cacao through what we call our Fair for All model. We pay a premium, well above Fair Trade pricing, so farmers and cooperatives can earn a fair, living wage and be rewarded for growing exceptional cacao.

We have visited many of the farms we work with, building relationships face to face. We also partner with Meridian Cacao and Uncommon Cacao to help manage the logistics of importing cacao into the United States.

Our current origins include Belize, Haiti, Hawaii, Tanzania, Madagascar, and Vietnam. Each origin has its own personality. Some are bright and fruity. Others are nutty, earthy, or rich with caramel notes. We are always searching for new beans to explore, so keep an eye out for limited edition bars that let you taste something new.

Sorting and Roasting

Roasting is where chocolate’s flavor truly begins to develop.

We roast our cacao in an 8 kilogram Diedrich coffee roaster that has been modified specifically for cacao. It runs at lower temperatures and spins more slowly than it would for coffee, giving the beans a gentler tumble.

Each origin receives its own roast profile designed to highlight its natural character. After roasting, the beans are poured into a cooling tray to stop the roast at just the right moment and lock in flavor.

Cracking and Winnowing

Once cooled, the beans are ready for their next transformation.

We crack the roasted beans with spinning rollers. The broken pieces pass through a winnowing system that separates the cocoa nibs from the thin husks. The nibs fall below and the husks are pulled away by vacuum.

What remains are pure cocoa nibs, rich with aroma and ready to become chocolate.

Grinding and Conching

This is where patience pays off.

We grind our nibs the old-fashioned way using stone grinders, also known as melangers. Each grinder has a granite base and two granite wheels. The nibs are ground for about 24 hours until they liquefy into smooth chocolate liquor.

On the second day, we add sugar and any additional ingredients called for in the recipe, such as spices or chilies. Then we continue grinding for three more days, four days in total.

That extended time in the grinder is called conching. During this stage, the chocolate’s texture is refined, acidity mellows, and flavors fully develop. Afterward, the chocolate is poured into pans to cool, ready to be turned into something made just for you.

Tempering and Molding

Chocolate needs structure as well as flavor.

To achieve that glossy finish and satisfying snap, chocolate must be tempered. Tempering is a precise process of heating and cooling that aligns the cocoa butter crystals so the chocolate sets properly at room temperature.

We use continuous tempering machines to carefully temper and deposit the chocolate into molds. The bars then travel through a cooling tunnel we built until they are fully solidified and ready to be wrapped.

Packaging

Once the bars are released from their molds, we hand wrap them one at a time in a resealable inner bag and then place them into their paper outer packaging.

Now they are ready for you.

See It in Action

Reading about chocolate is one thing. Smelling freshly roasted cacao and hearing the steady hum of the grinders is another.

Book a factory tour and experience the full journey from bean to bar. Or visit one of our shops to sample chocolate and pick up your favorites.

Because once you taste real chocolate, there is no going back.