Rick Boosey and his family like chocolate. In fact, they love it. They make it, breathe it, sell it. They live it.
Boosey is an energetic man who loves kids. I met him at a local event called Wines and Vines and asked if there was any chance he’d let us learn how they make their chocolate. He and his wife have four adopted daughters and homeschool, so we had an instant connection. Less than a week later, we learned every step of the chocolate process at the Kyya Chocolate headquarters.
It all started in 2012 when the Booseys visited Uganda and had a desire to help the orphans in that country. They kicked around a few ideas and came up with, you guessed it…chocolate. Not just any chocolate – GOOD chocolate. They do every step of the process themselves from roasting the beans to making their own cocoa butter to packaging the bars for sale. Ten percent of their profit goes to help orphans.
Truth be told, I didn’t expect the process to be so interesting, but it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever learned about. We hope you think so, too! Here is how Kyya makes really great chocolate:
There are 4 main stages the cocoa beans go through before a delicious chocolate bar can be made out of them.
1. Cocoa Bean
2. Roasted Beans
3. Cocoa Nibs
4. Cocoa Powder
The first step in the process is roasting the cocoa beans. The beans are roasted at 300 degrees for an hour. From here, the beans go through the winnowing process where they are broken up into pieces. and the husks are separated from the nib.
The nibs are put into a conch and are ground down into a form we would recognize as chocolate. Don’t taste it yet, though. It’s very bitter – no sugar has been added.
Kyya Chocolate is one of the few that takes the pure chocolate from the conch and puts it through a process to make their own cocoa butter and cocoa powder. The press applies 60 tons (or 120,000 lbs) of pressure to extract the “cocoa gold” from the chocolate.
A big block of pure cocoa powder is made once the coca butter has been separated from it.
It smells really good, too!
The pure chocolate that does not go through the cocoa butter/cocoa powder process stays in the conch where sugar, vanilla, sea salt, and Kyya’s own cocoa butter are added. The beautiful, tasty chocolate is then ready for the molds (also made at Kyya) and then put in the refrigerator to cool.
After it’s cooled, it’s placed racks where it gets ready to be packaged and shipped.
While we were there, we got a sneak peak of their newest product – Chocolate Syrup!
Just a note – we were NOT PAID for this article. We just really like chocolate and good people! If you do too, here’s their information!
If you’d like more information on Kyya Chocolate, please email info@kyyachocolate.com or call 1-844-281-4470.
They can be found at these local retailers (we LOVE shopping at locally owned businesses!): (Check out your location here!)
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Puritan Brew Co.
205 W Dickson St
Fayetteville, AR 72701
(479) 301-2365
Arsaga’s Espresso Cafe At The Library
401 W Mountain St
Fayetteville, AR null
(479) 521-1993
The Common Grounds
412 W Dickson St
Fayetteville, AR 72701
(479) 442-3515
The Depot – Arsaga’s Coffee, Food & Libations
548 W Dickson St
Fayetteville, AR 72701
(479) 443-9900
Skye On The Town
Fayetteville, AR 72701
Lewis & Clark Outfitters
Fayetteville, AR
Ozark Natural Foods
1554 N College Ave
Fayetteville, AR 72703
(479) 521-7558
Onyx Coffee Lab
2418 N Gregg
Fayetteville, AR 72703
(479) 444-6557
Pack Rat Outdoor Center
Fayetteville, AR 72703
Salon Professionals
1810 N Crossover Rd #2
Fayetteville, AR 72701
(479) 443-3668
Mama Carmens
College Avenue
Fayetteville, AR 72703
(479) 521-6262[/mks_one_half]
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The Perk
3980 W Wedington Dr
Fayetteville, AR 72704
(479) 251-7375
Onyx Coffee Lab
7058 W. Sunset Ave.
Springdale, AR 72762
(479) 419-5739
The Fresh Market
2203 Promenade Blvd
Rogers, AR 72758
(479) 986-8886
Lewis & Clark Outfitters
2530 Pinnacle Hills Pkwy
Rogers, AR 72758
(479) 845-1344
Kennedy Coffee Roasting Co
2501 SE 14th St
Bentonville, AR 72712
(479) 464-9015
Peel Mansion
400 S Walton Blvd
Bentonville, AR 72712
Pressroom
121 W. Central Ave.
Bentonville, AR 72712
(479) 657-2905
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
600 Museum Way
Bentonville, AR 72712
(479) 418-5700
Blufoundry
125A E. Kenwood Street
Siloam Springs, AR 72734
(479) 228-3526
Pour Jons
223 N. Wright St.
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
(918) 221-8747[/mks_one_half]
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