About The Science Of Chocolate
(previously known as Bean To Bar World)
Mission
To elevate your satisfaction with chocolate by making expert-level knowledge more accessible to you.
Connecting you to practical and accurate information on chocolate making, tasting, science, and history. The more you know, the better choices you can make.
Cacao flowers and immature pods. Image by Geoseph.
Values
+ Accurate & Rational
The goal of any science-based website or organization is not to be right, but to be accurate. To present data and ideas as they come, without bias. The core of science is to question everything, to ask why and how, and back up what you know with evidence, not opinions.
Much of the chocolate world revolves around highly curated, biased, and often very irrational thinking. This is both in the industrial chocolate sphere as well as the growing fine "bean-to-bar" chocolate sphere. This website pushes that nonsense aside and allows you to see chocolate from a more accurate perspective, presenting information that is both factual and well-referenced. You can see much of this in the research summaries and suggested books in the online Chocolate School.
+ Celebrate Craftsmanship
The food industry is being swallowed by big multinational companies taking over everything from farms to restaurants. Another goal of this website is to showcase and help small-scale entrepreneurs who wish to create chocolate and make positive change in the industry.
Great chocolate doesn't come out of nowhere. Great chocolate is made by great people. This is why I showcase many small-scale bean-to-bar makers in my online shop, developed the bean-to-bar map, and help instruct, tutor, and inspire many who wish to make, work with, and taste chocolate in the best way possible!
+ Thinkers over Followers
The fine chocolate scene today is highly associated with online trends and buzz words that encourage people to simply follow without questioning. If you wish to be better informed and more satisfied with your chocolate, you always need to question the information thrown at you, and ask for evidence of the claims made. Make decisions based on what you know, rather than by what you are told.
This is one reason why I eschew the concept of food awards as a way to guide or direct your purchasing decisions. They don't encourage you to think, and most judges have no background in culinary, chocolate, or science. There’s no capability a chocolate judge today has that you can’t learn or discover yourself. So get out there, learn, and have confidence enjoying chocolate on your own terms.
The chocolate industry needs more innovators, more free-thinkers, and more people pushing the boundaries of what has been holding the industry back. This might be you!
About Geoseph
CHOCOLATE SOMMELIER · MASTER CHOCOLATIER · CHOCOLATE MAKER · INSTRUCTOR
Educating on Chocolate since 2008
Making fine chocolate approachable and satisfying.
I’m the guy behind everything you see on this website. People constantly ask me how I ended up here. The truth is, I have wondered that myself. If you can believe it, I didn’t even enjoy chocolate very much growing up, especially dark chocolate. Perhaps it was my Southern Italian heritage that made me obsessed with food. Maybe it was my curious mind that adored nature wanted to understand the world around me. Or perhaps my desire to create with my hands be it art or well-crafted products. I would say what brought me here was simply following my passions: food, biology, and art, because working with chocolate encompasses all three of these passions for me.
My studies
I graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science where I focused on biology and animal sciences, but touched on fine arts as well. My passion for being in the kitchen drew me to pastry school where I honed in on my skills in the kitchen. It was there where I came across a job posting for a chocolate sommelier assistant, and after taking on the position in 2008 I was forever dedicated to chocolate. My desire to work with my hands, and my curious mind that drew me into biology and science offers a unique perspective to chocolate. I appreciate and respect the craft, while also the desire to understand how it all works. This has shaped my approach to be eschew much of the nonsense in the industry and focus really on what matters most: the skills and the knowledge.
Developing my curriculum
A cocoa bean with part of the shell removed shown via electron microscope. Image by Geoseph.
Since there were no chocolate sommelier courses or chocolate schools when I began, I had to teach myself about all things chocolate. My approach was through what I knew best - biology and research. For years I read every text book and research article concerning chocolate that I could get my fingers on. Little did I know that I was actually developing my own chocolate curriculum. Keeping this information to myself seemed wasteful, so eventually I took it upon myself to better educate the public on chocolate through building my website, posting free information online, and hosting countless chocolate tastings, chocolatier, and chocolate making classes over the years. I was already passionate about understanding chocolate, but like anything you love, it’s always more fun sharing it with others.
Chocolatier to chocolate maker
On CBC Vancouver. Click here to watch/read media publications.
In 2007 I discovered fine chocolate, and became a chocolate sommelier assistant in Toronto. 2009 I moved to Vancouver and worked as a chocolatier for many years creating products, developing recipes, designing new creations, and training others. Over the years I have worked at places such as Chocolate Arts, Thomas Haas Patisserie, Wellington Chocolate Factory, Mon Paris Patisserie, and more.
In 2017 I began focusing even more on public chocolate tastings, classes, markets, and even started up a Vancouver chocolate meetup.
Handmade bonbon by Geoseph. See more of my chocolatier work and gallery here.
This is also when I developed the very first bean-to-bar map. A tool used to help consumers locate small ethical craft chocolate makers around the world - also known as “craft” or “bean-to-bar” chocolate makers. Around this time I started making my own chocolate from the bean, and hosted bean-to-bar master classes. I created the bean-to-bar compass, a unique tasting tool that helps beginners improve their chocolate tasting capabilities and appreciate bean-to-bar chocolate. In 2020 the bean-to-bar map became an app, and I also went virtual with my tastings, lessons, and shop.
In Recent Years
My previous chocolate tasting room in BC.
Today I’m back in Vancouver educating through virtual and in-person tastings and kitchen classes. I curate a collection of unique products from around the world, develop my own recipes, and grow the Learning Center and Bean To Bar Map App. I also offer both virtual and in-person tutoring lessons.
One of my goals is to combat the fear and insecurity people feel around chocolate. Whether tasting, tempering, or making chocolate, many people feel very inadequate and reluctant to ask for help. My work has helped many businesses, consultants, chocolate tasters and judges, or at-home chefs who simply want to learn and enjoy chocolate more. Chocolate is a beautiful medium to work with and appreciate, and it’s my goal to hep you appreciate this through a practical, fact-based, and objective approach.
The Original Bean To Bar Map
While hosting my tastings, people would often ask where they can locate the makers of the incredible chocolate they tasted. It was (and is) a real challenge for people to locate makers.
I looked online to see if any bean-to-bar map existed that I could refer them to, but unfortunately none did. So I took on what felt like an impossible undertaking, and in 2017 began creating the very first map dedicated to bean-to-bar chocolate makers. I eventually added other categories such as cacao distributors, growers, equipment manufactures, and researchers. Eventually this map became an app with the help of a bean-to-bar friend, and here we are! An incredible tool that is free for everyone to use, share, and connect to.
The original map was a desktop version, which you can still access here.
If you appreciate this tool please share it with as many people as you can. The app is free to use, and free to be hosted on. You can download some free pdf marketing literature and help people discover makers! And should you feel the desire, you’re welcome to donate to help with my time and effort in growing and updating the app. Your generosity is always appreciated. A passion project from my heart to your fingertips, for the sake of bean-to-bar chocolate!
