Meet “Dr. Chocolate,” how science is making Bend’s best chocolate even better

Long before she became Dr. Chocolate, Emily Pappo had a deep love for coffee. She loved the questions coffee raised, like how all of the human decisions between bean and cup could shape one of the world’s most popular drinks. She traveled the world looking for the best beans and became a “Q-grader,” which is like a wine sommelier but for coffee. Still she had questions. 

“Coffee made me really curious,” she says. “Chocolate came next.”

Pappo ultimately earned a doctorate degree in ecology, studying the relationships between coffee and climate change, but then the Smithsonian Institution called. The world’s largest research and education complex needed her help researching how farmers in tropical areas could grow cacao, the key ingredient in chocolate, and preserve the biodiversity and habitats critical to migratory bird populations, which were in steep decline. The Smithsonian already had a “bird friendly” program for coffee growers. Now they needed Pappo to help create one for cacao farmers. Her post-doctoral dive had begun into the science of growing chocolate, how climate change affects it, and how to make it all more sustainable.  

Today, Pappo is the owner of Seahorse Chocolate, the world’s first, official “bird friendly” chocolate maker. There are only four in the world, and Seahorse Chocolate is right here in Bend. That means every bar that comes out of her shop uses cacao from organic farms that follow a strict set of guidelines that help preserve the biodiversity that migratory birds need. That’s very different from nearly every bar of mass-produced chocolate you’d find in the checkout aisle.

Plus, Seahorse Chocolate is delicious, with each bite carrying a uniquely human, emotional dimension. What heart doesn’t swell when presented with the gift of chocolate? 

On a recent weekday a small group of chocolate-curious guests gathered inside Seahorse’s workshop, which is located in Bend’s up-and-coming central district a few blocks northeast of downtown. Jute bags of raw cacao sat stacked along the walls. A countertop held sampling jars filled with bits of chocolates with names like La Cueva del Oso, Zorzal, and A.M. Gold. Everyone had signed up for a chocolate tour to see how the magic’s made. Each session includes a chocolate tasting and the chance to make your very own chocolate bar. 

Seahorse’s workspace would catch even Willy Wonka’s eye with all manner of gizmos that transform raw beans—which are technically seeds—into coveted treats. The shop shares space with a coffee roaster, Still Vibrato. In the rear of the building you’ll find a large San Franciscan drum coffee roaster, the go-to machine for roasting coffee, which, as it turns out, is also excellent for roasting cacao. It is in this black, metal drum that the wizardry begins since Seahorse roasts its cacao using sight, smell, and hands-on adjustments, and not the typical, fully automated presets. This sets Seahorse apart.

“A lot of chocolate makers roast cacao in convection ovens with tray after tray just sitting there,” says Amanda Gartrell, who started Seashorse Chocolate with her partner, R.C., before selling it to Pappo. That can lead to uneven cooking, with caramelization or even burning on one side of the bean and raw flavor on the other. “Bitterness in chocolate is a roasting defect,” she says. “This roaster lets us avoid that.”

Roasting is the most critical step for developing flavors, but the process does not stop there. To free the roasted cacao seed from its husk, Seahorse Chocolate uses a modified shop-vacuum winnower with a custom PVC tubing system that creates just enough suction to remove the seeds’ papery outer layers while preserving the nibs. Those chocolate bits get ground in a “conching” process that turns the brittle nibs into a liquid chocolate. Seahorse does this for much longer than typical, which yields a far smoother texture and deep, balanced flavors. Fun fact: Conching was the key step in human history that turned chocolate from a bitter drink of kings—the Aztec emperor Montezuma II reportedly drank 50 golden goblets of xocolatl a day—into the treat we know today. 

The chocolates made here in Bend are magnificently simple in their complexity, with just two ingredients in nearly every bar: cacao and a high-quality cane sugar. That means the nearly infinite flavor profiles stem almost entirely from the seeds’ origins, farming techniques, and roasting, all areas that Pappo studies with a doctor’s eye. Once the chocolate has been sweetened, it must be cooled and stabilized with a house-made cocoa-fat “starter” that tempers the chocolate into a shiny, shelf-stable product. 

Toward the end of the tour, each guest poured ribbons of warm chocolate into a mold placed on a shaker used to make denture molds. The rowdy vibrations expelled any lingering air bubbles and filled the corners of the chocolate mold evenly. Everyone would hand wrap their bars, just like every Seahorse Chocolate bar. Mine would be in my belly before I made it to the car.  

Everyone’s favorite moment arrived, and the chocolate tasting could begin. The Colombian chocolate carried hints of wild mint and molasses and the Belize chocolate melted in our mouths like pudding. Ecuador’s brought notes of cinnamon rolls set in a sweet floral bed. Each bar seemed dreamier than the last, right up to the grand finale, a wonder of Dominican Republic beans mixed with Peruvian cacao butter. I tasted coconut, fudge, orange, and a creamy macaroon. 

If chocolate ate dessert, this is what it would be. 

“Chocolate fits into people’s lives in so many different ways,” Pappo says. “It’s part of big celebrations and tiny rituals. It’s joyful and serious at the same time. Who doesn’t love chocolate?”

To experience one of the best food tours in Bend, head to Seahorse Chocolate, where you’ll learn how Emily Pappo, a.k.a. Dr. Chocolate, uses her scientific background to produce climate friendly, delicious chocolates at the world’s first “bird friendly” chocolate maker. Each tour lasts about 90 minutes and includes chocolate tastings and the chance to make your own chocolate bar. You’ll also score deep discounts on any extra chocolate you’d like to take home. Tours cost $79 per person and can be booked online at seahorsechocolate.com

Seahorse Chocolate sells outstanding, organic, bean-to-farm chocolates made with just two ingredients at its boutique workshop as well as at shops and cafes around town, including Cafe des Chutes, Backporch Coffee Roasters, Lone Pine Coffee Roasters, Market of Choice, Jackson’s Corner, and inside hotels like The Oxford Hotel and The Waypoint Hotel. Find a place to stay in Bend here.