We went on a tour of the Taza factory and had a really positive experience. Our guide Brendan was personable, funny, and knowledgeable. We visited on a weekend so we didn't get to see production in action and we could only see the machinery through the windows. Despite it all, I learned a lot and was engaged throughout. I have personally spent a lot of time in Oaxaca and was intrigued to learn about Taza's origin. And the best part was the tasting of course! There were tastes along the way and basically an opportunity to try anything and everything at the end! A couple standouts: lemon cookie and the 95% dark with ginger (you wouldn't even realize you are eating that level of dark chocolate). read more

The tour guide was very knowledgeable and gave a lot of cool insight into Taza. There were lots of samples along the tour and a chance to sample different flavors at the end. Definitely would recommend to others and recommend booking on a weekday if you want to see the machines in action. read more

Really enjoyed my chocolate tour with Brendan who had an infectious positive energy! I learned some fun facts, ate lots of delicious chocolate,& left feeling happy. The samples at the end let me explore different flavors & I found my favorite was lemon cookie crunch was unexpected. Who doesn't love Fair Trade chocolate? read more

The tour was fantastic! So educational and engaging. Well-paced and fun! Hannah was so personable and sweet. She was very passionate about the chocolates and processes so that made us super comfortable trying a bunch of chocolates! read more

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This little gem makes the most amazing chocolate. All of the flavors, and there are SO many of them, are rich and deep and some are very creative combinations. We weren't able to time a tour out but we were still able to taste anything we were interested in in the gift store. The staff were all very attentive and knowledgeable. I'm telling everyone about this place! read more

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Sweet tooth alert ‼ A lovely Saturday afternoon spent at Taza doing a tour & sampling a variety of delicious chocolates. A local gem and wonderful to have an actual chocolate factory nearby where you can get a tour, see & learn how it's made, sample a whole lot and then shop to take home. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and made it wicked fun to learn about the chocolate making process. Their store setup is wicked charming and with a whole lot of flavor. If you have a sweet tooth and looking for a nice fun activity to do with friends or your loved ones, be sure to pay Taza a visit. read more

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I bit into a piece of Taza Wicked Dark 95% dark chocolate and fractured a tooth. This tooth was an integral part of a bridge. Replacing it will cost $8000.00. I give this product one star because that is the lowest rating possible. I asked the company to cover the cost of the dental work. They refused to acknowledge any responsibility. This financial burden is a great weight on my family. This extremely hard chocolate is what fractured my healthy tooth. I do not recommend Taza Wicked Dark 95% dark chocolate to anyone! Rachel Korn read more

Booked a tour at Taza Chocolate and the friend group was a little skeptical but we ended up absolutely loving our experience. Brandon was an absolutely fun tour guide and really gave us a good overview of the business, how and where their chocolate is sourced, and the process for forming both their bars and the disks. We got to try a lot of great chocolates at the end: some notable ones being the sea salt disk, the raspberry bar, the chocolate crunch bar, the roasted coconut bark, and the chocolate covered hazelnut. It's great to see this business thriving and I learned a lot about chocolate! read more

Went here for chocolate factory tour with my girlfriend on Valentine's day. The guide was super knowledgable and attentive throughout the tour. It was about an hour long and we learned a ton about how the chocolate works as currency in west Africa and is victim of climate change! We also liked the fact that chocolate you get from here are very different from the ones you get from grocery store, they have the grinding(?) and rough texture inside them, and some of them have spiciness! There are chocolates you can buy that you can use as hot chocolate, which is super cool as well. read more

This is an annual field trip for my seniors because it ties our Spanish V curriculum together really nicely. The tour was amazing as always! I asked Christine to add a little bit of info that was particular to our curriculum and they did perfectly! The students were talking about it on the bus afterwards. This year was a little more engaging and there were some new jokes that hit well! The students used phrases like: "this ate!", "the tour cooked", and "it was fire". I'm sure you can tell from those that they loved the tour! Thank you so much! read more

What a fantastic activity to do with family or friends! Taza's chocolate tour is definitely an amazing deal and interesting experience, not to mention their chocolate is delicious and fun to try as well. We booked the tour a day before and there were maybe 8-9 others in the experience with us the next day so I wouldn't too much about booking far ahead. Our tour guide was super enthusiastic, friendly, and knowledgeable. The experience goes through a very basic walk-through of how chocolate is made for their specific factory and also showcases the machinery involved. You're also able to taste any chocolate flavor in their store at the end which I find to be a nice little perk to wrap the event up. While the experience isn't very repeatable, I had a very nice time and will definitely be visiting again to buy some of their locally made chocolate! read more

