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This is Chris Redgrave for Zions Bank Speaking on Business.
Chocolate has become the treat of choice for millions of people around the world. But, in its earliest days, over 2,000 years ago, chocolate was not the sweet treat it's known as today. The Aztecs used it as a bitter drink brewed directly from cacao beans. Through the years, its uses have morphed, changed and expanded, as have flavor and texture. It's with this understanding of chocolate's origins that Topher and Shannon Webb and Thom Williamson created their business, Mezzo Chocolate in Salt Lake City.
Their goal is to bring chocolate back to its original form, as a drink and not as a food. In fact, the big movement right now with chocolate is from bean to bar, with original sourcing on exactly where the cacao beans come from. That's exactly what Mezzo Chocolate is offering, except chocolate comes in a drink form instead of a bar. It's been discovered that cacao beans are high in antioxidants, with levels as high as blueberries and pomegranate seeds. They also offer the highest source of magnesium of anything in nature.
Topher and Shannon launched Mezzo Chocolate in spring of 2013, bringing exceptional skills and vision to their new business. Topher grew up with a mother who was a gourmet chef so he developed a passion for food. He has been cooking since the age of 12. Five years ago Topher received his first big bag of cacao beans under the Christmas tree. He roasted them in the oven, ground them on hand crank grinder, and worked to develop an entirely new product he's now offering at Mezzo Chocolate. The idea is to make the chocolate as pure as possible, at 60-80 percent pure cacao beans.
At Mezzo Chocolate they're using the whole bean and husk to maintain the nutritional properties of the cacao bean. No one else is doing things in exactly this way, which offers the consumer something that's delicious and unique. Once you sample chocolate in this pure and unblemished form, you may never go back to any other chocolate again.
For Zions Bank, I'm Chris Redgrave, speaking on business.
Mezzo Chocolate 990 S. 700 West, Ste. 8 Salt Lake City, UT 84104 www.mezzochocolate.com
