All began one day that I was surfing the web and a video on how to make chocolate at home appeared on the browser. I always liked chocolate and I was very interested on that video from the first second.

I searched the web specifically on how to make chocolate and I though I could do it by myself.

After some reading on the subject I learned about the bean-to-bar chocolate and all what it means. It is not just about to make great chocolate nothing to do with the chocolate I was used to but to help cocoa farmers to make a decent profit from their work.

That reminded me when I was a fruit farmer in Catalonia and I was unsatisfied with how the fruit market is... farmers don't have too much control over what they sell. For this reason I quited and I started a career as a computer teacher.

I thought I could do that bean-to-bar chocolate and at the same time help the cocoa farmers. It was a handicap for I knew nothing about chocolate making...

I started to learn the whole process and to make some tests. My first chocolate was not very good, but I kept studying and testing and improving. I gave samples of my chocolate to friends and family and eventually they told me that my chocolate was not the same kind of chocolate that one can find in a supermarket. They suggested that I could sell the chocolate.

First, I was a little bit surprised but finally I decided to sell it. And not just to sell it but enter the International Chocolate Awards, where I got a Gold prize for one of my chocolates at the European competition.

-- Xavier Palau, Chocolate Maker --