'Different, intense and very satisfying': The rise of bean-to-bar chocolate in NSW

The hunt for the perfect Easter egg has led a small but growing group of passionate Australian chocolate makers towards the carefully curated world of small-batch, sustainable, craft chocolate.

It is within this emerging "bean to bar" industry that craft chocolatiers are able to control every aspect of the chocolate-making process, from the flavour profile of the cacao beans, to the intensity of the roast, to the composition of the final product.

"It's about celebrating the flavour of the cacao beans," said Michelle Morgan, co-founder of Zokoko, an acclaimed chocolate maker in the foothills of the Blue Mountains.

"Once people taste craft chocolate, they get it. When chocolate is fresh, it's alive and dancing in your mouth with flavours that are just not going to be there in a mass-produced product that's been shipped halfway around the world.

"It's very different, it's very intense, and it's very satisfying."

The majority of chocolate sold within Australia's $3.4 billion chocolate market is made up of chocolate "liquor", a paste produced by chocolate commodity giants Mondelez, Mars, Nestle and The Hershey Company.

In contrast, chocolate makers such as Jessica Pedemont from Haberfield's South Pacific Cacao source cacao beans directly from sustainable plantations in the Solomon Islands.

From there, Pedemont begins the transformative process of carefully roasting, grinding, conching and tempering chocolate to create the glossy eggs and bunnies displayed in her small shop.

"We're artisans," says Pedemont, one of 34 bean-to-bar manufacturers in Australia.

"We're going back to the basics of how chocolate used to be made, back to how it was before industrialisation. It's a rebirth."

This method of chocolate making resurfaced in 1996 when San Francisco winemaker John Scharffenberger and chocolate connoisseur Robert Steinberg founded Scharffen Berger, the United States' first contemporary craft chocolatier.

But while the popularity of independent, small-batch manufacturers has risen exponentially in the Australian beer, wine and coffee industries, many have yet to hop on board with their chocolate counterparts.

"We have to try even harder than craft beer, or craft wine, to encourage people to give it a go because commercial chocolate has been set as the precedent, and most of that stuff is just chocolate confectionery," says Pedemont.

Chris Brown is the co-founder of Australia's first craft chocolate subscription service, BeanBarYou. He says he believed chocolate was "kind of sweet and tasteless" before his wife and business partner, Alison Pearce, introduced him to the bean-to-bar movement.

"It got me hooked," Brown says. "It should come with a warning label, because once you try craft chocolate it's hard to go back."

Craft chocolate is available in white, milk and dark varieties, with percentages of cacao ranging from 30 per cent all the way up to 100 per cent. Brown recommends trying a 70 per cent blend, "because there's something about it that makes the flavour sing".

Founder of Sydney-based craft chocolatier Alouss, Elsie Jahjah, described the taste of craft chocolate as "more intense", but "cleaner on the palate".

"The first time I tried it I was kind of blown away, I couldn't go back to supermarket chocolate after that," she says.

"It was rich and smooth and creamy. You could actually taste other flavours, not just the sweetness."

Robert Csano from Hyggelig in Drummoyne says craft chocolatiers were able to bring out the flavours of "the beautiful, somewhat mysterious" cacao bean in a way commercial manufacturers could not.

"We need to nurture all the flavour profiles so the consumer can taste the difference," Csano said.

"The cacao we source from Guatemala tastes like walnuts, whiskey, and orange, while the cacao from Belize is completely different, with notes of blackberries and cheesecake.

"Craft chocolate should always be the chocolate of choice. The European chocolate makers, they're very good at what they do, but it's just not the same as when you eat it fresh."

Bean-to-bar chocolates for Easter

Zokoko Easter bunnies, 90g to 500g, $15-$75

Michelle Morgan is selling a wide range of bean-to-bar Easter chocolates exclusively from Zokoko's factory in Emu Plains, including a giant, 37-centimetre-tall Easter bunny in milk, dark and carrot-flavoured chocolate."We used organic powdered carrot juice, and it created a fantastic colour," she says.

Unit 3, 84-90 Old Bathurst Road, Emu Heights, 02 4735 0666, zokoko.com

Hyggelig Easter pots, 100g, from $15.90

For Easter, Robert Csano is offering two limited edition releases in store and online. The first uses "super tiny" wild harvested cacao beans from Bolivia to create hand-cut, bite-sized pieces of chocolate decorated with Easter ribbons. The second will use cacao beans from Guatemala, paying homage to the Semana Santa Easter Festival, one of the world's largest and most colourful Easter celebrations. "It's single origin, 77 per cent dark chocolate from [US wholesaler] Uncommon Cacao," says Csano. "The flavour of Guatemalan chocolate seems to be going its own way, it has its own spectacular flavour."

Shop B, 197-199 Lyons Road, Drummoyne, hyggelig.com.au

Chocolate Artisan Easter eggs, 100g to 300g, $22-$55

Jessica Pedemont has created a beautiful range of Easter eggs under her Chocolate Artisan label, which are available both online and in store, depending on the weight and complexity of the product. One of the most striking creations is the "egg splat", featuring a 75 per cent dark chocolate shell with white chocolate detail and delicious salted-caramel truffle inside. Pedemont's gold-dusted geometrically-shaped Easter eggs stand at an impressive 20-centimetres and come in milk, medium dark, and dark organic chocolate.

74 Ramsay Street, Haberfield, 0410 520 069, chocolateartisan.com.au