York Cocoa Works News
Welcome to our news, thoughts and experiences in the world of cocoa and chocolate.
This blog is brought to you by Sophie, our founder, as she shares more about our Chocolate making journey and reflections on the industry and our chocolate making vision.
Our story so far has been full of lots of insights into the world of our favourite product as we discover there's so much more to learn in order to build and shape a chocolate industry we can be proud of.
York Cocoa Works is our open chocolate manufactory as we endeavour to build an open, accessible and transparent chocolate making facility. We welcome your thoughts and input so together we can make better chocolate
YORK COCOA WORKS NEWS
Three days of complete immersion in the craft of bean-to-bar chocolate making. Our Crafting Chocolate Learning Program runs this October at York Cocoa Works — here's what to expect.
The York Food & Drink Festival Schools Program connects local children with food producers for hands-on learning. Here's how York Cocoa Works is bringing chocolate education into classrooms across the city.
Introducing our Hot Chocolate Collection for Baristas — a wholesale range of our bean-to-bar drinking chocolate, designed for independent cafés and hospitality venues who want to serve something genuinely exceptional.
Introducing our Chocolate Couverture Shards Collection — bean-to-bar couverture made in our York manufactory from single-origin cacao, in a format designed for chocolatiers, pastry chefs, and serious home bakers.
Every September, York Cocoa Works delivers its schools education programme to over 1,000 local children during the York Food & Drink Festival — sharing the story of cocoa, York's chocolate heritage, and the craft of making chocolate. Here's what the festival means to us.
COCOA AND CHOCOLATE NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Some of our thoughts and observations of the latest industry happenings
It's Chocolate Week — the UK's annual celebration of fine chocolate. Here's how York Cocoa Works is marking the occasion with tastings, workshops, special menus, and meet-the-maker sessions.
In February 2026, we won a lot of Kampura cacao — a light, heirloom-status cacao from a regenerative agroforestry farm in Izabal, Guatemala — at the Cacao of Excellence Ed Seguine Auction at Chocoa in Amsterdam. This is its story.
Did you see this news about the quest for “perfect” chocolate? For the thousands of...
THE CHOCOLATE CULTRALIST
Exploring Chocolate heritage from York and other consuming influences
Hot chocolate is one of the world's oldest drinks — a ceremonial Aztec beverage that travelled through Georgian chocolate houses to the café at York Cocoa Works. Here's the full story, and why it shapes the way we make ours.
From Mary Tuke's defiance of the Merchant Adventurers in 1725 to Agnes Pilopaso's cocoa cooperative in Guadalcanal — the women who built York's chocolate industry have always been here. It's time their story was told.
Chocolate maker and chocolatier are not the same thing — and understanding the difference changes how you think about every bar you eat. Here's what sets them apart, and why it matters.
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THE WORLD OF COCOA & CHOCOLATE
