Based on the number of people I know who call themselves “Chocoholics,” I believe it to be a true addiction. If you’re an addict, you always want the good stuff, and, of course, every addict knows where to get the best stuff in town. As far as chocolates go, SOMA Chocolatemaker has established itself as a beautiful multi-sensory experience in the nine years since they’ve opened up in the Distillery District. A large second location is located at King and Bathurst.
Dan Castellan and Cynthia Leung own SOMA, and Cynthia describes it as, “a bean to bar chocolatemaker. Which means we source cacao beans from all over the world, hand sort, roast, winnow, and conch our little beans into chocolate. From there, we craft our chocolate into bars, truffles and cookies. We also churn a line of gelato we make from scratch from local ingredients.”
Let’s talk about that gelato and the sorbet for a moment. Unable to make a decision, I opt for blueberry basil sorbet and lemon sour cream gelato. Both are refreshing, sweet and bursting with intense fruit flavours (one flavour goes for $4.03). Cynthia chooses the in-season strawberry gelato as one of her top picks for the summer.
The bars and the truffles are probably what SOMA is best known for. As artisan chocolatemakers, they make their products in small batches and source premium ingredients. Truffles ($2) line up like little soldiers in the display case, shiny and perfect and waiting for you to take them home. To really experience what SOMA has to offer, you should try something you haven’t had before. Perhaps the Douglas Fir or eight-year aged Balsamic Vinegar truffles. Or the “Sparkly” Gianduja laced with poprocks.
Both stores have been designed so that customers can see the chocolate making process. Visitors can connect to the finished product, and see the journey that it took to get there.
There’s also a secret little third location that Cynthia calls their Cacao Bean Lab. It houses the vintage chocolatemaking equipment they’ve collected and are refurbishing into working condition. Eventually, chocolate tastings and chocolatemaking sessions will be held in the secret hideout.
When talking about what’s new this summer, Cynthia has a hot tip. “We are getting some cacao beans from Venezuela and Dominican Republic that we are excited to make chocolate from,” she said. “We also made a new little creation called the Salt and Peppa buttercrunch that is delicious.”
As for the one product that more people should try, Cynthia says it is the Madagascar Bar.
“I think the people that love it are going to hate me for putting it out there, because the batches we make are so small and they want to keep it a secret. But, it really is a great example of what we do.”
While people may visit SOMA to get the full chocolate experience and taste the good stuff, Cynthia puts it simply, “I hope it’s to share our love with the mighty little cacao bean.”
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