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I am a major chocolate monster, and anytime I travel, I want to visit the local bean to bar chocolate maker in town. This trip to Boston was no different, and taza lived up to the hype. We took the chocolate tour and were impressed with the level of detail shared about Taza's chocolate making. The tour was quite enjoyable, with plenty of samples along the way! And we got as many sample after the tour as we could want. It was great to sample all the special varieties that taza offer. Taza offers a relaxed storefront with friendly employees and a great vibe overall. So if you are looking for gourmet chocolate, look no further than Taza Chocolate! read more

We had an incredible experience touring the Taza Factory thanks to our charming guide Hannah. I'm sure the other guides are great but I felt like we hit jackpot with Hannah. She was incredibly knowledgeable, engaging and energetic. I was a little disappointed when the 90 minute tour came to an end as I wanted to keep talking to the her about all things chocolate. Another great thing about the tour is the seemingly endless supply of delicious samples. Taza not only has high quality chocolate but also high quality people. I highly recommend this tour read more

I had never been picky with my chocolate but this place has truly taught me how chocolate should taste. The stone ground chocolate, vanilla and sea salt almond were the perfect balance of crunchy, bitter and sweet. When you walk in, you can watch people actually make the chocolate through the window. There's a wide selection of chocolates ranging from different flavors and themes. read more

Taza Chocolate - Taza chocolate selection - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - Somerville, Massachusetts

We did a virtual tour and tasting today and it was terrific. Boxes with supplies were shipped ahead of time and they included one each of the following. Dark Cinnamon disc Dark Guajillo Chili disc Dark Vanilla disc Cacao Puro 70% disc Nibs from Dominican Republic, Haiti and Ghana 100% Dark (baking style) chocolate chunks 70% Couverture chocolate chunks 70% Deliciously Dark Bar 60% Toffee Sea Salt Bar 95% Wicked Dark Bar Vegan Almond Milk Bar Additionally they provided a tasting notes card and reference wheel of flavor and texture identifiers. The tour and tasting took place over Zoom and our hostess (though I forget her name unfortunately) was delightful. As we tasted and discussed our various impressions, we learned about Taza itself.. the founders/history, business practices and production methods... as well as about growing, harvesting, the history of chocolate/cacao in general and so much more. It was very educational, unique, and fun. Highly recommend! read more

Taza Chocolate - Virtual Tasting Kit (corporate event) - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - Somerville, Massachusetts

Had a shipping issue that resulted in melted choclate ( despite being packed carefully with gel coolant and reflective bubble wrap ) this was no fault of Taza , UPS sent the wrong up date. When I emailed them to let them know it was melted , they sent me a new order out post haste. Even melted together and "not perfect" the flavor is wonderful. And ordered it for the heavy metal testing and sourcing practices. This will be my new staple health additive to my coffe as it will maximize the polyphenols in the coffee . Cheers to hot choclate !! Thank you read more

Taza is located in Somerville, and if you're traveling by train expect a walk from the station. Once you get nearby you can start to smell the chocolate and you're greeted by it's big banner on the side of the building. Pretty straightforward to get there, albeit kind of in the middle of nowhere. I brought my students here for a chocolate factory tour. The team is very responsive and accommodating when giving the tours and they were able to adapt the tour to my group. They explain Taza's specific process and origin behind their beans. You can see different aspects to the chocolate making and you get to sample to your heart's content! Taza's chocolate is gritty and has a very high cocoa content, so I would recommend it for dark chocolate lovers! If you typically eat European chocolates, this may not be the stop for you. Also, the chocolate is vegan! read more

Taza Chocolate - You get a 10% discount when you book a tour! - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - Somerville, Massachusetts

A spectacular and chance find! We were in Boston for a few hours and looking for something different to do, having only a few hours to spend in Boston as we were passing through. A quick look on the Internet found a reference to a chocolate factory tour ... what?? In the city limits?? There in a heartbeat. We missed the tour (next one was in several hours) so that was sad but we caught the tail end of the ongoing one and honestly, the gift shop alone was worth the visit! The staff were super friendly, very knowledgeable and the options were plenty (and super tasty)! We walked out loaded with chocolate products and wished we got more. We'll definitely be returning! read more

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Did the tour today and it was super fun . You learn about cacao . The ins and outs of growth and where they source their beans from etc . No, you can't go onto the production floor but you can see it and have it all explained . Best part, you get to sample the finished products at the end ! Even our 17 yr old thought it was fun !! read more

Taza Chocolate - a sign that says grity like a pretty - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - Somerville, Massachusetts

