The Mexican Chocolate is the BOMB!!! Eat it. Love it.

All choco-lovers are advised to take the Taza Open House factory tour! I'm not sure if they hold these periodically, but I'm on the mailing list and received notice that they were doing tours today. It lasts about a half hour and you learn all sorts of cool and interesting facts about how they source, roast and grind their cacao beans. There were all sorts of yummy chocolate samples, including hot chocolate. Co-owner Alex was so enthusiastic about his company and product, you just couldn't help but get excited as well! Of course, he was also really knowledgeable about the whole manufacturing process and did a great job explaining each step. For instance, I had no idea that each bar is handmade and each batch of chocolate requires about 340 lb. of cacao beans... Anyway, my favorite is the Mexican chocolate, which has the most interesting slightly grainy texture from the mix of sugar and cinnamon. While the bars aren't cheap, they are quality goods and you can a feel warm 'n' fuzzy that you're supporting a local business that is investing in fair trade and the people who are actually farming your chocolate beans. read more

I went on a factory tour here about a year ago. Learning about the process was definitely interesting, and it's cool that they give out samples of their different types of chocolate...but the chocolate is kinda grainy and gross. I guess I'm just a Dove or Hershey person. BUT I know we're all supposed to be stoked about local businesses, so when Taza was at the Beaujolais Noveau event in the South End a few months back, I was determined to give them another try. Again, it was grainy and left a funky taste in my mouth. So I'm giving Taza 3 stars because they're a small biz, Somerville-based, etc etc. And--the packaging is cute! Just please don't buy any for me. read more

We visited this amazing place today and absolutely loved it. It is totally worth seeing especially since it is so affordable. I would definitely recommend if you are in the area and are interested in learning a little bit more about how chocolate is made. Lots of free samples as well!! read more

Touring a chocolate factory. This is the second time I have gone on a tour at Taza and I would say they are getting better and better at it. This tour I setup special for my team as a work team building exercise. We normally have chocolate time on Fridays at 3:00pm here in MA, but many of my other team members are in other countries and they don't get to partake in our normal chocolate time. Given this I thought visiting a local chocolate factory was the right event to have. As it turns out everyone thanked me and said it was really interesting and fun. Minda Nicolas did a great job as tour guide and made it very interesting. I also wanted to comment on setting up the custom tour. Minda was a very low pressure sales and easy to deal with in setting up the event. At the end of the tour we distributed gift packages to the team. Minda did a great job of setting up the packages and this created a very festive conclusion to the tour. Going during the day and actually seeing the chocolate being made was a great treat. The weather was bad the day before so parking was a little troublesome but we found parking in the end of the street. I have to say I have setup events for groups before. This group size was only 11 people but everything went easily and without a hitch with the participants still talking about it and thanking me for setting it up. (When in reality Minda did all the work all I needed to do was give over my credit card.) The tour at ~$5 a person is great and then Minda put together a great ~$31 per person gift of many different chocolates. read more

I would have never guessed that such delicious chocolate could ever be produced the very urban setting of Cambridge. I was actually pretty shocked when I saw the location but having had a few of their small wheels in the past at various specialty stores and was always surprised by the texture and flavors in each of those small bites I took. It's like nothing I had experience before; not the typical smoothness but instead a very different feel. It's definitely not your typical Hershey's-like bar. The brand's factory store is a bit on the small-side, decorated in a very industrial, lofty kind of way with a lot of stone, white paint and wood tones. It's simple yet effective and rather appealing and inviting. There's a few windows through which you can see different production rooms of their plant although none look onto the street. They sell all kinds of chocolaty items in the store, from chocolate bitters for the adventurous mixologists to cocoa nibs, chocolate bars and wheels and even chocolate covered nuts of all sorts. Even more speciality food items like chocolate covered honey combs. The prices a bit high but the quality and care that's put into each of the items is very visible. I also had a tour of the facility and the guide was very knowledgeable and answered most if not all of the questions very well which was nice. This is an incredible little place that they have and I hope that they strive as a business as they truly are both unique and incredible. read more

This isn't just chocolate. It's specialty chocolate made by a local company! They put a TON of thought into their new flavors and limited editions. The employees really care about the product and what they are doing. Quality ingredients, amazing flavor combos and very a "green" company. Chocolate covered almonds? Yes please. Factory tours? hell yeah, how Willy Wonka like! Cure for for my monthly week of evilness. .....Necessary. read more

