While traveling in Oaxaca, Mexico, Alex Whitmore took his first bite of stone-ground chocolate and was captivated by its rustic intensity. Inspired to bring this bold, unrefined chocolate back home, he learned to hand-carve granite millstones and opened a chocolate factory in Somerville, Mass.
Alex wasn't content simply making great chocolate — he wanted to change how it was sourced. By rejecting predatory middlemen and abusive labor practices, he created the chocolate industry's
While traveling in Oaxaca, Mexico, Alex Whitmore took his first bite of stone-ground chocolate and was captivated by its rustic intensity. Inspired to bring this bold, unrefined chocolate back home, he learned to hand-carve granite millstones and opened a chocolate factory in Somerville, Mass.
Alex wasn't content simply making great chocolate — he wanted to change how it was sourced. By rejecting predatory middlemen and abusive labor practices, he created the chocolate industry's first third-party certified Direct Trade cacao sourcing program. Through face-to-face relationships with growers who respect the environment and fair labor practices, Taza pays prices significantly higher than Fair Trade, ensuring the best organic cacao reaches their factory.
At their Somerville facility, Alex uses vintage roasters and hand-carved granite millstones to lightly grind cacao beans into perfectly unrefined chocolate with bold flavor and signature gritty texture. His philosophy is simple: do less processing to let the complex flavors of Direct Trade cacao shout loud and proud, creating seriously good chocolate that's fair for all.