My friend and I popped in Taza while walking around the neighborhood. The store has a pretty good selection and we were tempted to buy a ton of different chocolates. I really appreciated that they had samples available. My favorites are always the stone ground varieties. I'm not usually a big milk chocolate fan, but I really enjoyed all of the options I tried. I definitely want to come back for a tour! read more

Taza Chocolate - Samples - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - Somerville, Massachusetts

I'm a few weeks out from my visit to Taza, and I still can't stop thinking about it! Gritty is, in fact, the new pretty! My Boston-based friend surprised me by booking a Taza tour through Groupon. While they don't make chocolate on the weekends, the tour was still entertaining, fun, and educational. The staff, storefront, and overall vibe at Taza is quirky and colorful. During the tour, you learn about Taza's story, the process of their cocoa bean cultivation, and the steps used to create their craft. The best part of the tour is the sampling! You can have as many different types of samples your heart desires, which in my case, was a lot. It should be noted that all of Taza Chocolate is dark - it's completely vegan. While there are bitter notes in all of their flavors, some of their flavors are sweeter than others. I couldn't get enough of all of the varieties I sampled. My favorites were the coffee, the toffee, and cocoa crunch. They also have at least two types of spicy chocolate, which were incredible. Taza is a gem and a great way to spend a few hours learning and experiencing something different. The Groupon is a great value - you get a free disc of chocolate of your choice as a parting gift! The staff is funny and generous, the Taza story is inspiring, and the chocolate is a delicious. (it also makes a great gift!!) read more

Taza Chocolate - Gritty is the new Pretty - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - Somerville, Massachusetts

Great Family Experience! Our family ranging from 12 to 70 did the public tour over Christmas break. Jesse gave us a tour and did a great job. Very informative and of course the samples were a great bonus! read more

Did the in-person tour today and it was a great experience. We booked it the day before, and the booking process was very smooth. We arrived a bit too early so we were browsing in the store and a staff member greeted us and checked in with us immediately. The tour started with a short presentation with some sampling, then proceeded to see the production floor. You don't get a chance to get into the production floor but seeing it through the glass was enough, and the staff member had a very detailed explanation and offered to answer any questions we may have. The tour was family-friendly, and our stroller was comfortable following the tour. There were hand-outs in English and Spanish too. Overall great experience. All the staff was nice and approachable. The parking spots are limited so make sure to look up the parking options just in case. I'd definitely come back again. read more

I love the super dark chocolate and the tours are fun with really knowledgeable guides. After the tour, they let you try a bunch of different chocolates, a great chance to try things without having to buy a whole bar. read more

I buy Tozo 95% chocolate because it was listed as one of a few brands that contain an acceptable amount of lead contamination. It is also quite delicious. It is a bit pricey, though. read more

The tour was very interesting. Learned a lot about the chocolate making process from the harvesting to the final product. Aside, the chocolate is incredible. The texture of stone ground chocolate is unlike anything you can get in stores, they aren't packed with sugar, and they have a bunch of unique flavors. The round bars are perfect for mochas and hot chocolates. Only chocolate I'll be buying from now on read more

We took an in person tour on Saturday and it was great! Learned a lot about making chocolate and the company's mission and history. It was really cool seeing the process and they were sooo generous with the samples. I honestly didn't think I would get full but by the end I was stuffed in chocolate. There were new flavors I got to try and I will definitely be buying their chocolate. read more

Really cool! Next time I'll take the factory tour. The shop has chocolate for hot cocoa, bars, and even a big paleo bar. They have tastes, merch, and more. Love that the chocolate is ethically sourced. It's awesome to look at the photo album of their partnerships throughout the world. I had a Nift, and got some killer dark chocolate covered almonds and a little jar of caramel, made especially for taza by this Vermont goat milk caramel company that I'm a fan of. Will be back! Maybe for their day of the dead event on Sunday :). read more

Taza Chocolate - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - Somerville, Massachusetts

My daughter and I visited last Saturday for the factory tour and our guide, Jazz, was so informative, funny, kind and answered all questions anyone had in our group with clear answers and pizzazz. I'm not a fan of dark chocolate BUT after trying Mexican stone ground I can say I'm a convert. I really enjoyed the bit of a crunch with the stone ground chocolate much more than it going through the second heavier roller grounder. If that was in front of he I would eat that also lol We've all already eaten all our bars and rounds. I better get the bars I bought for my friends in Italy mailed out. Or they may not make the trip. Thanks so much Taza team read more

