Taza Chcolate Tour [Somerville, MA]

Taza Chocolate is located in an urban warehouse area of Somerville, MA in a very non-descript building. When we arrived we checked in at the counter of their factory tour and were told to enjoy the samples they had out while we waited for our tour to begin.

It wasn’t long before our guide Krisha gathered us together and explained how the company founder had traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico and had a hot chocolate that changed his life. She went on to explain that he apprenticed with a local molinaro who taught him their way of making chocolate using hand carved stones known as molinos. They use the bean to bar process of making chocolate and no dairy products are used and everything is all natural.

The first of the three rooms we entered was the roasting room. Here we learned that the first step in Taza’s chocolate making process is to roast their cacoa beans which dries and helps loosen their shells and also helps develop their flavor. Also in the roasting room was the winnower which winnow’s or (separates the shell from the cocoa nib).

After isolating the nib from the shell it moved into the first grinders which use Molinos or Mexican stone mills sourced from Oaxaca Mexico. The molino’s are hand carved specifically to grind cocoa nibs into a paste called cocoa liquor. Creating those molinos by carving very precise shapes and grooves into the stone was part of the skill the founder learned while apprenticing in Mexico.

Next Taza add’s organic raw cane sugar to the cocoa liquor in the mixing tank. The result creates a mixture called Chocolate Mass.

Next the Chocolate Mass is pumped into a second set of Molinos to further grind and refine the Chocolate Mass by shattering the sugar crystals. Some of the chocolate is then further refined in the roll refiner to reduce the grittiness of the chocolate to make bars. The less refined chocolate mass makes the Mexican stone disc’s.

Once refined the chocolate is then held in holding tanks at 110 degrees until it is ready for tempering and ultimately packaging.

Tempering is a process where the chocolate is heated and cooled to create a specific crystal structure in the cocoa butter. Tempering increases the melting point of the chocolate and gives it is glossy appearance.

Once tempering is completed the chocolate is pumped into molds where they are vibrated to remove air bubbles. They those molds are put in a cooling room held at 40 degrees to cool them quickly.

Not all chocolate is made into molds however. Their covered treats take a different path and after the chocolate is tempered the treats tumble inside the copper revolving pans until they are evenly coated with a drizzle of chocolate. The tumbling helps create a glossy appearance by the chocolate rubbing together.

Once done both the covered treats and the molds are sent to the packaging room where two types or wrappers are used to wrap the discs and the bars. Everything is hand packaged after being wrapped and shipped globally all over the world. 

They named it Taza since taza in Spanish means cup and it all started with a cup of hot chocolate in Oaxaca, Mexico.

After completing the tour we were again offered more chocolate to try and given the opportunity to purchase anything we wanted from their factory store. Having had a Groupon I was entitled to one free disc. I also picked up a few bars and a t-shirt.

Mapparium @ Christian Science Center

Located in the Christian Science Center’s Mary Baker Eddy Library is an amazing 3 story tall glass globe. Inspired by architect Chester Lindsay Churchill to represent the Christian Science Monitor’s global awareness and reach he constructed this 30-foot diameter glass globe based on the Rand McNally Political map of the time.

It is frozen in time in 1935 when Thailand was known as Siam and much of Africa was under colonial rule. The globe is made of 608 stained glass panels and was designed to allow the countries to be viewed in accurate geographical relationship to each other.

Guests of the Mapparium are grouped together in small batches and taken into the mapparium for a 20 minute long stay where they enjoy a light and sound show. Guests walk across a glass bridge suspended in the middle of the globe where it’s unusual acoustics allow visitors voices to be amplified.

They do not allow pictures from within the globe since the map is copyrighted by Rand McNally but I couldn’t resist sneaking a few for my blog. It’s a great location to visit and see what the world looked like in 1935.

