Tours & Classes

[dandelion_xola comment=”don’t remove me!”]

Hello Chocolate Learners and Appreciators! We are in the midst of transitioning our Chocolate Experiences tours and classes from our Valencia Street factory to our soon-to-open 16th Street Factory (tentatively scheduled to begin public and private events in April 2019).

As a result, very few immediate tours and classes in SF are on the calendar, with very few spots available. (Note, however, that there are many classes below for our Los Angeles pop-up shop.)

We thank you so much for your patience during this moment of transition, and please know that we can’t wait to begin scheduling our new, expanded menu of classes, tours, tastings, and travel in chocolate once we’ve opened our new space. Add yourself to our mailing list to be the first to hear of upcoming chocolate experiences.

Many thanks!
—The Chocolate Experiences Team

FACTORY TOURS

On this introductory look into bean-to-bar chocolate making, visitors will be walked through each step of our production process in our working chocolate factory. We’ll examine the how and why behind the journey from cacao farm to Dandelion hot chocolate and taste cacao from cocoa beans to liquid chocolate, and finally single origin bar.

General Tour Information
Cost- $5 per guest
Days-Wednesday-Saturdays
Time: 6:10pm-7pm
Location-740 Valencia Street

Tour Requirements
Due to the intimate size of our production space, tours are limited to eight guests. For safety reasons, closed-toed footwear and a hairnet are required. We ask that all guests be over 8-years-old.

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Please note: We are pausing our factory tours here at our Valencia Street location at the end of December 2018 to prepare for our new tours programming. We’ll add future tours as soon as we have the dates for our new factory opening solidified. Thanks for your patience as we get our new factory up and running – we’re looking forward to being able to show it off! If you want to be the first to book when we post new dates, sign-up here. –>
<!–sorry, WE ARE SOLD OUT UNTIL OUR NEW FACTORY OPENS If you want to be the first to book when we post new dates, sign-up here. –>

Disfrute de nuestro Tour por la Fábrica y conozca nuestro proceso llamado “del Grano a la Barra” además de degustar algunos de nuestros Chocolates de Latino América. ¡Los Esperamos!

Enjoy our Factory Tour and get to know our process called “del Grano a la Barra” as well as taste some of our Chocolates from Latin America. ¡We can’t wait to meet you!

This class is an all-around introduction to chocolate lasting approximately two hours. During the first half of class, we’ll taste and learn about the different types of chocolate, their ingredients, and single origin chocolate.

After a short break, we’ll learn about processing that goes on before cocoa beans reach Dandelion Chocolate. Then we’ll learn about our chocolate making process with machine demos and tastes at each step of the way from bean to finished chocolate bar.

Space is limited to ten participants at our 740 Valencia Street location. While content is geared toward adults, guests aged 12-15 are welcome if accompanied by an adult and we tend to have younger guests join us for our daytime classes which occur at least once per month.

$50 –

<!–sorry, WE ARE SOLD OUT UNTIL OUR NEW FACTORY OPENS If you want to be the first to book when we post new dates, sign-up here. –>

Or book a private Chocolate 101. We charge a fixed price per class rather than per guest for private classes and you may have up to 12 guests at our 740 Valencia Street location.

$700 –

<!–Contact us at classes@dandelionchocolate.com to request an alternative evening or weekend date. Most dates that do not appear on this calendar are unavailable due to our public class schedule or because our factory is inaccessible for the intensive tour portion of class while we are actively crafting chocolate in it. However, occasionally we may have an additional opening or cancelation. –>

Our pop-up at ROW DTLA in Los Angeles has a classroom space! We will be offering classes many Fridays and Saturdays while we’re there and hope you’ll stop in to join us. Our goal for Chocolate 101 is to better understand what any chocolate bar (not just ours) will taste like and have an understanding of how it was created.

Join us for an all-around introduction to chocolate lasting approximately two hours. During the first half of class, we’ll taste and learn about the different types of chocolate, their ingredients, and single origin chocolate.

After a short break, we’ll learn about processing that goes on before cocoa beans reach Dandelion Chocolate. Then we’ll learn about our chocolate making process with tastes along the way from fruit to finished chocolate and demos of some of the machines we use in our R&D lab.

Space is limited to ten participants at our LOS ANGELES ROW DTLA location. While content is geared toward adults, children are welcome if accompanied by an adult.
$50 –

Come make a small batch of chocolate and cocoa nibs! This class won’t cover the basics of chocolate. (If you’re interested, we address those in our Chocolate 101 class.) In this four hour session, attendees will dive right into our techniques for flavor development and production.

We’ll start by tasting a variety of our roasted nibs, working in pairs to formulate a single-origin or blended dark chocolate. From there, we’ll walk you through the process of turning raw beans into roasted nibs. 

You’ll leave with a bag of tasty nibs as well as about a pound of finished but untempered chocolate that’s great for nibbling on when it’s fresh or baking with for your own truly-from-scratch treats down the line.

