Xocolatl Chocolate turned 12! When we founded Xocolatl Chocolate in 2014, we set as our mission to share the true value and awesomeness of chocolate with every person we could reach by making the best-tasting chocolate. We decided we would only source responsibly-grown cacao, and frame every business decision we would make with our ethics and values. We knew that if we clearly defined who we would be making chocolate for, people who cared would find us. While our mission tells us what we’re building, it’s our amazing community of chocolate lovers, who keep us going.
Every so often, a fellow chocolate fanatic tell us how Xocolatl Chocolate fits into their lives, and those stories fill our hearts and inspire us to keep marching forward on mission. So for our 12th Birthday, we staged a story-telling contest. We asked our beloved email subscribers to send us their fondest memories of Xocolatl Chocolate for a chance to win one of three cases of 12 chocolate bars. What a response we received! Our team read through all 31 heart-warming entries and voted for their favorites. We hope you'll help us in congratulating the winners Luke, Brígida and Beck. Read on to see their winning entries.
Winning Entry #1 from Luke C.
Although I have many great memories of Xocolatl, I will share two of the most memorable. The first one may sound simple but I remember it to this day. When my family used to live in Inman Park we would often go to Krog street market. Almost every single time we would stop and look at the Xocolatl store. We would try different types of chocolate and new flavors. I have always loved food. I remember my first trip to Xocolatl. When I was about 4 years old. I tried every type of chocolate y'all had at the time and remember each one had a distinct flavor. It tasted different then other chocolate. It tasted more rich and had more nuances in flavor. I remember that when we had chosen the chocolates we wanted to take home, I watched the employee making or mixing chocolate in the back. I was fascinated about how the chocolate was made. It didn't just come from the grocery store. You could make it and it tastes so much better. This blew my 4 year old mind.
My other favorite memory of Xocolatl came a little bit later in my life. It was Christmas morning and I was about to turn 5 years old. I was pumped for Christmas and couldn't wait. At the break of dawn, I raced out of my room, awoke my parents and we opened our stockings. Inside was a Xocolatl chocolate bar. I was ecstatic. It wasn't often I got to taste my favorite chocolate bar. Now I am 14 years old, and my family still puts Xocolatl bars into each other's stockings. We always enjoy the special treat, especially since we don't live so close to the shop any more. Thank you for blessing our family with so many memories.
Winning Entry #2 from Brígida P.L.
My husband, José, and I are recent transplants to Georgia, after living on and off a total of 27 years in Florida. We love looking for local treats, particularly when it comes to food and drink. We came upon your chocolates at the Local Exchange in Marietta, where we now live. I did not purchase the chocolates then but within months my brother invited us to spend New Year's Eve at his home in Toronto. We brought a basket of Georgia goodies, including a sample of Xocolatl bars. We went to pick them up at your delightful micro-factory and we knew we were into something awesome! We loved everything about it: the smells, the set up, the samples, the people who delivered our bars. It was then when we first tasted the chocolates and fell in love with some of the flavors. The chocolates were a huge success with our family in Canada, to the point that my sister-in-law decided to keep some in a secret stash. We have been keeping Xocolatl at our home and gifted it to visitors and our Florida friends when we visit there.
The real moving story, however, was when a friend's dad passed away. He and wife had moved recently from Woodstock to Connecticut to be close to their daughter, who had grown up in the Atlanta area. Instead of flowers, I decided to send her a piece of what had been their home in the form of a sample of Xocolatl. She was beyond moved by the gesture! She sent me the most heartfelt note thanking me for the gesture.
Finally, I want to share something about my ancestry. I am originally from Venezuela. You may be aware Venezuela is home of some of the best cacao species. My connection goes a little further, though. My great-grandfather, Henri Pittier, a Swiss immigrant, was a prominent botanist in Venezuela. He thoroughly studied Venezuelan cacao plants and was fascinated by them. As you may also know, because of the political situation and because of crude oil becoming the main focus of the economy, the cacao farming suffered greatly. It has recently been picked up by entrepreneurs like you and Matt with significant success. Pittier's contribution to the renewal of cacao farming was the copious sample of the plants he collected and carefully kept. Some of those samples recently made their way to the Botanical Gardens in Geneva, where their DNA has been replicated successfully.
To be honest, I had been thinking about writing to you about all this after a recent email I received about the discovery of the Theobroma cacao near Atlanta. Aside from my story about how we got to know and love your product, I wanted to ask whether you were aware about the merits of Venezuelan cacao. Of course, the possibility of getting some free bars did the trick for me to finally get in touch.
Thank you for what you do for us chocophiles.
Winning Entry #3 from Beck D.
I’ve been on a lot of bad dates.
My husband and I have been swindled by many a “date night” creative activity that felt crowded, slapdash, insanely expensive, and even hostile at times. So naturally, we were a little wary of the Valentines Day truffle making workshop offered at the Xocolatl factory. However, I’d tasted Xocolatl chocolate at Krog market and had been obsessed ever since, so we decided to give it a whirl.
The undeniable quality of Xocolatl had already ruined nearly every other chocolate company for me, but since that Valentine’s Day, no other date night has been able to compare.
We walked into the factory for the workshop and were greeted by the most beautiful table set up with gorgeous toppings and beautifully labeled truffle ingredients. We were handed crisp glasses of wine by the friendly and knowledgeable staff and sipped while watching the chocolatier in attendance at work. After that, we had a fascinating class about the origins of the treats at our fingertips and received instructions for letting our inner chocolatiers come out to play.
That table was full of laughter, creativity, curiosity, and the pure joy of indulging in a perfect bite of chocolate enriched by passion, intention, and care. We made friends, shared stories, truly connected over the creative energy, and allowed ourselves to revel in the pleasure of the moment.
If chocolate were a religion (and it should be), this experience would have been church. Xocolalelujah.
We left the warehouse with heaps of chocolate (which we couldn’t hide from the kids for long- we’ve made chocolate snobs out of them too) and an incredible memory, knowing we had supported a company that not only cares about quality chocolate, but human quality as well.
Thanks, Xocolatl, for one of my favorite ways to experience Atlanta and the single best date night I’ve had in a long time.