We make our own bean-to-bar chocolate at our Oxford roastery. We roast the cacao ourselves, from three farms we know by name in Brazil, Peru and Costa Rica, and we keep the recipes simple: high percentages, just cacao and British beet sugar. Every bar is vegan.
This guide explains what "craft", "single-origin" and "bean-to-bar" really mean, how our three origins differ, how to taste chocolate properly at home, and what to buy as a gift.
Our chocolate range
We make six bars: one plain single-origin bar from each farm, plus one with a carefully chosen inclusion. Every bar comes in a 70g size or a 25g taster.
| Bar | Origin | Cacao | Ingredients | Tasting notes | 70g price | Per 100g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peru 75% | Peru, Amazonas | 75% | Cacao, beet sugar | Stonefruit, raspberry, caramel sweetness | £7.20 | £10.29 |
| Brazil 81% | Brazil, Pará | 81% | Cacao, beet sugar | Citrusy, floral, long finish | £8.50 | £12.14 |
| Costa Rica 85% | Costa Rica, Limón | 85% | Cacao, beet sugar | White flowers, almond, umami, strawberry, butter | £7.70 | £11.00 |
| Peru 73% with Coffee & Walnut | Peru, Amazonas | 73% | Cacao, beet sugar, walnuts, coffee | Peru's fruity sweetness with coffee and walnut | £7.00 | £10.00 |
| Brazil 75% with Lime & Black Pepper | Brazil, Pará | 75% | Cacao, beet sugar, lime, black pepper | Brazil's citrus notes lifted with lime and black pepper | £8.00 | £11.43 |
| Costa Rica 77% with Sea Salt & Cacao Nibs | Costa Rica, Limón | 77% | Cacao, beet sugar, cacao nibs, sea salt | Costa Rica with crunchy cacao nibs and sea salt | £7.50 | £10.71 |
The 25g bars are £3.10 each. If you'd like to try them all, the Discovery Pack brings all six together in 25g bars for £16.
All bars are vegan. The Peru Coffee & Walnut bar contains walnuts.
Craft, single-origin and bean-to-bar: what the words mean
Chocolate labels use a lot of overlapping terms. Here's what they actually tell you:
- Bean-to-bar: the maker does every step themselves, from roasting the cacao beans to winnowing, grinding, conching, tempering and moulding the finished bar.
- Single-origin: all the cacao comes from one place. That might be one country, one region or, ideally, one named farm or community.
- Craft: small-batch chocolate made with care and attention to flavour. It's not a regulated term, so look for the details behind it.
- Artisan: similar to craft, but often used for chocolatiers who make truffles and bonbons from chocolate someone else has made.
There are really three ways to sell chocolate. You can make it from cacao beans (bean-to-bar), work with chocolate bought in from a larger manufacturer (a chocolatier), or sell other makers' bars (a retailer). All three can produce lovely things, but only bean-to-bar makers control the flavour from the bean onwards.
Where we fit: we're bean-to-bar. We roast every batch of cacao ourselves at our Oxford roastery and make every bar from scratch. All three of our origins are single-origin, traceable to a named farm or community.
Why a coffee roaster makes chocolate
Coffee and cacao have more in common than you might think. Both are seeds of a tropical fruit, both are fermented and dried at origin, and both get their final flavour from roasting.
| Coffee | Cacao | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it grows | Tropical highlands | Tropical lowlands, often under a forest canopy |
| At origin | Picked, processed (washed, natural and so on) and dried | Pods opened, beans fermented for about a week, then dried |
| What shapes the flavour | Variety, altitude, processing, roasting | Variety, fermentation, drying, roasting |
| At the roastery | Roasted, then rested and packed | Roasted, winnowed, ground, refined, tempered and moulded |
| How we talk about taste | Acidity, sweetness, body, finish | Acidity, sweetness, bitterness, texture, finish |
So when we started making chocolate, we did it the way we've always done coffee. We buy from producers we know and trust, we roast in-house to bring out each origin's character, and we taste everything before it leaves the roastery. Our Head of Sourcing, Silviu, looks after both our coffee and our cacao.
Plenty of coffee roasters sell chocolate, but many stock another maker's bars. Ours are made from the bean, here in Oxford.
Comparing our three origins
Our three plain bars are the best way to taste how much origin matters. They use the same two ingredients, so the differences come from the cacao itself, along with the farm's fermentation and our roast.
- Peru 75%: the gentlest and sweetest of the three. Native Criollo cacao, including rare white-bean varieties, gives stonefruit, raspberry and caramel. A great starting point if you're new to dark chocolate.
- Brazil 81%: bright and aromatic, with citrus and floral notes and a long finish. It's grown in a diverse agroforestry system alongside fruit trees.
- Costa Rica 85%: the most complex. White flowers, almond, strawberry and a buttery, savoury umami note.
The percentages aren't the same, so the higher bars will taste less sweet. That's part of the comparison: tasting from 75% up to 85% shows how a little less sugar lets more of the cacao come through.
The inclusion bars build on each origin. Lime and black pepper lift Brazil's citrus notes, sea salt and cacao nibs add crunch and depth to Costa Rica, and coffee and walnut pair with Peru's caramel sweetness.