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Being a chocolate lover, I just had to visit this store and planned for this as part of my trip. We couldn't take the tour but ended up tasting a whole lot of their chocolates. Because of the way they make their chocolate, it felt grainy which is good. They had a lot of flavors to choose from. We loved their Chipotle and chili one. Bought a disc of the Chipotle chocolate. It had a nice balance of the heat and sweet. The dark chocolate bars were also good. The two store employees were very friendly and provided excellent service. read more

Thoroughly enjoyed the 1 hour chocolate tour. It was a very reasonable price - $10. The staff was incredibly friendly and informative. You'll learn all about the stone ground chocolate making process from harvesting to packaging. The tour includes close to 10 chocolate samples to try and the staff practically let us have as much as we wanted! Sooo good! This was a super fun activity for any chocolate lover. I appreciate their small, sustainable, and ethical practices. Highly recommend this tour and their chocolate too! read more

I had tried Taza Chocolate before so when I found out it was based in Boston and I would be in town, I had to go! I booked a factory tour for 2 ($8/person) but shortly after, received an email saying the full 1 hour tour would be a 30 minute introduction to stone ground chocolate, due to new FDA regulations that prohibit visitors from entering their chocolate producing spaces. To compensate, we were given a free Mexican chocolate per person. I appreciated it even though I was a bit bummed that we couldn't go inside. We got there and were promptly greeted. The store was cute and showcased their products. There were some samples out and we waited until everyone in the tour arrived before we began. The entire tour took place in the shop area, but there are open windows that lets you see some of the machines that make the chocolate. The people were cleaning up (we were the last group of the day) so we didn't get to see any of them in action. We went through the entire process from the actual cacao fruit to how it gets processed at Taza. I knew a bit about where chocolate came from but it was a good introduction as well as story behind Taza. I really liked when we got to taste the cacao fruit pulp purée - that was new for me! In between the explanations, we were given more chocolate to sample in order to further illustrate differences and what was being said along with photos and other hands on things. I also loved how Taza only uses simple organic ingredients purchased directly from the farms and flavors are usually ground into the product rather than just added in so you can taste it with every bite. Also, because of the imperfections of everything being ground down and more coarse, every bite is different. We also definitely got to sample more of their chocolates once the tour ended. I really am partial towards the darker chocolates but for flavored ones, coffee and raspberry were definite favorites. All in all, a great experience! And you get to sample lots and lots of chocolate. You can't really go wrong with that! read more

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Taza, in my opinion, makes one of the best bean-to-bar chocolates on the market. The discs are great for making mole and champurrado. They have a very nice gritty consistency to them which I rather enjoy. Also, some interesting flavor profiles can be found such as guajillo and chipotle chili, and cinnamon: these are the more common Pre-Columbian chocolate flavors which I find to be anthropologically interesting. With that said its difficult to leave the single origin bars out of the discussion. Offered in different cacao contents they are a good way to get a feel for different flavor profiles from different ecological regions. Lastly, they have the best label artwork of anyone out there. If you are on the fence about trying them I would encourage you to dive head first and not look back. read more

I went into the Taza factory tour with muted expectations -- I remember having done the Hershey factory tour as a child, decades back, and thinking that this would be a much less Disney-fied version of the same thing. I couldn't have been more wrong. I dunno how where they found our tour guide, but the gent (I'm terribly sorry, I forgot your name already, but I blame the excessive chocolate-eating on my distraction). Regardless, he was knowledgeable, witty, hilarious, and energetic (read: may have had more caffeine than is medically advisable). Frankly, the guide made the tour -- he could have been talking about a pencil-making factory, but with the level of enthusiasm he imparted upon us, it would have been the most engaging lesson ever! Not only do you get to learn all about the history of Oaxacan chocolate, the story of the founders and their passion for the business, see what goes into making a bar (or, y'know, disc) of Taza chocolate from start to finish, you get to consume more chocolate than reason would allow. At least, that was the case for our tour, which was the last one held on Saturday afternoon. Our guide was a pusher. And our audience... well, we had a junkie or two. Bonus points to my friend who scored a groupon that netted us a deal on a tour for two people, plus a chocolate disc included in the cost. Definitely worth the cost -- be sure to double-check whether or not a similar deal is running before showing up. read more

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Great tour and tasting! So informative and you got to try so many different flavors and had the opportunity to understand the reason why this chocolate is so different than the standard American chocolate. Absolutely delicious! read more

Taza Chocolate - Very informative tour and fantastic tasting of chocolate. - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - Somerville, Massachusetts