Spend the $8 bucks and get a tour. Learn about the wonder that is Mexican, stone-ground chocolate. Dairy free, with only organic Brazilian cane sugar and fair trade sourced cocoa beans. The factory is pretty tiny, but the tour is engaging, informative, and choc full of chocolate samplings #dadpun. It's a great way to spend an afternoon, and it's in a prime/central location for other activities as well. We got the $65 box-of-everything and I'm still going through it! Favorites so far are the: Cinnamon, Toffee, and the coffee. read more

I have found the distinctive round slabs of deliciousness known as Taza Chocolate as far away as LA, but where are they made? Right here in my own backyard, sweet old Somerville, in a quirky, out of the way location that is well worth seeking out. The location may be out of the way, but.... they have tours! they have free samples! they are super nice! they are vegan! they are so cool! I actually do not like chocolate very much (call me crazy) but I love this chocolate. Easy to get to from Union Square or Inman Square, you will not be disappointed if you drop by and get the chocolate tour. And you'll be even happier if you buy some chocolate to bring home. Cook with it or eat it....Chocolate is good for you. read more

The tour was very informative and the number of samples that they provide is very generous. Would recommend for out of town guests of all ages!! read more

So. Much. Chocolate. Really though, you have to go on the Taza Chocolate Factory Tour. Probably one of the best $5 I've ever spent. Not only is the tour remarkably interesting, but I lost count of how many samples I had! There were samples before the tour. There were samples during the tour. And then after the tour your could just about anything you wanted. We even got hot chocolate samples made with Taza. Yes, the chocolate itself is rather pricy if you would like to buy something, but the chocolate is WAY less expensive at the factory store compared to everywhere else I've seen it. Plus, after hearing about about the company and how the chocolate is produced, you'll want to buy something simply to support this awesome company! read more

Wow. Just received some chocolate for Christmas. Very unique chocolate. You can absolutely taste and feel their unusual processing. I highly recommend this chocolate. read more

Growing up, I lived near the Hershey's Chocolate Factory and took tours there a number of times. I remember a packer handing me a Krackel bar from the line. I much preferred the Taza tour. If you're had Taza Chocolates, you know that they're different from the run-of-the-mill chocolates. The tour introduces the visitor to the entire process, from tree to bar. It's amazing to see how simultaneously high-tech and primitive the process is. The tour isn't slick, but is incredibly informative and very worthwhile and earnest. And the staff members are all zealots for Taza. Not at all like, say, me. [I'm joking: I'm a total bore when I start talking about Taza these days.] For more perspective on Taza, read the chapter in Rowan Jacobsen's book American Terroir. Amazing, really helps you to appreciate what an incredible product this is. read more

We've been meaning to go for years but my wife's parents are in town so we finally booked spots with the Taza chocolate tour. We had a fantastic time. Can't recommend this highly enough. Our tour guide, Shey, was friendly, knowledgeable, and did a fantastic job presenting the material at a pace that kept things moving and kept those of us in the audience engaged. The content was very information rich while still being quite accessible. Getting little tastes at various points in the presentation really brought home what was being presented. Needless to say, the chocolate was *fabulous*. If you, like us, have been meaning to go, definitely make it happen! You won't regret it :) read more

Super friendly staff! The tour went through every step in the process of chocolate making, and there were so many samples at the end to try!

Cute tour. The staff is friendly, topic interesting and they give you LOTS of chocolate. Parking in front of building on a weekend was easy and free. read more

I was trying to kill time one day as a tourist who was staying with my friend and she suggested doing this tour that she did. I really love Taza chocolate because it's more gritty like there is huge bits of sugar in it. The tour was about an hour and was very informative. Everyone was very welcoming even though I was by myself. A big group of schoolchildren came after us. I love that they are super friendly here and let you try any sample you would like. read more

Tour was slow and very mediocre. Started 10 minutes late. Tour guide had a very low EQ, socially awkward and painful to listen to with forced jokes. Most of the information regarded stuff that doesn't even go on in the "factory". Choice of samples were unfortunate (cinnamon and super dark) rather than their more popular flavors of vanilla, almond, toffee or raspberry. Maybe it would have been better with a different tour guide. read more

My girlfriend and I were here last weekend. We arrived early for a tour of the facility and had a pleasant chat with one of the friendly storekeepers who offered us complementary hot cocoa. The tour was informative and interesting. We got to sample several different varieties of chocolate. My favorites were the guajillo chocolate and the see seasonal eggnog chocolate (way better than it sounds). Definitely a fun way to spend an hour in Boston. I'm not sure I'd recommend coming in from out of town to do this tour, but if you're in Boston and looking for something to do, this is a good option. read more