Sons of Liberty Spirits Company

Mike Reppucci, founder of South Kingstown’s Sons of Liberty Spirits Company recently gave us a tour of his 3,100 square foot distillery where he craft's superb whiskies, vodka's and the occasional beer. It was the first tour of the day for Sons of Liberty and thankfully there was a limited number visitors in attendance.

The distillery was as you would expect a warehouse feel with the walls lined with barrels of whiskey surely aging to perfection. In the corner a tasting bar with many of their varietals ready for the end of the tour and another room where all the magic happens loaded with all kinds of equipment.

Mike welcomed us to his distillery and explained how he got his start 5 years ago. He explained that he does things different then most distilleries. He got his start as a student in London who went on a series of scotch tours where they explained to him that scotch is a distillers beer. Scotch is whiskey made in Scotland. Whiskey starts as a beer. Its a non-hopped un-boiled beer that has been distilled. He thought and asked why he has never heard of a stout beer whiskey or a Belgian whisky or any seasonal whiskey.

One of their whiskey's is called Uprising which is a stout beer turned into a single malt whiskey. They also make Battle Cry which is a Belgian beer turned whiskey.

They also do seasonal whiskeys like their pumpkin spice whiskey in the fall and an IPA whiskey in the summer. When he started everyone thought that he had no idea what he was doing but 15 gold medal winners and worlds best from Whiskey Magazine for the pumpkin spice. That distinction made them the first craft brewer to win that distinction.

When he returned from school in London he trained with the master distiller from Makers Mark. While there he learned all the tricks of bourbon makers. He choose to do it a little differently to produce a smoother products. They start at the mash lauder ton using a darker roast barley. Next they move to the mash to the fermenters where they are temperature controlled. topping out at 70-75 degrees for 2 weeks. That gives them a better flavor. They focus on the flavors instead of volume. Most have a three day fermentation cycle.

There are one of two distillers that temperature control. Next they move to the still which they use 250 gallon Vendome stills. they strip the beer to 30% alcohol and then double distill to only 120 proof. that keeps the product clean but flavorful. Each time you distill you are cleaning out a lot more of the product. anything to 190 proof is vodka. 1,000 gallons of beer yields 90 gallons of whiskey.

In their spirit safe there is three compartments where they remove the heads and tails keeping just the hearts. The heads and tails should not be consumed. He trusts his pallet versus testing the product. He said that the heads taste like jolly rancher green apple notes and when that dissipates then he cuts to the hearts. When the product becomes oily then he cuts again to remove the tails.

Then they barrel the products into fired oak barrels. That helps them add more complexity to their product. He also showed us how they can use the same still to make vodka.

After learning the process we moved onto the bar where we tried four different whiskey's. We tried Uprising and Battle Cry as well as their two seasonal whiskey's Pumpkin Spice and their Summer Seasonal. Then we sampled three of their vodkas. Plain, Vanilla and Mint Cucumber. I enjoyed the vanilla and mint cucumber.

I will be honest that whiskey isn't really my thing and I found most of them very harsh and bitter. This isn't specific to Sons Of Liberty as I feel this way about all whiskey. I will admit that I did enjoy their beer's I loved the brewed Battle Cry Beer. On our way out I picked up one of their cool t-shirts and Dan picked up a bottle of Battle Cry for his father. Grace like me got a t-shirt. 

Home Decorating: Lamps, Flowers, Sailboats & Foo Dogs

During my time off at the end of 2014 I did a good deal of purging, cleaning and reorganizing around the house. I eliminated many unnecessary, outdated, or too small/big clothes as well as many household items. It felt good to empty the closets and make room for new things. Another big push was eliminating paper unless imperative to keep originals leading to a lot of scanning and shredding. With all that going on I had piles of trash bags and donations to Savers to take away.

Once done I was able to finally look around my place and notice a few things that I either didn’t like or was missing. I figured I’d make a trip to Homegoods and see what might strike my fancy and make the return trip home with me.

