THE CRAFT · FOUR CEREMONIES

The four ceremonies.

None of them are fast. None of them are decoration.

ach tin passes through four ceremonies before it reaches you. None of them are fast. None of them are decoration. The flavor in the final square is the sum of the four, held in the order they were given.

FROM BEAN TO SEALED TIN

  1. Sourcing — The Bean

    A single valley, a single grower.

    We do not blend across origins. The Manabí beans arrive in jute from a co-operative of fourteen growers on the western slope, fermented seven days in cedar boxes and sun-dried on bamboo platforms. The cocoa we buy is the cocoa we know by name.

    ECUADOR · MANABÍ · 7°S

  2. Tempering — The Slab

    Three temperatures, in three breaths.

    Couverture is melted to thirty-one degrees, drawn down across cool marble to twenty-nine, then warmed back to thirty. The triangle is what gives the snap its glassiness and the surface its lacquer. We temper by hand — a machine cannot feel a degree the way a palm can.

    TEMPER 31°C → 29°C → 30°C

  3. Folding — The Ganache

    A day to set, never less.

    The ganache is folded at thirty-two degrees with single-origin cream and a measured weight of inclusion — matcha, mango, vanilla, the chapter the tin belongs to. We let it rest a full night before it is cut. A faster ganache tastes flat; the bitter-green note arrives too soon, the fruit loses its lift, the cocoa’s late finish is no longer late.

    FOLD 32°C · REST 24H

  4. Sealing — The Tin

    A small ceremony, kept for you.

    The tin is lined in cream linen, the squares laid in a four-by-four field, the lid set, the wax warmed to sixty degrees and pressed with the monogram. The wax breaks once. The opening is yours. We make the gesture; you complete it.

    WAX 60°C · SEAL BY HAND