Augstus Gloop probably wouldn't have been better off eating this delicious chocolate, but at least this chocolate is not something you just shove into your mouth, but experience.....slowly. In Boston and the surrounding area, restaurateurs and pastry chefs often use Taza chocolate to turn our most chocolatey dreams into realities. Recently, Taza chocolate has also made its way into savory items and cocktails throughout Boston, too. However, nothing compares to the Taza chocolate store experience! Whether you just want to see "How it's made" or just want to pick up some specialty chocolate items for a birthday, Christmas or just for fun, this is a worthwhile excursion for any local resident. Located in a building on the outskirts of Union Square, Somerville, this quaint store and chocolate making facility will happily teach you about why Taza chocolate is so unique and special. Trust me, I didn't leave empty handed. I purchased some of their Salted Almond chocolate, some chocolate covered honeycomb and my favorite purchase, a bottle of Xchocolate Bitters. (Trust me, these will make your latest cocktail delectable!) read more

Places like this is why I love living in this area. As you can read from other reviews, Taza works directly with farmers to create their chocolate. From the tour, I've learned that everything is well-thought out in terms of their chocolate-making process - like the fact that they try to preserve the naturalness of the cacao beans in the final product of their chocolate, and the way they try to be really green about the way their company runs (shipping their chocolate by bike to local areas, etc). Some people may not like the way their chocolate tastes, and the idea of paying the prices that Taza slaps on their chocolates - but once you understand the process of their chocolate-making, you come to understand and appreciate their business approach as well as where your money is going towards! Saying all that, I highly recommend going on their $5 tour (which is how I learned about all that stuff!). I went this morning at 10AM, and while they weren't making chocolate while I was there, it was still pretty informative! It's not a very big place, but for a little chocolate factory it does the trick. The retail store has a lot of samples for you to try. If you're driving here, there is a lot you can park in that's a block down on Windsor (labelled 561 Windsor St). That was a bit confusing at first! Definitely recommend this as something to take your out-of-town friends to; or visit if you're coming from out of town! read more

I'm proud to say there's a fantastic local chocolatier outfit in Somerville. I swung into one of their Choctoberfest events last month and man oh man. Sure, whenever at my favorite cafe or Whole Foods I pick up a delish disk but walking into their storefront made me realize there was a whole bunch of varieties I hadn't tried yet. Stone ground, super sweet and super simple. This place takes the (chocolate) cake. read more

Easily the best smelling room in Boston. For 5 bucks, you can walk around tasting chocolate for an hour, hearing interesting things about the history of chocolate and how it's made. Small bits - you're not here to gorge, you're here to learn. This is dark, gritty, chocolate. It's not full of corn syrup. It's not sweet and creamy. It will crumble in your mouth. It's real chocolate, flavored with things like vanilla bean, cinnamon, or coffee. You can also get 87% dark chocolate bars. This is not the chocolate you had as a child. If you want Hershey's, this is not the place for you. If you want the real thing, stop on by for some samples. The chocolate wheels are designed to be chopped up and made into hot chocolate. That sounds delightful. I ground up the chocolate coffee and rolled truffles in it. That was heavenly. It was perfect. The website says that the parking lot is diagnanol from the store. A better description is you should drive past the store, to where the road curves to the right, and go straight into the lot. It's about half a block. Don't be fooled by the parking spaces instead of the store - those are for pickup/dropoff only. read more

I often get Mexican hot mocha from Mariposa Bakery in Cambridge and I learned that they use Taza chocolate for their mocha. Due to their excellent mocha, I decided to book a Taza chocolate factory tour. Josh was our tour guy and he was very informative and fun. I thought I went through a very fun and interesting show for an hour. His jokes were funny and actually really brilliant. We get to see the actual cacao beans and get to learn the chocolate making process. Thanks to Josh, we had a great time there and sampled bunch of good chocolates. read more

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I was in Debra's with Kathy S., and picked up a 60% dark bar. I gave a bit to Sweetie Darling, and she didn't like it all. Well, good. She won't filch it from me. The texture is grainy, but I expected that. The first bite has some weird flavors to it, that I was iffy about, but then they disappear into a complex medley of fruity/earthy flavors. And then, the chocolate endorphins kicked in. Eyes roll back, the earth moves. I also looked very stoned, for a while. I can't even imagine what this chocolate would be like, if you paired it with smoking some skanky nugs. I'm not even going there. I will try it with some nice dark red wine, though. read more

