Grabbing coffee in Hawley can do good for people half-way around the world. Cocoon Coffeehouse and Bakery now exclusively brews roasts from Moka Origins in Honesdale. The award-winning craft chocolate and coffee producer has achieved an inspiring blend of social responsibility and premium quality that uplifts farming communities in some of the most impoverished places around the globe.
Taste the Difference
The factory in Honesdale produces coffee and chocolate from hand-selected ingredients of the highest caliber. Moka Origins is one of only a handful of bean to bar chocolate makers in the United States. Much of the product is sourced from direct-trade farming partners across Africa. Moka operates its own farm in Cameroon, the fourth largest producer of cacao in the world. In addition to providing a life-sustaining, fair wage, the farm serves as a resource and training center helping people start new farms and grow better quality cacao. The byproduct is better tasting, ethically made chocolate and coffee.
Going the Distance
Once harvested, beans are packed and shipped to the factory in Honesdale. Raw beans are then sorted by hand to ensure only the best make it to the roaster. Each variety has a distinct taste based on its region of origin. Beans are roasted in micro batches to enhance their unique flavor. In addition to House and Pocono Mountain Blend, Moka roasts coffee from Ethiopia, Uganda, Mexico and Guatemala. Cacao for the chocolate is sourced from places such as Cameroon, Tanzania, Costa Rica, Ghana and the Dominican Republic. Stone grinders run for 24-48 hours per batch to transform raw cacao into smooth chocolate. Molten chocolate is artfully crafted into specialty bars with unique flavor profiles such as lemon ginger, cherry and toffee almond. With its rich, creamy taste, Moka’s Vanilla White Chocolate is unlike most commercial brands on the market. It’s crafted by hand using only organic cocoa butter, organic milk powder, organic cane sugar and vanilla beans.
Flavored with Perks
Guests at Cocoon Coffeehouse and Bakery may enjoy freshly brewed espresso, house blend and decaf from Moka Origins. House Blend is a medium roast carefully crafted for everyday drinking with notes of sweet cocoa and toasted nuts. Pocono Mountain blend is an ode to the business’ local roots. It’s a dark blend that offers a smooth taste of caramel and toasted nuts. Espresso is a signature blend that reflects Moka’s passion for bringing cultures together. It’s a rich mix of African and South American beans that provides a rich flavor profile with dark chocolate notes and a splash of cherry. Bags of coffee and a variety of chocolates are also available for purchase at Cocoon. For every product sold, Moka Origins plants a tree in Cameroon. To date, 267,107 trees were planted. With the addition of sales through Cocoon, Moka estimates they will be able to plant 100,000 trees this year alone.
Breathe in Freshness
The factory store and café in Honesdale are open daily. Free tours and tastings are offered every Saturday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The 45-minute tour offers a behind-the-scenes look at the artisanal chocolate and coffee making process. Visitors can follow along from roasting and grinding to tempering, molding and packaging. Each chocolate bar is hand-wrapped in gold foil in the factory. Inside, the wrapper tells the story of the bean’s origin and journey to finished product. What began as a small mom and pop enterprise has grown into a booming business that now employs a staff of 15 and churns out between 10 and 20,000 chocolate bars a month. Moka Origins’ products are distributed at 300 locations across the U.S. including Whole Foods, specialty stores and home subscriptions. Settlers Hospitality, the parent company of Cocoon Coffeehouse and Bakery, also partners with Moka Origins to serve coffee at all its Hawley and Carbondale based restaurants and hotels.
Grab a Bite
For coffee in Hawley, savor Moka Origins at Cocoon Coffeehouse and Bakery seven days a week. Since Moka roasts beans every week, freshness is ensured. Pair your freshly brewed coffee with something tasty from the pastry cases, which are filled with house made croissants, muffins, biscotti, sticky buns, cannoli, cookies and cupcakes. Cocoon also offers breakfast all day as well as house made sandwiches and salads. Stop in Memorial Day through Labor Day 7 a.m.-5 p.m. or Labor Day through Memorial Day 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information, check out cocooncoffeehouse.com