The Chocolate Garage

The Chocolate Garage 654 Gilman St. Palo Alto, CA The Chocolate Garage is CLOSED. Contact Sunita to get more information and a custom quote.

Whether you are looking for a team building, holiday party, corporate event or a night out with your friends, The Chocolate Garage can be your solution.

Even *we* suspected we were on a permanent sabbatical from chocolate… but no! We are back!! Many years older than when t...
02/27/2022

Even *we* suspected we were on a permanent sabbatical from chocolate… but no! We are back!! Many years older than when this picture was taken in the Patric Chocolate factory, still dear friends, a lot more grey hairs, with collectively a few decades of chocolate making, tasting, marketing, story telling and selling under our belts, our belt size may have changed too… 🤪🤣 but we are here and doing our second of three beta events called Taste Like an Expert. Last month our focus was roasting, and in addition to 6 blind tastes of bars we also tasted a light and dark roasted Hawaiian cacao from Lonohana Estate’s farm (video on YouTube for all, channel under my full name). This coming month we gather on March 26th at 2pm PT for our second virtual event, this time we are doing a deep dive looking at the role of cocoa butter. This tasting is for all: beginners through to chocolate makers & industry veterans. Last month we were honored to have folks join and be invited from as well as many previous Garagistas, so the chocolate quotient (CQ) level of making and tasting was very high!! I recommend following all of the above folks 👆🏽👆🏽if you want to go deeper into craft chocolate. The box includes domestic shipping using First Class USPS, extra for Priority (I can be convinced to ship internationally for extra— DM me). Order by midnight on Feb 28th for March 26th Tasting, link in bio!

Taste Like an Expert: Last month our focus was on roasting, we tasted a light roast and a dark roast of the same Hawaiia...
02/27/2022

Taste Like an Expert: Last month our focus was on roasting, we tasted a light roast and a dark roast of the same Hawaiian nibs. And then we blind tasted 6 samples of chocolate (YouTube video avail on channel with my full name). Join us March 26th at 2pm Pacific for our second of three beta tastings with the esteemed master maker Dr. Alan of Patric Chocolate . We’ll be doing a deep dive on the role of cocoa butter in tempered chocolate, and also blind tasting 6-8 bars. ORDER BEFORE midnight on Monday Feb 28th. Link with more info in bio. This is for chocolate lovers, industry folk, and chocolate makers. Everyone is welcome and will learn!

Given our virtual world, I am back to doing corporate team buildings and happy chocolate tastings. Preparing this one fo...
02/17/2022

Given our virtual world, I am back to doing corporate team buildings and happy chocolate tastings. Preparing this one for a local team of tech folks at Google! They will each get their package mailed to their homes and then we’ll gather via Zoom next week to learn and taste together! We are tasting five plain single origins and five playful inclusions and milks. Mmm. 😋🤩😍 We also ship internationally.

I have been noticing how often I pick up my phone to fill a moment, and find myself scrolling and scrolling… this mornin...
12/02/2021

I have been noticing how often I pick up my phone to fill a moment, and find myself scrolling and scrolling… this morning I was contemplating doing an “Instagram fast” as my friend Amanda suggested.
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I noticed how my mind fast forwarded through what is planned for the next few weeks and I noticed a twang at the idea of not getting to post the end result of the lavender mini Christmas tree, and the gingerbread houses we plan to make, and it occurred to me how ridiculous this was. Who am I making the tree and gingerbread houses for? My kids and I? Or an audience!? And of course I can choose to send pics to friends and family that would like to share in our activities, it’s not like being off Instagram means I can’t take pics and share them.
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I also don’t buy the story that if you aren’t posting and relevant on Facebook that your business won’t work. When I was open for 8 years the overlap between my paying customers and those who followed me on IG was *tiny*. Much more important was my weekly newsletter.
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So, no, i don’t need social media to promote my new offerings. I can safely remove IG from my phone, and gain 1-3 hrs per day in mostly mindless scrolling justified by “this is how I get my news” or whatever other nonsense justifications for my addiction to IG scrolling.
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Maybe I will come back to this Meta company addiction next year. If I do I plan to report back on what a month of absence translated into for me, my kids, my hands, my neck, my eyes, my intimate presence with myself and loved ones over the holidays.
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Text me or call if you wanna connect, or email me so we can find a time to connect live. In the meantime I plan to adopt the embodied state pictured above, chilling on the beach like my twelve year old son last week, the waves lapping at my legs, looking up for rainbows and hearing all the birds and human animals chirping away. Rather than be doom scrolling to “fill” (waste) my leisure time.