This. Place. Is. Great. The $5 chocolate tour is worth every penny! You get to sample all of their unique chocolate, um, awesome, and learn about the process! They explain the chocolate making craft with such passion, you can tell these people love what they do. I didn't have a clue how it was made, so learning about the process was both new for me and fun. They do a great job on the tours and everyone is very nice. Samples on samples on samples! You can try anything you want, including cocoa nibs, which are very interesting. Taza chocolate is a Mexican style chocolate, so it's not your average chocolate. It's a unique taste, not creamy, but grainy, and just all around different- I love it! I love that they use natural flavors like vanilla, ground chiles, cinnamon, salt and pepper, coffee, orange and ginger. Salted almond is my personal fave :) THEY DELIVER THEIR COFFEE VIA BICYCLES. enough said, this place is great! Hand wrapped and hand made?! Count me in as a fan. read more

The Taza chocolate factory tour is a wonderful way to start a snowy Saturday afternoon. Knowledgeable tour guides take you through the chocolate-making process with delicious samples on the way -- the tour even includes a sexy hairnet (and beard-net if you're still doing that Movember/No Shave November thing). Even if you don't go on the tour, stop by the factory store for samples of anything, and exclusive limited edition items (gingerbread chocolate bar tastes like a cookie!) that aren't sold in retail stores. Check out their website for cool events too! read more

I was 15 minutes late to the tour but the cashiers kindly led me to the tour presentation. It was seriously riveting stuff. Though, I think everyone was rearing to get a taste of the famous Taza Chocolate. Before the tour, I'd just signed on to the tour because it was such a highly rated tourist thing to do on multiple platform list curated to tourists. I didn't really know much about Taza except it was a chocolate factory. And I love chocolate. The tour guide was passionate, funny and really knowledgeable about chocolate. The whole vibe of the place was homey and just nice. It would have been really cool to see the vintage machines that they used in action making chocolate before our very eyes. I went on the Saturday 12:00 tour. And the tickets sold out really fast. I'd have expected mostly tourists to be on the tour but I think there was a good chunk of people who were native Bostonians. So I think everyone is just drawn to this awesome chocolate label. I personally don't enjoy super dark chocolate nor super experimental modern chocolates. But I really enjoyed the chipotle dark chocolate that I got to sample. It was not that spicy but the little kick at the end was nice. I ended up buying mostly the toffee chocolate though just cuz I thought it'd be a people pleaser and just generally liked. The grittiness of the stone ground chocolate could be tasted throughout. Also, if you buy $25 your get a free hot chocolate mix (choices: cinnamon, chipotle, or ___ I forgot). Overall, a worth-it experience. Note: I think Taza supplies big brand names like Costco, and others you'd prolly heard of. Flex on their part. read more

I'm not a chocolate fan at all, whatsoever. Yet I love this chocolate. It's what chocolate should be to me. Simple, basic, without unnecessary creaminess that gets in the way of the full bean flavor. I highly recommend the yerba mate and the cinnamon. The store is pretty awesome, seeing as how there are free samples galore. Want something a little different? Check out the roasted nibs. It doesn't get much more basic than that, folks. read more

Came here for our office holiday party and had a great time. We ate so much chocolate, we thought we would burst - and then we still couldn't refuse the hot chocolate they offered at the end. The tour was easy to organize and really flexible in terms of setting up a time for us and being cool when we were really late due to traffic. It was a tasty, informative outing, and we all walked away hungry for more! read more

Go for the samples! No, wait... Only go for the samples if you plan on buying whatever it is that you are trying. Because you will try it and you will buy it. Each time a very nice, seemingly innocent employee came over to offer me a sample, I ended up with selective amnesia and forgot that I am usually a cheap, cheap bastard. Innocent my ass, they knew what they were doing. Voodoo. Chocolatey black magic. '$6.50 for a chocolate bar? That's not a bad deal' thought the girl who searches though dollar racks at thrift stores for clothes. I mean, I get peeved when shirts cost $5. Yeah, when I got home and woke up from their spell, I hated that I had spend $45 on chocolate. Luckily, I had bought them as gifts for overseas relative who I hadn't seen in a long time and wanted to impress with my thoughtfulness. This ought to do the trick. Unluckily, delicious chocolate is staring at me. Through the bag. I would not call their chocolate devine since it does have that grittiness to it, but it's not too sweet and has a wider array of rich flavors than normal chocolate, hands down. It's all organic and locally made. I'd like to take the tour one day, but it's not very t-accessible so it would have to be a warm day. Price keeps this place from getting 5 stars. 4.50 for 2.7 oz disks 6.50 for 3 oz bars 13.50 for chocolate covered cashews read more

