• All classes are 4 hours of instruction

• $225 for a private lesson for 1 to 2 students ($75 extra per person for a larger class)

Instructor:

Classes are instructed by Teresa Ulrich:

15 years of professional chocolatier & chocolate making, including work at The French Laundry, Pearl Bakery, Roste Chocolate, and Creo Chocolate.

• Tempering 101

Learn how to make chocolate shine & snap!

Tempering is the process of temperature control and motion in order to stabilize the cocoa butter into forming a nice tight bond, so that bars and bon bons release from molds with ease and glow with a beautiful sheen.

• Learn how to avoid ‘fat blooming’ and ‘sugar blooming’ to prevent bars from looking dull and turning white.

• Explore different methods of tempering chocolate: seeding, table-tempering, and using Silk. Includes and introduction to molding & hand-dipping bon bons.

A must class if new to chocolate chemistry!

Excellent for troubleshooting tempering issues.

Take home: confections made in class

• Chocolate Decorations 101

Explore a variety of techniques to decorate bon bons and desserts: how to pipe chocolate decorations, apply gold leaf, paint molds & bon bons, apply cocoa butter transfer sheets, and work with chocolate modeling clay.

Excellent for enhancing desserts and confections that impress!

Take home: Decorations made in class.

• Ganache Fillings 101

Explore different methods of preparing chocolate fillings and mastering a ‘super smooth’ ganache. Learn techniques that will prevent gritty mouthfeel and take the confusion out of chocolate to cream ratios.

Includes techniques of butter ganache, cream ganache, and vegan nut butter ganache.

Take home: Confections made in class

• Bean to Bar 101

Learn all about the process of chocolate making: how to source cacao, roast, crack, winnow, and grind cacao nibs into chocolate.

• Practice roasting in a convection oven.

• Learn about the melanging and conching process.

• Learn different methods to crack & winnow your beans.

• Introduction to grinding/melanging.

Take home: roasted cacao beans & chocolate made in class.

Helpful for insight on chocolate-making chemistry for a home hobbyist or small business.

• Ceremonial Cacao Class

Ancient Mayans and Incans worked with cacao as medicine to awaken their intuition and improve physical & mental stamina.

Ceremonial cacao is a unique type of cacao that has the ability to open the heart center and soothe stress & anxiety.

It's a gentle tool to bring us into harmony within, into harmony with nature, and into harmony with each other.

• Learn how to work with cacao as healing medicine.

• Discover the nutritional health compounds and energetics that support mental health.

• Includes an introduction to the chocolate-making process.

• How to mix a batch of ceremonial cacao and work with it in a sacred way.

Helpful for establishing a ceremonial cacao practice to soothe the heart daily!

Take home: Ceremonial cacao made in class

• Custom Classes

Custom classes available that focus on a confection you would love to explore!

Popular requests are for salted caramels or peanut butter cups.

Inquire about custom classes that focus on a specific bon bon, truffle, or candy.

Ceremonial grade cacao - ethically and sustainably sourced!

I try to keep 3 different optional origins for purchase and they occasionally change based on the seasons and bean availability in the trade market.

The cacao comes in a block of 100% chocolate for breaking up into small pieces for mixing. (I include mixing instructions.)

1 oz. = 1 serving

• 8 oz. block = $22

• 16 oz. block = $44

Contact Chi Chocolate to place an order.

• Peruvian Piura White:

A nice soothing cacao for either meditation or the work day! Its energy opens the heart while having a grounding effect. The flavor is fudgy and nutty with a natural sweetness to it. Great for adding any herbs or spices. Wonderful for gentle heart opening while enhancing focus for the day.

About Piura White
The Piura White beans come from the Piura department, situated in the north desert coast of Peru. The cacao comes from the Cooperativa Agraria Norandino which is made up of a few hundred small-holder farming members and specifically comes from the Piura and Ayabaca provinces, specifically from the following districts: Las Lomas, Tambogrande, Montero, Paimas, Suyo. The beans are harvested at altitudes that range from about 50m to 400 meters above sea level. Genetically they are a mix of native criollos and are typically ~30% white beans.

• Peruvian Maranon:

This Peruvian cacao from the Maranon region is a nice soothing cacao for inner reflection and helpful for soothing grief. Its energy opens the heart while having a grounding effect. The flavor has notes of stone fruit with a mineral finish. Great for adding any herbs or spices. Wonderful for cacao ritual around grief, shadow work, where the heart is blocked due to pain. 🌕

About Piura Maranon:
This is the cacao that motivated Antony Bourdain and Erick Ruppert to come search in Peru.

These beans come from the valleys of the Marañon river, accepted by many as one of the earliest varieties from which many of the modern varieties are derived from. This valley is in the North Amazonian mountains, between the Cajamarca and Amazonas departments.

The Marañon cacao is very unique because it has survived the test of time…because of the steep valley walls of the Marañon canyon, the cacao in its valley has been isolated from other genetic influences for many centuries.

• Tanzanian Kokoa Kamili:

The Tanzanian cacao is more uplifting. It opens the heart while having a levitating effect, expanding the heart and mind. The flavor is bright with a hints of cherries & almonds. Wonderful for focus & movement, like an uplifting greeting to the day - yoga, ecstatic dance or work.☀️

About Tanzanian Kokoa Kamili:

Kokoa Kamili Fermentery was founded by Brian LoBue and Simran Bindra, who have backgrounds in international development throughout eastern and southern Africa. Prior to Kokoa Kamili, a single buyer dominated the area – the local arm of one of the world’s largest soft commodity trading houses. A sole buyer meant it had the power to set the price for cocoa, and farmers had little alternatives. Historically, farmers in the Kilombero Valley received some of the lowest prices for cocoa in the country. In Kokoa Kamili’s first year alone Kilombero farmers received the highest prices in Tanzania for their cocoa.

Guided chocolate meditations with ceremonial cacao in private circles and nature settings. Gentle connection with Cacao Plant Energy for deep inner healing.