From Bean To Bar: Cape Town’s very own artisanal chocolate maker, Honest Chocolate

Written by Carolyne Wamono

Chocolate is more than just a sweet treat - it’s an experience. And for the makers of Honest Chocolate, it truly is an art. This unique chocolate company, based in the heart of Cape Town, is involved in every part of the process from sourcing the finest cocoa beans to handcrafting each chocolate bar, showing their commitment to bring you the highest quality chocolate that is also sustainably and ethically sourced for your mindful indulgence. This brand is authentically South African, and it feels like a love letter to the country, celebrating the beauty of its natural environment, the richness of its people, and the resulting artisanal uniqueness it has to offer.

How It Started: Pioneers in high quality, locally made chocolate

It all began when the co-owner, Anthony Gird, began experimenting with raw cacao, making a few healthy chocolate bonbons with just cacao powder, coconut oil and honey for his friends. And they kept wanting more. The positive feedback and demand he received gave him the green light to turn his passion project into a business. This led him to spend some months learning the art of chocolate making. 

Michael de Klerk, a friend of Gird and now co-owner, had embarked on his own chocolate journey while experimenting with raw chocolate in London. He returned to Cape Town to join forces with Anthony in their shared passion of chocolate making and in 2010 the brand Honest Chocolate was born. The two friends discovered and tapped into a gap in the market as they could not find high quality, locally produced chocolates on South African retail shelves.

How It's Going: Chocolate Making - An Honest Approach

“A CHAIN OF POSITIVITY” 

The early years of Honest Chocolate were spent working with raw cacao sourced from Ecuador. However, the founders remained committed to their vision of establishing a direct and single origin supply chain that prioritises ethical considerations for people and the environment, including sourcing local, certified organic, and fair trade cacao. As a result, the brand made a pivot to work with organically grown and ethically sourced Tanzanian cacao beans from Kokoa Kamili, a small-scale cacao producer located within the Kilombero Valley in Tanzania. Building a personal relationship with this supplier took 3 years, but according to Honest Chocolate, the effort was worth it as they were able to obtain the highest quality cacao beans, while also knowing that the farmers were earning 24% more than market rates for their cacao. This achievement is referred to as their "Chain of Positivity" - a transparent, ethical, and sustainable supply chain, which not only benefits the farmers and the environment but also puts smiles on the faces of consumers who enjoy these delicious treats.

In contrast to numerous large international chocolate brands with complex supply chains that have been exposed for having the worst forms of child labour and human slavery, Honest Chocolate vehemently promotes an honest, ethical, and sustainable approach through their operations.

“Two Ingredients”

The Honest approach to chocolate-making can be seen in their use of old-school methods and only the purest ingredients. Their chocolate slabs are made with just two simple ingredients - cacao beans and a sweetener, which can be either unrefined cane sugar or coconut sugar. However, they discovered that the South African market was not familiar with pure chocolate and needed education on this concept. To bridge this gap, Honest Chocolate introduced the slogan "Don't be Afraid of the Dark," which is printed on their chocolate slabs, reassuring those hesitant about trying dark chocolate.

Honest Chocolate later introduced a creamy mylk chocolate range, which is made with 54% dark mylk chocolate and contains oat milk to soften the intensity of dark chocolate. This mylk chocolate range features four delicious slabs, each with their own distinctive flavours: Plain Mylk Chocolate, Mylk Chocolate with Toasted Coconut, Mylk Chocolate with Cracked Coffee Beans, and Mylk Chocolate with Salted Almonds.

A Truly Artisanal Brand

THE PROCESS

Throughout the entire process, it is evident that Honest Chocolate is truly an artisanal brand. The journey begins with the harvest of the best cacao pods from Kokoa Kamili, followed by fermentation of the cacao beans with fruit of cacao pods and then sun-drying of the beans. After being carefully hand-sorted, the beans are shipped to Cape Town and then sorted and roasted in Honest Chocolate's homemade roaster. Using their homemade winnowing machine, the beans are cracked and the husks are removed from the nibs. The cacao nibs are then added to rotating stone grinders with unrefined cane sugar or coconut sugar until the chocolate becomes silky smooth. Finally, the chocolate is tempered by hand before being poured into moulds to set, and later hand-foiled and wrapped.

The manual processes involved in Honest Chocolate's production result in a unique experience, with each chocolate bar being somewhat one-of-a-kind. The attention to detail and care that can only be achieved by human hand is evident in the superior taste and texture. The production process is more eco-friendly and the hand-sorting and other manual processes provide employment opportunities, demonstrating that Honest Chocolate is not only an artisanal brand but also socially responsible.

Artists Range

Since the beginning of the brand, Honest Chocolate has wrapped its slabs in prints of original artworks created by local artists and illustrators. These artworks are thoughtfully designed to reflect the bean and flavour profile of each respective bar. The process involves Gird and De Klerk, who develop the flavour and artwork idea, searching for an artist whose style they believe would best suit the flavour. The artist is then commissioned, and given the freedom to express their interpretation of what the owners of Honest Chocolate have in mind.

Although Honest Chocolate later changed their wrappers to a more uniform packaging with a sleek design characterised by pops of colour and gold accents, the artist packaging remains as the Artist Range, intended for gifting. Over the years, Honest Chocolate has collaborated with more than 14 artists, each with their own distinctive style and interpretation of flavours. Mike Sherman visually represented Miso and Tamari Sunflower Seeds in 70% Dark Chocolate, Kirsten Sims interpreted the 70% Dark Chocolate with Buchu and Dried Pineapple, Sinenhlanhla Chauke created the wrapper for Vegan Dark Mylk Chocolate, and Amy Lee Tak's illustration portrayed the 54% Dark Mylk Chocolate  with Peruvian Maca, to name a few.

The Honest Experience

The Honest Chocolate Café opened in Cape Town's city centre on Wale Street in 2014, offering a welcoming haven for chocolate enthusiasts to indulge in an artisanal chocolate experience. The cafe is a cozy spot with a sunny courtyard outside, where both seasoned epicureans of chocolate and those who are new to the artisanal chocolate scene can enjoy the full Honest Experience.

The cafe serves artisanal coffee by Trump and Timbal and hot chocolates of various flavours, to be topped with House-Made Vanilla Bean Marshmallows. The menu also includes an assortment of bonbon truffles, as well as their specialty dish, Banana Bred ‘Bunny Chow’ , a playful take on a South African dish. This dish consists of a banana bread mini-loaf filled with chocolate spread, ice cream, and spiced nuts on the side. The cafe's chocolate brownies were rated as the best brownie in the world by Phil Rosenthal, the host of Netflix series "Somebody Feed Phil." The indulgence doesn't end there, though - a visit to the cafe is a must to discover more.

Monthly Workshops at the Chocolate Factory

In addition to the cafe, the Honest Chocolate Factory in Woodstock holds monthly workshops where guests can learn the art of chocolate making and its secrets. The workshop begins with a full tasting and an introduction to how cacao beans are farmed and processed, followed by a demonstration of how the organic beans are made into decadent chocolate bars. Guests are then taught to dip, decorate, and wrap their own set of bonbons to take home. This workshop is an ideal activity for winter or any time of the year.

To share this authentically South African artisanal brand with you, a selection of Marc and James’ favourite Honest Chocolates is now stocked at 7 Koppies.