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We’re honored to host a very special visitor at the factory this week, Tomoko Koyama of Plato Grafico Japan! Tomoko is our Japanese distributor, and we’re so grateful for her dedication to bringing Askinosie to craft chocolate lovers there. She spreads our message and shares our chocolate far and wide, and we’re excited for her to spend the week with us learning the ins and outs of bean-to-bar chocolate making firsthand!

We’re celebrating not one, but two special workiversaries this week: our intrepid Sales Director, Kat; and our devoted Chief Operating Officer, John. We’re lucky to have had Kat with us for SIX years and John, three!! And it’s safe to say, their leadership has made huge impressions on where we are as a company today. Kat is an enthusiastic encourager, with a clever approach to customer service strategy that helps set us apart in the craft chocolate landscape. John’s wide-ranging abilities to build a desk as well as a spreadsheet, fix pieces of equipment as well as logistics puzzles, and continually manage us to a healthy financial position is remarkable. Happy Workiversay, Kat & John! We’re so grateful for you both!

We’re extremely proud to announce that our very own Melissa Freiner Gelner has been named one of Springfield Business Journal's 20 Most Influential Women!! As our Chief Kinship Officer and Executive Director of Chocolate University, Missy strives to strengthens community within our factory walls and innovates the partnerships we have with students locally and students in our cocoa origin communities. Missy’s positivity, leadership, and “get it done” attitude make our business better and our community better, and we’re not surprised by this recognition. This award honors the careers, civic leadership and influence of 20 women chosen by an independent panel of judges. Read more about the award and see the rest of the honorees here. Congratulations, Missy!! sbj.net/stories/judges-select-20th-class-of-most-influential-women,65164

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Bean-to-bar, direct trade chocolate handcrafted here in Springfield, MO. Want to see behind the scenes? Come by for a tour on Tuesday afternoons at 3:30 pm!

Askinosie Experiments… Something special is coming to our storefront this fall. Sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know→ askinosie.com.

Our friends at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams have done it again. This delectable Green Mint Chip Ice Cream is made with our direct trade dark chocolate and it’s available now in scoop shops, online and in the freezers at select retailers nationwide! It’s always a thrill to see how our partners use our chocolate in their creations. Get thee to a Jeni’s location!

Our Friday plans include a little quality control. We’re making sure these freshly molded Dark Chocolate + Red Raspberry CollaBARation™ Bars are ready to hit the shelves of retailers, and our virtual shelves on askinosie.com. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it. ;)

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From Shawn & Lawren at origin: Our last day with our farmer partners in Mababu, Tanzania was a big one. We visited a few farmer homes and shambas in the morning, then spent the afternoon on the shore of Lake Nyasa for a “beach party” which has become an annual tradition. This is where we hosted our concluding meetings: the review and presentation of the profit share, as well as a banner recognizing the Academy of Chocolate award we won last month for our Peppermint Dark Chocolate Bar (made with Mababu cocoa beans). We share these awards with our farmer partners because we wouldn’t win them without their amazing cocoa. And we share profits because it's the right thing to do. Before dinner we tasted three different bars we hauled with us in our carry-ons (like we do on every origin trip) plus our Chocolate Covered Malt Balls, all made with Mababu cocoa beans. This is direct trade.

Shawn & Lawren here with an update from origin in Mababu, Tanzania: In 2014, we helped our farmer partners write the Vision for their small co-op. By 2015, they had begun serving widows & orphans in their village, one of the points on their plan. By 2016 they’d accomplished another: building an office. On this trip, we were able to witness the immense progress on yet another vision point—providing early childhood education to the youngest in their community—via a Chekechea (preschool) that will begin educating 300 kids in January. But this will not just be any preschool; it will be what the farmers are calling a “wondrous” Chekechea. One without corporal punishment and fear, where the children feel loved, safe, and better prepared to enter primary school, with a background in Swahili AND English and an emphasis on pride in their heritage and culture. This is a project initiated and owned by our farmer partners, and our Chocolate University Foundation has funded the construction of the project and start-up costs. The farmers are providing all operational funding and management of the school. None of this would have been possible without our Foundation’s Executive Director, Melissa Gelner, shepherding this process from 10,000 miles away at home in Missouri. It was an emotional experience to see this school literally grow from a seed of an idea to an actual building, which is being built brick-by-brick by folks in the village. It’s truly a community effort. Students are beginning to register soon, and we hope to be back for the grand opening of the school in January. One thing we know for sure? The students’ snacks will incorporate the “most famous food from Mababu”: cocoa!

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From Lawren: Hello from Mababu, Tanzania! Yesterday was a very special day, Empowered Girls and Enlightened Boys graduation. 380 students from Mababu primary school celebrated their completion of a program that we chartered in the village when we began working with the Mababu cocoa farmers a few years ago. The girls learn about self-confidence, their inherent value, leadership skills, gender equality and more; the boys’ corollary program covers similar topics but with a bent toward respecting and supporting women and girls. Yesterday’s 3-hour ceremony was a moving celebration full of songs, dances, skits and speeches that filled us with more hope than ever for the future. Because empowered girls, and enlightened boys, will save the world. Though it may seem subtle, one detail that we loved (that is in no way minute) was that when it was time for lunch, the girls ate first. In a culture where girls are sometimes fed only after their fathers and brothers have eaten (this isn’t unique to this part of Tanzania, or even the world, by the way-literally OR figuratively), we were encouraged by this gesture that indicated progress; not to mention all of the other details large and small that remind us why this kind of work is so integral to our business and making great chocolate. In fact, our farmer partners were the honored guests at the ceremony including lead farmer Mama M'poki, and she encouraged the girls to pursue their dreams at all costs. It’s all connected.

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Shawn & Lawren here, from Mababu, Tanzania, with our first update from origin: what an excellent visit with our farmer partners so far. Our first day on the ground we inspected our next shipment of cocoa beans, testing the moisture content of bagged beans and fermentation level via a standard cut test method we use at all origins. Unsurprisingly, the beans were outstanding, with near-perfect levels far exceeding our range of acceptance. It’s fairly easy to measure the quality of cocoa beans, a result of the immense care our farmer partners pour into the growing, harvesting, fermenting and drying techniques; what isn’t easy to measure is the unity these beans create. Unity in the village of Mababu, as our farmer partners have become leaders in their district bringing change, progress and hope to their daughters and sons, sisters and brothers, through the programs & projects we undertake as partners like Empowered Girls & Enlightened Boys, soon-to-be-completed pre-school— stay tuned for more updates this week—and more. The unity extends across the ocean, to the US and beyond, to the amazing retailers that share our chocolate with their customers, the visitors to our factory who watch us making chocolate, and our customers who follow these stories and know our farmer partners from tasting our chocolate. This is direct trade: unity. That unity has struck us this week, and it’s been satiating for our souls during a time in our world where we could all use more connection. This is direct trade, and we are grateful for your part in it. As we say here, Asante Sana.

Meet the man behind the boxes: Greg, our amazing Shipping Manager! For the past three years, Greg has been the detail-oriented, quick-working, expert packing-machine who makes sure your order gets from our factory to your doorstep in perfect condition and as quickly as possible. Your orders are extremely important to us--whether it’s a personal chocolate replenishment or a special gift--and Greg thoughtfully picks, packs and ships each box himself. Happy three years and thanks for all you do, Greg!