The Maker

Who's making this chocolate?

Hello. I'm Curt Keisler, and I make bean-to-bar chocolate in the West Ashley part of Charleston, South Carolina. I also built many of the machines that I use to make chocolate.

Curt Keisler raking drying cacao at Castillo, Ecuador
That's me raking drying cacao at Castillo in Ecuador. A photography crew needed to get the lighting right before filming the farmers, so I stood in, and got this wonderful image in return.

I got curious about chocolate making in December 2021 and dove in. I learned everything I could from books (The Science of Chocolate, Dandelion's Chocolate Making), Manoa Chocolate's YouTube videos, Chocolate Alchemy's website, Facebook groups like Well Tempered and Bean to Bar Chocolate Making, and plenty of conversations with other makers.

Building the machines

Professional chocolate equipment is expensive, so I designed and built my own: a bean cracker, an AI-driven winnower, an experimental AI-driven bean sorter, a custom molding scale, and a CNC bar-molding machine. Along the way, I taught myself engineering, CAD design, 3D printing, electronics, and circuit board design, plus enough woodworking to build the stands they sit on.

Going to the source

I've traveled to Ecuador, where I spent time with farmers, professors, and some of the world's leading cacao researchers. I toured a large processing plant where beans were roasted, cracked, and winnowed, and watched a massive cocoa butter press at work. The aroma is locked in my memory.

Curt Keisler photographing a freshly opened cacao pod at UNOCACE, Ecuador
Photographing a freshly opened cacao pod in a warehouse at UNOCACE, a cacao cooperative in Ecuador. The light through a small opening in the ceiling was amazing.

I've also attended chocolate festivals at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the Salon du Chocolat in New York several times. This November, I'm entering my chocolate in competition at a festival, where I also expect to speak about AI in chocolate making.

Every bar, by hand

I personally source, select, and inspect every bean. I roast, crack, and winnow them, then stone grind them for many hours until they become chocolate. I temper it, mold it, let the bars set for a few weeks, and wrap each one in a wrapper I designed. That's a lot of work for a bar of chocolate, and I wouldn't do it any other way.

Curt Keisler climbing down from cacao fermentation boxes at UNOCACE, Ecuador
Climbing down from the top of the fermentation boxes at UNOCACE. The smell is indescribable.

The last and best step is yours: enjoying it. I hope you love it as much as I loved making it for you.

Choose your path . . .