Like two bearded Willy Wonkas, the Mast Brothers have turned chocolate from a treat into an experience. Their flagship London store opened in Shoreditch, in the east, in February, with their chocolate-making factory displayed behind a glass window for all to see. "We just wanted to let everyone experience what we do," says Rick Mast. "I want you to be able to come in and see your chocolate being made and be connected to that process. You have all those smells and sounds and sights that you can't get anywhere else."
Despite having no formal training in confectionery, the brothers began making chocolate in Brooklyn, New York, out of sheer curiosity. They made the first couple of batches in their apartment, but have now refined the process: sourcing beans from Peru to Papua New Guinea and using custom-made machines built for small-scale production. "We believe that quality is tied into the person making it, so all of our equipment is kept at a human scale," says Mast.
Their methods and equipment, from the winnowers to the grinders, are based on traditional techniques. "We're taking old ways of doing things and modernising them," says Mast, adding that stone-grinding is no longer common practice, but preserves the flavour more than modern alternatives. "From bean to bar, you're talking about a 40-day process." In our series on specialist tools, WIRED tours their kitchen.
This article was first published in the July 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing onlinehttps://mastchocolate.com/
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
