Wow, you're hitting us with the hard questions.

Truth is, craft chocolate is different depending on who you ask. All we can say is how we think of it ourselves and how it guides our process.

We start with the word 'craft' – what does it conjure? For us, the words 'local' or maybe 'small-batch' come to mind. We think of a skilled artisan, working with their hands. We think of a process. The process might even be slow at times. It's probably not machine-driven so much as human-driven, at least in its formative stages.

Craft chocolate for us means we believe small is beautiful. Slow is beautiful. Inefficiency is beautiful.

We craft chocolate that is different from one batch to the next, and, if you zoom in close enough, from one bar and even one bite to the next. That's the human in us, and we're proud of it.

We think of our chocolates as art. What is art? For our purposes, it's something that can't be scaled.

If someone turned to us and said, "We have just the machine to automate that for you!" we'd say, "Thanks, that's very kind," then offer them a piece of chocolate and clarify that ours is slowly handcrafted in order to harbor the small inconsistencies that remind us we're alive.

We start with the highest-quality single-origin cacao in the world, sourced directly from farmers we know, and we invest in the human labor at every step. We are proud to run a deliberately small, deliberately human operation.

We chose the size of our bars to keep the price approachable, so as many folks as possible can enjoy our handcrafted chocolate, while still including enough per bar to share.

From personal experience, we can confirm there is a special satisfaction to enjoying a full bar in one sitting. Others prefer to spread it over a few servings, or take slow nibbles to savor the nuances in each bite.

We hope you'll experiment. There's no right or wrong way to enjoy our chocolate. Contrary to the name, you can go slow or fast, and our slow handcrafting will come through either way.

We're so glad you noticed. Our slow, handcrafted process means we celebrate the differences from one bar to the next, all the more when they're purely cosmetic.

We draw on a variety of compostable and recyclable materials to curate each bar's story, and sometimes those materials meet the edges of your chocolate to give it a distinct look and feel. Chocolate is also a little scared of travel, since it prefers a cool, slightly chilly environment, so it may arrive with a few cosmetic adaptations from its journey. There are no wasteful, fuel-hungry insulation products riding along, and no gums or stabilizers to artificially standardize texture or appearance.

In short, the small differences in flavor, appearance, and texture help each bar come alive. Because you and we are alive too.

Cacao tea, sometimes called chocolate tea, is the lightly-roasted husk (the outer shell) of our single-origin cacao beans, steeped like a loose-leaf tea. Despite the name it contains no actual tea leaf and no chocolate: it's naturally sugar-free, zero-calorie, and one ingredient only, with a light herbal body and a rich chocolatey aroma.

It's naturally low in caffeine and rich in theobromine, so many folks enjoy it as a gentle coffee alternative. Learn to cold-brew it in our iced cacao tea guide, or shop cacao tea here.

Every cacao bean has two parts: a thin outer shell (the husk) wrapped around the inner meat (the nib). When we crack and winnow our roasted beans, the two come apart.

The nib is the crunchy, nutrient-dense interior; ground for days in a stone melanger, it becomes smooth chocolate. The husk is lighter and brighter, all aroma and flavor, and it's what we steep into cacao tea. So husk, nibs, and chocolate are cousins from the same bean at different stages of process. Meet our cacao nibs and cacao tea.

Yes. slowcocoa is 100% vegan, always, and not by accident. Nothing we make contains dairy, and we keep our ingredient lists short, usually one to four ingredients.

Our cacao tea is a single ingredient (roasted cacao husk) and is naturally allergen-free. A few of our chocolate bars include inclusions such as nuts, and those are clearly labeled, so please check the ingredients on any bar with add-ins if you have an allergy.

Yes, our chocolate is kosher-certified.

Store your chocolate somewhere cool, dry, and out of direct sun. A slightly chilly cupboard is ideal. Because we craft without stabilizers or preservatives, warm weather can soften it or cause harmless cocoa 'bloom' (a pale surface look). It's purely cosmetic and still delicious.

For warm-weather orders, we watch the forecast along the route and pack with care so your chocolate travels well. If anything arrives in less than lovely shape, reach out and we'll make it right.

We ship across the US, with rates shown at checkout, and US shipping is free on orders over $75. Because chocolate is perishable and heat-sensitive, we time and pack warm-weather shipments to protect them in transit.

We handcraft everything in our studio in the Bronx, NYC. We're a working production studio rather than a retail storefront, so the best way to meet us in person is at a farmers market. See where we'll be next on our events page.

We want you to love what arrives. If anything is damaged, missing, or not right, email us at hello@slowcocoa.com or use our contact page, and we'll take care of you.