Space is limited to 6 people per session on our 740 Valencia Street Mezzanine.  While content is geared toward adults, guests aged 14-17 are welcome if accompanied by an adult.

$150 –

<!–sorry, WE ARE SOLD OUT UNTIL OUR NEW FACTORY OPENS If you want to be the first to book when we post new dates, sign-up here. –>
<!–Or book a private Chocolate 201. We charge a fixed price per class rather than per guest for private classes and you may have up to 6 guests on our 740 Valencia Street Mezzanine.

$1000 –

Contact us at classes@dandelionchocolate.com to request an alternative evening or weekend date. Most dates that do not appear on this calendar are unavailable due to our public class schedule or because our factory is inaccesable for the intensive tour portion of class while we are actively crafting chocolate in it. However, occasionally we may have an additional opening or cancelation. –>

In this two hour class on our mezzanine, we’ll learn about chocolate history from when humans first started eating it as a fruit until chocolate present by ending with the Craft Chocolate Movement. And while this will involve a fair amount of lecture, we’ll intersperse facts with tastes and demos. We’ll taste cacao fruit, use a metate to see what Olmecs, Maya and Aztecs likely used for cacao beverages, and we’ll make a historic hot chocolate recipe from the 1600s using the cacao we ground on the metate and a Molinillo. In addition, we will taste multiple examples of chocolate bars that reflect techniques and important events in chocolate history. If you’ve ever wondered… “how did such a complex process evolve?” your questions will be answered here.

Space is limited to 8 people per session on our 740 Valencia Street Mezzanine. While content is geared toward adults, guests aged 10-17 are welcome if accompanied by an adult.

$50 –

<!–If you want to be the first to book when we post new dates, sign-up here.–>

This class explores the life of chocolate from farm to factory. Your child (aged 7-12 years old) will spend a morning of fun and learning with a member of the Dandelion Chocolate Team exploring all things chocolate. This class will look at how cacao is grown and processed on cacao farms, and how it turns into chocolate in our factory.

We will start with a taste of chocolate on our upstairs mezzanine and talk about the cacao farms where the life of chocolate begins. Students will then participate in a hands-on experience of sorting, roasting, cracking, and winnowing cocoa beans while learning about our chocolate-making process. We’ll end class with a brownie and cup of milk, watching the production team complete many of the steps we just learned about. Each child will walk away with a better understanding of how chocolate is made as well as a real cacao pod!

During class, parents are welcome to relax in our cafe, explore the neighborhood, or leave entirely and return to pick up two hours later. During our final 5-10 minutes of class, parents are invited to join us on the mezzanine while they observe our production team in progress and ask their final questions.

$50 –

<!–sorry, WE ARE SOLD OUT UNTIL OUR NEW FACTORY OPENS If you want to be the first to book when we post new dates, sign-up here. –>

Designed for younger guests, from four to six years old, and their adult parent/guardian to share a fun and educational visit to the chocolate factory. This class explores the chocolate making process through Sweet Coco, a story by Jake Perez. We follow as she learns how chocolate is made, allowing guests to touch, smell, see, and taste chocolate as it is transformed from cocoa bean to finished treat. We will taste cacao fruit, a cacao bean, liquid chocolate, as well as bloomed and tempered chocolate while we learn about the process.

After learning about the process on our upstairs mezzanine, we’ll peek down at our café bar to watch as Dandelion Chocolate’s team uses the machines we just learned about and answer any of our guests remaining questions about the process.

$20 –
Parent/guardian’s may accompany more than one child and should have their own ticket.

<!–Sorry, WE ARE SOLD OUT UNTIL OUR NEW FACTORY OPENS If you want to be the first to book when we post new dates, sign-up here.–>

Learn how chocolate is made in this hands-on chocolate making class with your child(ages 7-13)! In this two and a half hour session, guests will learn how chocolate is made through demos and hands-on activities

We’ll start by learning about the process on the farm including tasting cacao fruit. From there we will learn how Dandelion Chocolate’s team selects the best beans to turn into chocolate and we’ll sort out a 1-kilo batch which we will then roast in a small coffee roaster. While these are roasting we’ll use some TV magic to turn already roasted beans into cocoa nibs. Each pair will then start a batch of chocolate using our small Laboratory Equipment and learn how to weigh and add cocoa nibs and sugar to a small chocolate grinder (also known as a mini-melanger). Once we get our batches started, one of our teachers will demonstrate chocolate tempering and each guest will mold a tray of bars. After the bars have cooled each guest will wrap their chocolate bars in foil and paper.

Each guest will leave with a small bag of nibs and 3 bars which they molded and packaged.

Space is limited to 4 pairs per session. Each guest aged 7-13 should have one adult to accompany them as we will work in pairs for much of the class.

$100/guest –

<!–Sorry, WE ARE SOLD OUT UNTIL OUR NEW FACTORY OPENS If you want to be the first to book when we post new dates, sign-up here.–>

Starting March 2017, we will accept at least one participant per month to attend class on a scholarship. If you would like to be considered for a scholarship for one of our classes, please fill out this form.