The Mexican chocolate is so. freaking. good. You can get their stuff at the New Amsterdam Market at South Street Seaport in NY. They're super generous with the samples. It's $4 for a round of awesome chocolate. I'm a fan of the almond and vanilla flavors, but darn near everything is good. The standard stuff is around 55% dark, but they've got some 70% dark varieties that are good, too. In SF, it's available at Rainbow Grocery, Bi-Rite, and Whole Foods (and other places...) read more

This is the best food-factory tour I've been on (so far). Not my favorite chocolate, but I like it. Definitely different than anything I'm used to. LOTS of free samples, super local, and they donate $1 of the tour fee. read more

Okay, not only is Taza Chocolate some of the best chocolate I've ever had (I love its gritty texture and taste), but they are awesome at shipping out online orders at lightning speed! I ordered two gifts from their website, one for my mom and another for a friend who just had a baby. I am not even kidding when I say that both orders were confirmed shipped within an hour of my ordering them! And with standard shipping, both packages still arrived the next day! Everyone who I've given some Taza to has loved it just as much as me. I will continue to spread the love and chocolate-covered cashews! read more

CHOCOLATE FACTORY TOUR FOR FIVE BONES? Count me IN. Prior to the Taza tour, I knew next to NOTHING about the processing and manufacturing of chocolate.. but NOW I'm like a connoisseur.. not really haha. BUT, i must say, the tour was very informative and we learned a lot about how mexican chocolate (not european-style) used to be made in the old days. And that's still how Taza makes their chocolates. It makes for a grittier texture and a more robust flavor, in my opinion. DEFINITELY recommended if you got an hour or so to kill.. it's located next to some questionably shady buildings but DONT LET THAT DETER you. You get pretty much unlimited samplings of all their chocolates (that is, if you don't mind the social stigma attached to stealing multiple samples)... but the workers don't seem to care haha. ONLY CON: the chocolates are good, BUT you gotta pay a premium for em.. after all.. they are pretty freakin unique! read more

Great staff and the factory tour made it all worthwhile. Came up on a rainy day from the Cape without a reservations (we had no idea they were needed). Staff still found room to accommodate us and as a result we are forever fans. So, lesson learned - book ahead! The gift shop has a great assortment of products but the tour adds a lot. read more

Taza Chocolate - factory tour pamphlet - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - Somerville, Massachusetts

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Tip for MIT students: You can purchase a ticket for the chocolate tour for only $3! I had the privilege of going on the Taza Chocolate Tour recently and tasting Taza chocolate for the first time. The tour itself was very informative and interactive--outlining the quality control and step-by-step processes from cutting Cacao pods from trees to shipment from the Dominican Republic to the Taza Factory itself, that separate Taza from its competitors. Our guide sound very informed and encouraged lots of questions. The tour also included samples of all of the Taza chocolate brands! For FREE! As for the chocolate itself? Far different texture from the Hershey's, Cadbury's and other chocolate companies. There is a gritty texture that stone grounding and cane sugar instills into the chocolate itself. Simply amazing. And extremely versatile--can be consumed in snack form or in hot or cold chocolate form.My favorite varieties were the salted almond, vanilla, and chile. An instant thumbs up! P.S. Tip for all Taza factory goers--purchase the chocolate from the factory itself. You will save at least $2-3 PER BAR. Cheers! read more

Josh was a FANTASTIC tour guide! I bought a Groupon and was just looking forward to eating chocolate, but was impressed with Josh's enthusiasm and knowledge of the history of Taza including the chocolate making process, and even the scientific components of the process to satisfy some of the over-qualified chocolate tasters on our tour. ;) I'm even more impressed with Taza's product after seeing the hard work and passion that goes into their business as well as their ethical standards. Go here, tour, taste (a lot of samples!), and buy direct-trade chocolate! read more

We had a great time! Our guide was very knowledgeable and fun. We also had vegan diets and allergies in our group and appreciated that everyone could participate in the tasting :) read more

Taza, Taza. I'm writing this about the mail order service, because it needs to be said that like the chocolate which has been reviewed by others, the service is great! I ordered about 10 lbs of various bars yesterday to put together in baskets with spiced nuts that I made to give as Christmas presents to my nieces and nephews. I paid about seven bucks to have it shipped and it arrived - - da-dah -- TODAY. Granted, it only came from Somerville to Brookline, but they must have got it packed up and shipped out immediately to arrive the next day. That's so much better than driving over there through the insane traffic or doing the mall crawl to buy lesser chocolate. I'm impressed. And grateful. Now for those nuts.... read more