Mission
To educate and inform the public on all things chocolate by making expert level information more accessible to all.
Whether you are eating chocolate, making chocolate, working with chocolate in the kitchen, or all of the above - this website is for you.
Cacao flowers and immature pods. Image by Geoseph.
Values
+ Fact-based and unbiased
There is a great deal of information out there these days, but most of it is curated or over embellished to the point where it becomes quite misleading. My approach is to offer you the facts without bias, and allow you to think and conclude for yourself. Critical thinking is key to understanding the world around us. My goal is not tell you what to think, but encourage you to think for yourself based on the information you have. This is why I've spent years sourcing quality information from peer-reviewed and referenced sources. Don't get me wrong, not all good information needs to come from a text book or research paper - so long as we have good evidence and reason to support our ideas. Check out my blog for tons of incredible research and information on chocolate.
+ Making Quality Approachable
Many assume that the fine chocolate world is filled with snobs. Sadly, you're not wrong. That's just an aspect of any fine food industry - it's going to attract that type. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be this way, and there are many people trying to make fine food more accessible to all who wish to enjoy it. My approach is to meet you where you're at, speak to you with respect, and eschew the patronizing and judgemental rhetoric of the chocolate snobs. I just want you to learn, love, and enjoy chocolate on your terms. To me, fine chocolate is about craftsmanship, good ingredients, and substance, and not the hoity-toity nonsense.
+ Celebrate skill and craftsmanship
The food industry is being swallowed by big multinational companies taking over everything from farms to restaurants. My goal is to celebrate those who want to learn the skillset of making chocolate and create an environment that fosters quality craftsmanship. To encourage people who care about good ingredients, better business practices, and creating delicious chocolate products that satisfy and inspire people.
+ Thinkers over Followers
The chocolate scene today is highly associated with online trends and superficiality. The goal for myself and the work I do has always been to inform people with the facts, and encourage them to think, decide, and analyze for themselves. This is one reason why I eschew the chocolate awards and organizations, which encourage consumers to enjoy what others decide for them. Instead, I want people to practise discernment and learn to make your own judgements and conclusions based on what you experience, not what you are told. There’s no capability a chocolate judge has that you can’t learn or discover yourself. So get out there and support chocolate makers big and small, local or international, and have confidence enjoying chocolate on your terms.
Let us be Genuine
The website was created solely to educate and share on all things chocolate.
Any promotion of businesses you see here is free and by my choice alone. I do not receive any kickbacks to promote or advertise any business, individual, or product.
Your Support Helps
Both the Bean To Bar World Map App & Learning Center are 100% FREE. I am an independent and do not receive any third party funding whatsoever.
If you find these resources helpful and wish to contribute to help them grow, please do so here. I greatly appreciate your generosity.
About Geoseph & This Website
CHOCOLATE SOMMELIER · MASTER CHOCOLATIER · CHOCOLATE MAKER · INSTRUCTOR
Educating on Chocolate since 2008
Making fine chocolate approachable and satisfying.
People constantly ask me how I ended up here. Sometimes I wonder that myself. If you can believe it, I didn’t even like chocolate very much growing up. I would say what brought me here was simply following my passions: biology, art, and food. For me, working with chocolate encompasses all three of these passions.
My studies
I graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science where I focused on biology and animal sciences. However, my passion for food then drew me towards 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.
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 schools when I began, I had to teach myself. 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. Reading the science, the manufacturing, the botany, the history, as well as flavour science - all to scratch my curiosity and desire to dig deeper and understand chocolate. Keeping this information to myself seemed wasteful, so eventually I took it upon myself and use it 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.
Chocolatier to chocolate maker
On CBC Vancouver. Click here to watch/read media publications.
In 2009 I moved to Vancouver and worked as a chocolatier for many years creating products, developing recipes, designing new creations, and training others. In 2016 I had a short stint at a bean-to-bar maker in New Zealand hosting events and tastings. In 2017 I returned to Canada where 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
The chocolate tasting room in BC.
In 2022 I opened my first brick-and-mortar shop and tasting room in Salmon Arm, BC where I also hosted kitchen workshops as well. In 2024 I moved back to the GTA after being away for about 15 years. Today I continue to educate through tastings and classes (both in-person and virtually), curating a collection of unique products from around the world, develop my own recipes, and grow the Free Learning Center and Bean To Bar Map App.
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. Much of this intimidation stems from the attitude of those within the fine and craft chocolate sector. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be this way. 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 unbiased approach. I want to help you realize that fine chocolate can be fun, satisfying, and that your ideas and opinions matter too.
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 a category for retailers, 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!