I went to Oahu and look what happened to my crown chakra on the beach! 🙃😇😜🌈🏖🌊🏝🐠🌺
11/29/2021

I went to Oahu and look what happened to my crown chakra on the beach! 🙃😇😜🌈🏖🌊🏝🐠🌺

(See comments👇🏽for mine) Posted • As a child I would hide in trees, in the forest and even in cupboards to read and to...
11/12/2021

(See comments👇🏽for mine) Posted • As a child I would hide in trees, in the forest and even in cupboards to read and to daydream.
One of my decades long daydreams involved local harvests being turned into amazing products within driving distance of the field where they’re grown. And why not? Shouldn’t apples be made into apple juice in their home countries? Wheat into flour? Salt water into salt?
But when you grow up in a region that imports over 80% of its food and drink local processing can seem unattainable.

Then I learned about cocoa beans? Until it’s tempered most processed cocoa travels pretty well. I began to wonder. Why should 100% of cocoa beans come from the Global South but until recently almost 100% of the chocolate was made in the Global North - with the worst of it being shipped back to us? Why should close to 70% of the world’s beans come from the African continent but less than 5% of the world’s chocolate be made there? What are the financial and social implications of so many Global South products - from cocoa to coffee to minerals to our citizens - being ‘value added’ and retained in the Global North? The answer is book length.

So with a bunch of others we’ve worked that daydream into reality. This is an invitation for you to participate - and 🙏🏽 to those who’ve already supported in different ways! Our sampler pack is open for pre-sales AND we can’t wait to meet up with you - and up to 3 others of your choosing - at the tastings and Meet the Maker sessions that are included, as our gift, with each box purchase!

In alphabetical order? Chocolate from Cameroon, Dominica, Ghana, Grenada, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and a Melting Pot US bar. If you want to get involved? (1) Purchase a sampler box (we’re self funded so earlier is always good for cash flow.) (2) Look out for your invitation to our virtual tastings and bring some friends to share your box. (3) Follow us on IG and read about us at our Chocolate Rebellion website. (4) Share your daydream. (5) Share my daydream.

Can’t find the words to tell you how this experience has filled my ♥️!

Posted • "Spirits Rising"This one is for all the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, the ones who lost th...
10/01/2021

Posted • "Spirits Rising"

This one is for all the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, the ones who lost their children, and all the Indigenous people who are still living with the trauma. It is for the victims and survivors of the residential school system, and the child welfare system.

Original painting is not for sale.

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LOVING MOMS HAVE ABORTIONS TOO. So much more to say, but I will further reflect before writing another chunk of a book h...
09/03/2021

LOVING MOMS HAVE ABORTIONS TOO. So much more to say, but I will further reflect before writing another chunk of a book here.

C A C A O K I N E S I SWe had a fabulous week together, moving and shaking with cacao. This playful picture is also a tr...
05/24/2021

C A C A O K I N E S I S

We had a fabulous week together, moving and shaking with cacao. This playful picture is also a tribute to our late friend and colleague, and to his lovely wife Samantha, and his dear daughters.

The last time Seneca and I lay on the floor in a similar lay out was in the middle of the Marou Chocolate café in HCMC, with Sam and Sam.

We honor Sam’s legacy, his spirit, his kindness, his relentless enthusiasm and curiousity, may he rest in power, and may we all bring his passion and commitment forward in our own lives. We miss you Sam. We honor your legacy.

Golden hour. Sunset at Three Tables on the North Shore. Time to go home to my kids 🥰 tomorrow... 🐠🌈🌺🥥🥭🏝 Hasta pronto Haw...
05/21/2021

Golden hour. Sunset at Three Tables on the North Shore. Time to go home to my kids 🥰 tomorrow... 🐠🌈🌺🥥🥭🏝 Hasta pronto Hawai’i ♥️🧡💛💚💙💜

Kicking back laying around on bed of chocolate in the making.... 🥰🍫🌈🌺🐠🥥🏝
05/20/2021

Kicking back laying around on bed of chocolate in the making.... 🥰🍫🌈🌺🐠🥥🏝

05/17/2021

Aloha to all those with wanderlust. The approach to Oahu. 🏝 🌈 🥥 🐠 🌺 ♥️ You can check my stories coming up for a special cacao harvest and ferment experiment led by Dr. Alan McClure, of Patric Chocolate . I will be some gifted labor and entertainment. And stealer of cacao pulp. It is so sweet to be with old friends!. 🥰😍 🍫 p.s. We are all happily fully vaccinated too!💉

Address

Palo Alto, CA
94301, 94303, 94304, 94306

Opening Hours

Wednesday 5pm - 9pm
Saturday 8am - 1pm

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