AWonka-licious tour
Insidea magicalfactory inWellington wherethere’s chocolateasfar astheeyecansee.
My top tip if you’re taking a tour of the Wellington Chocolate Factory? Skip breakfast. And lunch. I’mbooked in for the 10.30am tour, and I’ve barely walked in the door before I’mwelcomed with a hot chocolate that is less a beverage and more a thick, silky, super-rich liquid version of the business’ Peru chocolate bar.
It’s not long before I’mnibbling on cacao nibs. Then I’moffered a spoonful of coffee-flavoured milk chocolate, straight from the grinder. A tray of chocolate chip cookies is passed around before we get to the ‘‘official’’ tasting session – a sampling of four types of chocolate, broken up into bite-sized morsels and presented in little bowls with tongs.
‘‘Help yourself to as much as you want,’’ our guide Jess says, before letting us choose a full-size bar of chocolate to take home. I can’t help but recall the time I took a tour of a certain, now-defunct Dunedin chocolate factory, and left with a handful ofmini chocolate bars and a few unwelcome splashes of chocolate on my clothes from the gimmicky chocolate waterfall.
The experience at this craft chocolate factory, down a laneway in central Wellington, couldn’t have been more different.
Established in 2013, the Wellington Chocolate Factory is New Zealand’s first bean-to-bar factory, which means the chocolate is made from scratch, starting with the cacao bean.
Jess explains how the beans are sourced as ethically and sustainably as possible, importing beans from Peru, the Dominican Republic, and the Pacific Islands. She shows us a cacao pod, which contains the beans. It’s wild to think chocolate comes from such a funny-looking fruit.
Once the beans arrive in Wellington, they are sorted by hand and roasted in small batches. Then the beans are ground down into nibs, which you can eat raw. In fact, Jess tells us, they’re a powerful superfood, with aphrodisiac qualities.
You can see the refining machines at work all over the factory, mixing the nibs with other ingredients to form a smooth liquid chocolate. Each refiner produces 40 kilograms of chocolate, or 500 bars. The factory is working hard to produce up to 5000 bars a week.
The chocolate then goes through a tempering machine – heated and cooled to give it glossiness and a good snap. Finally, it’s poured into bar moulds to set, before being wrapped by hand in wrappers designed by local artists.
You won’t uncover any big behind-the-scenes secrets on this tour because there aren’t any.
Wellington Chocolate Factory strives to be transparent about its ingredients and process, and it’s possible to wander in and have a look around at everything without taking a tour. It’s worth visiting just to have a hot chocolate from the excellent cafe.
But the tour offers a bit more of the backstory of this gem of a business, and shows you howmuch of a labour of love chocolate making can be.
At $30, it’s also great value, considering a single bar of the premium chocolate costs $10. Be sure to come with flavour ideas as feedback and suggestions are taken seriously. You might just find your dream creation in bar form next time you visit.
Wellington Chocolate Factory’s Discover The Art Of Chocolate Making tours run most Saturdays at 10.30am, 1.30pm and 3pm, and cost $30. Bookings required. Visit wcf.co.nz/tours for more information.