Dandelion Chocolate

Two ingredients, cocoa beans and organic cane sugar, go into every single-origin bar Dandelion makes at its 16th Street factory in San Francisco.

About Dandelion Chocolate

Based in
San Francisco, California
Founded
2010
Known for
two-ingredient single-origin bean-to-bar chocolate

Dandelion Chocolate has been making chocolate in San Francisco since 2010. Todd Masonis is a co-founder. The factory sits on 16th Street, and the company also runs cafés in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Tokyo.

Its chocolate is made from cocoa beans and organic cane sugar, nothing else. No added cocoa butter, vanilla or lecithin. Each batch uses beans from a single farm or cooperative, bought directly and at a price above the commodity market, so the bar tastes of that harvest. By sourcing single-origin beans and adding only sugar, Dandelion aims to bring out the distinctive flavors of each harvest.

Dandelion Chocolate questions

Why does Dandelion use only two ingredients?

Dandelion makes its chocolate with just cocoa beans and organic cane sugar, with no added vanilla, lecithin, preservatives, flavorings or cocoa butter. It works with beans from a single farm or cooperative at a time, and by adding only sugar it aims to bring out the distinctive flavors of each harvest.

What does bean to bar mean at Dandelion?

Dandelion calls itself a bean-to-bar chocolate maker: it sources cocoa beans directly from farms and turns them into chocolate in its San Francisco factory. Its founders started with machines they rigged together themselves to roast, crack, winnow (remove the shells), grind, conch (long mixing that smooths the chocolate) and temper. Dandelion has worked this way since 2010, making its chocolate in small batches in San Francisco.

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