The first section of the store was occasional furniture. They have some of the most unique and unusual items but I don’t have any room for any furniture so I tried to pass by. One item that caught my attention and drew me in was an office desk made of aluminum and looked like a vintage airplane wing. It wasn’t functional with all the rivets and would require a piece of glass cut but as cool as it was I didn’t need it so I pushed forward.

As I explored the abyss of home decor products the lighting section caught my eye. They had a pair of really cool Drexel Heritage desk lamps in the same George Kovacs Arc style as the lamp I had purchased to go next to my Eames Lounge Chair. One thing that has always annoyed me was the lack of light on my desk and this pair would certainly add light. At $49.99 a piece into the cart they went.

Next I set my sights on the center of the store where they have everything from floral arrangements to small decorative items. Some of the floral arrangements looked so believably real I just had to pick one up. I settled on two different arrangements. The first a small vase with 5 white roses and I thought it would be a perfect fit for the bathroom. At $24.99 why not do it and be able to claim my bathroom always smells like roses. I also set my sights on a large bouquet of peonies, roses and other flowers that I thought  

 
would be a perfect fit for the coffee table. Big enough to be seen but not too big that the table is lost. I was in luck here since it had two price tags on it. One tag said $99.99 stuffed inside it and the other stuck on the outside very visible was $29.99. Not sure why it had two but I definitely wanted it at the $29.99 price and so into the cart it went.

I decided that it was time to check out and started making my way to the registers but not without one final stop by the clearance section. Strangely they had a pretty fantastic boat model of a vintage single mast sailboat with its stand. It was an imposing model and was easily 3 feet in length. Its front bowsprit was loose but looked like it just needed its screws tightened and was marked down from $99.99 to $29.99. I wasn’t going to pass on this model and into the cart it went alongside the lights and flowers.

As I made my way to the door the overflowing isles of goods kept me moving at a slow pace and one final item on an end cap had to be taken home. To be fair it was a pair of items. I have long has a fascination with Foo Dogs and they had a matched pair of Foo Dogs in a bluish green glaze with pretty awesome detail. Sadly they were $49.99 each. So another $100 if they were to make the trip home. I hesitated and looked at them for a good long time before deciding I would be angry at myself if I didn’t buy them. I wasn’t sure where they would go but I could always return them if I decided they just weren’t the right fit for my home.

 

While checking out I watched as the register total climbed to a final total of $284.93. That’s a lot of items for the cost. When I got home I immediately did some research on the items I bought. The Sailboat is from Authentic Models and retails for $269.99 so at $29.99 I saved 89%. The Foo Dogs I discovered retail for $195 each at a local furniture store so a savings of 75% off. The lights were another great deal retailing for $350 a piece saving 86%. The floral arrangements had no definitive marking or maker so I wasn’t able to locate an exact match but a smaller arrangement of peonies on overstock.com was $189.00 so I can only assume at $29.99 I saves at least 84%. The roses I found another similar arrangement for $69.99 of similar quality for a 65% savings. Total retail cost of my purchases $1,618.98 for 284.93 for a savings of roughly 83%

A Year in Review: 2014

2014 was a fun and exciting year for me. I kept very busy sometimes too busy doing new things and exploring new places. In addition to continuing to chip of more of my Day Zero project items I created 2 new blogs about travel. One domestic and another international to highlight my interest in traveling.

 

Below are some of my core blog stats. The top to posts of 2014 was the Thimble Islands Boat Tour and Skydiving Pepperell. Both of those experiences were amazing and I would encourage others to check out both venue's.

 

 

2014's average monthly visit rate was 548 unique visitors checking out my blog. That is an increase from 2013's average of 410 unique visitors. I hope the trend continues. Another interesting stat is visitors by country.  I expected the US to be the top country but the Ukraine would not have been my second guess. Most of the countries I found to be a curiosity.

 

 

As an IT professional by trade I was also intrigued by the type of equipment people use to check out my block. Windows and Internet Explorer still dominate.