How to taste chocolate at home
A tasting flight takes about 20 minutes and works brilliantly with friends. Our Discovery Pack has everything you need.
- Get the temperature right. Leave the bars out for half an hour so they're at room temperature (about 18–20°C). Cold chocolate hides its flavour.
- Keep portions small. A square of 3–5g of each bar is plenty.
- Go from lowest to highest percentage. Start with Peru 75%, then Brazil 81%, then Costa Rica 85%. Taste the inclusion bars last, since their added flavours linger.
- Look, snap and smell. Well-tempered chocolate is glossy and snaps cleanly. Rub it between your fingers and breathe in the aroma.
- Let it melt. Place a piece on your tongue and let it melt slowly rather than chewing. The flavour changes as it goes.
- Reset your palate. Have still water and a plain cracker or slice of apple between bars.
Tasting notes template
Copy this for each bar:
| Notes | |
|---|---|
| Bar | |
| Aroma | What do you smell before tasting? |
| Sweetness | Low, medium or high? |
| Acidity | Bright and fruity, or soft? |
| Bitterness | None, pleasant or strong? |
| Texture | Smooth, creamy, dry or gritty? |
| Finish | Short or long? What flavour lingers? |
| Favourite? | Score it out of 5 |
Want a guided version? We run Chocolate Tasting Workshops hosted by Silviu, our Head of Sourcing, covering everything from cacao growing to roasting, grinding, tempering and tasting. See our events page for upcoming dates.
Chocolate tasting gifts by budget
All prices include delivery. Orders of £33 or more ship free in the UK; under that, standard delivery is £3.95.
Under £20: the Discovery Pack
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Discovery Pack, 6 x 25g | £16.00 |
| Delivery | £3.95 |
| Total | £19.95 |
All six bars in one box, perfect for a first tasting flight.
Under £40: the full tasting set
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Discovery Pack, 6 x 25g | £16.00 |
| Peru 75%, 70g | £7.20 |
| Brazil 81%, 70g | £8.50 |
| Costa Rica 85%, 70g | £7.70 |
| Delivery | Free |
| Total | £39.40 |
They taste the whole range, then have a full bar of each origin to go back to.
Under £50: coffee and chocolate
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Discovery Pack, 6 x 25g | £16.00 |
| Multi-Coffee Tasting Box, 6 x 100g | £33.00 |
| Delivery | Free |
| Total | £49.00 |
Six chocolates and six coffees, for the person who loves both. Choose the espresso or filter coffee box to suit how they brew.
We don't offer a chocolate subscription. For a gift that keeps going, our Gift Coffee Subscription pairs nicely with a Discovery Pack.
Where our cacao comes from
Every bar is traceable to a named farm or community. Here's who grows it and how:
| Brazil | Peru | Costa Rica | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farm | Fazenda Takahashi | Comunidad Chinim Wawas | Hacienda Dos Lagunas |
| Region | Tomé-Açú, Pará | Bagua, Amazonas | Siquirres, Limón |
| Producer | Jorge Takahashi, the third generation of his family on the farm | A women-led growers' association, Asociación de Productores Agrarios Cacao Nuestro | Adrián Rossi |
| Varieties | Forastero, Trinitario and fine-aroma clones | Native Criollo, including rare white-bean cacao | TSH-565, ICS-95 and Trinitario clones |
| Fermentation and drying | 7 days in wooden boxes, then sun-dried | 8 days, then 15 days on drying beds, all by hand | 7 days in cascading boxes, then 17 days drying |
| What makes it special | 40,000 trees grown under a diverse canopy of fruit trees | Remote Amazon community preserving native cacao | Over 260 hectares kept as conservation land, within the El Paso del Jaguar wildlife corridor |
We can tell you exactly where our cacao comes from and how it was grown, fermented and dried. That's the kind of detail worth looking for whenever a chocolate brand talks about ethical sourcing: named farms and producers, not only broad promises.
Your chocolate questions, answered
Is Missing Bean chocolate really bean-to-bar?
Yes. We roast the cacao and make every bar ourselves at our Oxford roastery.
What's in your chocolate?
Our plain bars contain just cacao and British beet sugar. The inclusion bars add a small amount of one or two ingredients, such as lime and black pepper or sea salt and cacao nibs. Every bar is vegan.
Which bar should I try first?
Peru 75% is the gentlest introduction, with stonefruit, raspberry and caramel. If you want to try everything, start with the Discovery Pack.
What's a good chocolate tasting gift?
The Discovery Pack (£16) has all six bars in 25g sizes. For under £40 delivered, add a 70g bar of each origin. For a coffee lover too, pair it with our Multi-Coffee Tasting Box for £49 with free delivery.
Do you offer a chocolate subscription?
Not at the moment. For something more experiential, our Chocolate Tasting Workshops make a great gift.
Is darker chocolate better?
Not necessarily. A higher percentage means less sugar, so the cacao's own flavour, and its bitterness, come through more. Good chocolate at 75% can be every bit as complex as one at 85%. It's about what you enjoy.
How should I store chocolate?
Somewhere cool, dry and dark, ideally 15–18°C. Keep it out of the fridge, where it can pick up moisture and other flavours.
