5 Colorado chocolatiers to help you up your game

By Steve Graham

Cocoa beans don’t grow in our high desert climate, but that hasn’t stopped Colorado from dipping deep into the chocolate industry. We’ve got major national brands and specialty distributors, but Colorado also hosts an ever-growing list of craft chocolatiers that will tingle your taste buds and wow your Valentine.

We all feel some hometown pride when we see the big bears and little treats at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory outlets around the world. And Enstrom has grown from a Grand Junction factory into one of the biggest names in toffee and chocolate.

Likewise, it’s hard to resist picking up Boulder’s Chocolove bars alongside your milk and eggs at the supermarket. And Fortuna is among several smaller chocolatiers that distribute to specialty stores around the area.

But it’s even more fun to sit and savor a chocolate flight or even some homemade bean-to-cup hot chocolate at a chocolate café. Thankfully, several chocolate makers sell their wares on site, providing a decadent stop for Valentine’s Day, or really any time.

The new kid: Cultura Chocolate

This acclaimed Latina-owned chocolate company has been distributing for a few years under the less appetizing but perhaps more memorable Dead Dog Chocolate brand. This week, owner Damaris Ronkanen will open her own café in the new RISE Westwood building on Morrison Road in southwest Denver.

Ronkanen learned to appreciate the flavor and culinary diversity of chocolate during trips to Mexico, where her grandmother made both savory mole sauces and traditional sweet and spicy atole drinks. She helped cook and craft pastries at fine restaurants in Boston and Denver before starting Dead Dog and then creating Cultura.

The scientists: Cacao Chemistry

A firmware engineer and a pastry chef trained at Johnson & Wales University combined their talents to open Cacao Chemistry. The Colorado Springs café sources fine European chocolate and then creates colorful and artistic small-batch chocolates and pastries.

Gift boxes, chocolate bark, candy bars and hot chocolate mix also are all available on the Cacao Chemistry online store.

The educator: Piece, Love and Chocolate

Chocolatier and pastry chef Sarah Amorese opened a chocolate boutique on the west end of Pearl Street in Boulder, selling her own truffles, pastries and treats alongside a carefully curated selection of other specialty chocolates from local, national and international sources.

She also shares the joy of making chocolate through both an exposed kitchen and regular classes. Her upcoming classes on truffles, eclairs and French macarons are all sold out, but spaces are available for her March sessions on making chocolate soufflé, molten lava cake and chocolate mousse.

The sweetest couple: Nuance Chocolate

Nuance founders and owners Toby and Alix Gadd would love to host you for a chocolate-tasting date. After all, such dates and chocolate excursions to places like Costa Rica fed their love of the bean and inspired the business.

Nuance Chocolate travels just a few blocks from the factory to the Old Town Fort Collins café, where the specialty is single-origin taster flights. There is also always an enticing array of truffles, sipping chocolate and French-style hot chocolate. Nuance also sells bars, roasted nibs and bagged brewing chocolate online.

The counselor: The Chocolate Therapist

Julie Nygard literally wrote the book on chocolate — and did the TEDx Talk. Her book, “The Chocolate Therapist: A User’s Guide to the Extraordinary Health Benefits of Chocolate” inspired her downtown Littleton café, which offers wine, coffee, gluten-free baked goods and, of course, handcrafted chocolate.

She practices what she preaches, eating a little chocolate every day to maintain her health. She also makes all-natural chocolates without dyes, preservatives or artificial ingredients. The shop also offers weekly wine and chocolate pairing classes because wine can be therapeutic too.