The Northwest Chocolate Festival 2026

Fine chocolate has largely centered fermented cacao, while the rise of "ceremonial cacao" has created a second, very different narrative around chocolate. Yet Mexico has a long history of producing and consuming cacao lavado - a traditional unfermented cacao that has shaped its drinking chocolate culture for generations. In this session, Ashley and Mariana explore the history, process, and sensory characteristics of cacao lavado, making the case for its place within modern specialty chocolate. Drawing from her experience growing up on the U.S.–Mexico border and Hijita's mission to bridge cultures through chocolate, Ashley will challenge conventional assumptions about fermentation, flavor, and authenticity before concluding with a live drinking chocolate demonstration and guided tasting.

This talk explores how bean-to-bar chocolate makers can better communicate the depth and value of their work through social media and storytelling.

Bean-to-bar chocolate holds an incredible amount of value — from sourcing and traceability to craftsmanship and flavor development — yet much of this is often not effectively translated to the consumer.

The goal of this session is to bridge that gap.

I will focus on how makers can use social media (primarily Instagram, but applicable across platforms) to communicate their story in a more engaging, accessible, and authentic way. Rather than focusing only on trends or viral content, the talk emphasizes building a strong narrative through different content formats such as short-form video, photography, carousels, and captions.

The session will combine inspiration with practical tools, including real examples and a simple framework that participants can apply to their own brand.

There will also be a short interactive moment where attendees begin defining their own storytelling approach, based on their values, process, and identity.

By the end of the talk, participants will leave with:

* A clearer understanding of how to communicate their value
* A practical starting point to improve their content
* Confidence to create content in a way that fits their personality and workflow

This talk is designed to bring immediate, actionable value to chocolate makers who want to better connect with their audience and elevate how their work is perceived.

Many would argue that the two earliest brands that helped nudge many small American makers to try their hand at small batch quality chocolate were Scharffen Berger Chocolate (1996) and Dagoba Organic Chocolate (2001). In this retrospective, we will take a look at the earliest craft chocolate makers who took inspiration from these two makers, and reflect on what their hopes were, consider how they set about to make the best chocolate, discuss the rules that were established to qualify as bean to bar craft chocolate, and how this has all evolved in the past 20 years. What was the early ethos and vision for craft chocolate? Did it succeed? Was it realistic to hope for a new way of relating with the global south, as global north producers? Are we will making progress or has the craft chocolate industry morphed into business as usual? 

An immersive presentation exploring how flavor, memory, and cultural ritual can be reinterpreted through fine chocolate. From regional inspirations to layered tasting experiences, this session invites guests into the creative process behind each collection — where ingredients, storytelling, and craftsmanship come together in contemporary Indian confectionery.

I plan on talking about how much work goes in to sourcing specialty cacao beans so that we can make chocolate in its purest possible form. My talk will focus on the complexity of direct trade, drawing from my experience working directly with farmers under different conditions in different regions of Peru. The topics I plan to touch in include: logistical and human challenges, like navigating difficult terrain and building relationships with indigenous communities, understanding the politics within those small communities as well as training for post-harvest and building effective post-harvest installations efficiently. I’ll also address the complexities of maintaining trust and accountability within these supply chains.

My goal is to use photos, videos, and stories from my travels to remote Awajún communities in Amazonas, Peru to give audience members an immersive behind-the-scenes look at what direct trade really looks like. Instead of a polished, idealized narrative, they'll experience the unpredictability, beauty, and effort of operating in the High Amazon Basin of Northwestern Peru.

The audience will benefit by understanding that direct-trade is more than just wording on a website or box of chocolate, it is a fascinating labor-intensive claim and a lot more nuanced than most people believe it to be. They will walk away with a more grounded understanding of direct trade. I want consumers to walk out of the session with a better framework for judging sourcing claims, understanding quality, and appreciating the real cost and rewards of origin-driven cacao.

The presentation examines the scientific and archaeological evidence positioning Ecuador as the earliest known center of cacao domestication, with data dating back approximately 5,500 years. Demonstrating early human interaction with Theobroma cacao.

The presentation will contextualize these discoveries within broader discussions of plant domestication in the Americas, pre-Columbian trade networks, and the evolution of cacao from ritual beverage to globally traded commodity.

The academic component will be complemented by a structured comparative tasting of chocolates sourced from diverse Ecuadorian terroirs. Participants will evaluate sensory profiles in relation to genetics, post-harvest practices, altitude, soil composition, and regional biodiversity.

By integrating archaeological evidence, molecular research, and sensory analysis, this session aims to provide a rigorous and multidimensional understanding of Ecuador’s foundational role in the history of cacao and its continued relevance in the fine flavor chocolate sector.

Every Halloween, Americans buy 90 million pounds of chocolate bars and candy — but few of us stop to ask where the chocolate actually comes from. Behind the shiny wrappers of your Snickers, Reese's, and M&M's is a supply chain built on the backs of West African laborers, including children who handle chainsaws and machetes, carry hundred-pound sacks, and breathe in herbicide fumes — all so that Big Chocolate (companies like Hershey, Nestlé, and Mars) can rake in billions in profits while paying farmers less than two dollars a day.

These corporations have helped decimate the forests of Ivory Coast and Ghana, exacerbating the same climate disasters we now see playing out worldwide. Meanwhile, Wall Street traders speculate on cocoa futures as an abstraction, and in our grocery stores, we face an unpalatable choice between cheap candy and our conscience.

Cheap chocolate is the fast fashion of the confections industry. But we can drive the change we want to see in the chocolate sector. Join author Birgitte Rasine in exploring the power we didn’t know we had as parents, elders, and professionals as role models for the younger generations of chocolate lovers growing up in a runaway consumer society.