This was a welcomed, albeit an accidental discovery. This is how the story goes: There's a dude I watch on YouTube who reviews old MRE's (Steve1989MREInfo if you wanna watch a human eat hard tack from 1863) and one MRE he was reviewing was a WW2 German ration pack with Scho Ka Kola. I ordered it as part of a deal on Amazon because it looked good, a milk and dark chocolate version, and this Taza chocolate. The german chocolate was really good. The Taza had partially melted and re-formed, causing the chocolate to seperate. But the texture was amazing! There was something about that grittiness and the coffee together that made it phenominal (Scho Ka Kola is a chocolate with cola bean and coffee bean, so that was the theme of the package deal). I had to learn more. So I read the package... Ergod this is in Somerville! I gotta check this out! I book a factory tour and this is a nice little activity with the misses. Parking was a little challenging because it wasn't clear if the lot diagonal to building was for Taza as there was a "Taza" sticker but also plastered everywhere was 'Tenant Parking Only.' I'm not Scottish nor have I ever played a Timelord, I figured best not to park there, so we found street parking instead. Arriving a few minutes late for the tour, we were bustled right in to the presentation. Our guide was very informative and polite, and also very knowledgeable about chocolate making. I was most impressed with their business practice of fair trade for the source of their chocolate. The factory tour was somewhat benign, we learned about the machines but production was done for the day so we didn't see any production of chocolate. I recommend touring in the morning if you want to see the work being done. Plenty of samples of delicious chocolate to be had during the tour. Ending at the shop, it was a great way to wrap up. It is also nice to buy a sample pack of chocolates available. Crazy to think it this all started by watching a video of a some guy eating pulverized beef from the Boer War (I'm not kidding). Glad to have found this place! read more

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Stone ground Mexican style chocolate factory! My first tour of the chocolate factory and I actually found this gem through one of the Yelp newsletters. Thanks for the suggestion! I went with my SO on one day and we waited for about 20 minutes for the previous tour to conclude. While we waited we were offered various samples of their delicious chocolate around the store (Raspberry, Salt/Pepper, Guajillo Chili, and many more)! This place is amazing and it was very informative to get a guided tour throughout their whole process of preparation and stuffing our face with more samples along the way. Since they stone grind the cocoa pods their chocolate is also vegan! I highly recommend checking this place out! I think the tours are $6/person for a 45 minute tour, and plenty of chocolate to sample. I think it's definitely worth the price. read more

Taza Chocolate - Tour of the chocolate factory and the process they use to make the delicious treats! - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - Somerville, Massachusetts

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I loved the factory tour at Taza! I always knew about the chocolate and knew it was made in Somerville but now I have such an appreciation for the work that goes into making their chocolate! I learned so much about all chocolate and especially their process. There's a parking lot! And you get to taste so much chocolate! Flavors I would've never thought to buy but here you can try a little taste. Highly recommend if you're a chocolate lover or foodie! read more

I love Taza! Went here on a tour with some friends on a Saturday afternoon and had a great time. It was about 45-60 minutes, with 30 minutes of talking about chocolate, where Taza sources its cacao, and the process of turning cacao into chocolate. There was a fun video talking about some of the steps as well. Afterwards they showed us the actual machines...roasting/sorting/winnowing. It's remarkable how small the factory is given how famous/widespread it is!!! They weren't stingy with samples at this tour, which I loved. I bought a groupon which came with one free chocolate round bar too, which was awesome! I had gone to a tour about 5 years ago too, and there have been a lot of changes since then, so totally worth it to go again! read more

I went with a few friends for a chocolate tour on a Saturday evening, which was $8 a person. Pretty cool they basically just went over the history of how the business came to be and plus there was obviously free chocolate involved, since we were the last group, we had loads of free chocolate to try, which was a plus! The guide was definitely knowledgable about the whole chocolate process as well as the history of the company, he was able to answer a vast majority of the questions asked by people in the tour group. I have to say though, I personally think Taza chocolates are an acquired taste, I think more of the texture of the chocolate is what people would have to get use to. Some chocolates more grainy tasting then others due to the way the chocolate is processed. They also have a less grainer version called the smooth bar I believe which are in rectangular shaped packing. My overall favorite was the raspberry chocolate, strong taste in raspberry with a smooth texture but honestly wasn't a fan of any of the other chocolates. Pros: There was a deal, I think if you bought 25 dollars worth of chocolate you get a specific free bar. It wasn't hard to spend 25 since each chocolate bar was about $5 Free Taza pudding if you go to Atwood tavern for a meal if you show receipt from Taza Summary: Personal preference is that I don't have the acquired taste for their chocolate read more

Taza Chocolate - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - Somerville, Massachusetts