Raphio Chocolate shows us how they make chocolate

Raphio Chocolate co-owner Elisia Otavi is bringing something unique to Fresno, and that makes everything sweeter.

The name Raphio is a combination of her sons’ names, Raphael and Rio. After sharing her passion with her children, Otavi now shares her passion with the city of Fresno.

Raphio Chocolate makes bean-to-bar dark chocolate bars. This style is also known as craft or artisan chocolate.

“We just get the cacao beans. We get the sweetener–in our case, the organic cane sugar. You can taste the real taste of chocolate depending on the origin, and it’s also very healthy for you,” Otavi said.

The chocolate they make comes from all over the world, including chocolate from Madagascar that has a cherry taste to it. Their chocolate making process begins from a pod-shaped fruit that contains seeds. Those seeds are the beans they make the chocolate out of.

The chocolate-making process has a lot of factors involved that can affect the outcome.

“Chocolate is very temperamental. Some days you’ve done everything right and it did not turn out how you want it,” Otavi said.

Raphio Chocolate hosts behind-the-scenes tours to demonstrate the chocolate-making process. Fresno State student Gilbert Mendoza said he learned a lot from the tour.

“It was great,” Mendoza said. “It felt like I was fulfilling one of those childhood goals where you come here and check out the chocolate and get to sample it as well.”