Three Days, One Craft: Our Crafting Chocolate Learning Program

There are chocolate workshops, and then there is the Crafting Chocolate Learning Program. Three days. One craft. A complete immersion in the art and science of making chocolate from the bean — and one of the most intensive and rewarding experiences we offer at York Cocoa Works.

This October, we're running the program again. If you've ever wanted to truly understand chocolate — not just taste it, but make it, from scratch, with your own hands — this is where that journey begins.

What Is the Crafting Chocolate Learning Program?

The Crafting Chocolate Learning Program is a three-day intensive course held at our manufactory in York. It is designed for people who are serious about chocolate — whether you're a food professional looking to add chocolate making to your skills, an aspiring craft chocolate maker, or simply someone with a deep passion for the craft who wants to go further than a single workshop can take you.

Over three days, you will work through the complete bean-to-bar process under the guidance of our chocolate makers. You'll roast and winnow cacao beans, grind and refine chocolate mass, learn to conche and temper, and produce finished chocolate that you've made entirely yourself. You'll also explore the theory behind each stage — the chemistry of fermentation, the science of tempering, the flavour impact of roast profiles — so that you leave not just with a skill, but with an understanding.

What You'll Cover

The program moves through the full chocolate making process in sequence, mirroring the journey of the bean from origin to bar:

• Day One — Origin & Bean Preparation: Understanding cacao varieties, origins, and the impact of fermentation and drying. Hands-on roasting and winnowing, with guided tasting to understand how roast profiles affect flavour.
• Day Two — Making Chocolate: Grinding and refining cacao nibs into chocolate mass, conching to develop texture and aroma, understanding the role of cocoa butter, sugar, and emulsifiers in the finished chocolate.
• Day Three — Tempering & Finishing: The art and science of tempering, moulding, and finishing chocolate. Creating your own finished bars and confections to take home, with guidance on how to continue developing your practice.

Who Is It For?

The Crafting Chocolate Learning Program is for anyone who wants to go deep. It suits food professionals — chefs, pastry cooks, chocolatiers — who want to understand the making process behind the couverture they work with. It suits aspiring craft chocolate makers who are considering starting their own bean-to-bar operation. And it suits passionate enthusiasts who have worked through our masterclass series and are ready for the next level.

No prior chocolate making experience is required — only curiosity, commitment, and a genuine love of the craft.

Why York Cocoa Works?

Learning to make chocolate in a working manufactory — on the same equipment we use to produce our own single-origin bars — is a very different experience from a demonstration kitchen. You are working with real processes, real equipment, and real cacao. The knowledge you take away is grounded in practice, not theory alone.

York also gives the program a context that few other places can offer. You are learning a craft in a city that has been making chocolate for three centuries — where the traditions of the Rowntrees, the Terrys, and the Cravens are still alive in the streets around you, and where a new generation of chocolate makers is writing the next chapter of that story.

Places on the Crafting Chocolate Learning Program are limited. Find out more and book your place here. Members of the Chocolate Lovers Club receive early access to new program dates — join the club here.