The Chocolate Lover's Guide to Portland

Portland, Oregon not only offers gorgeous scenery, a robust arts scene, and an amazing arboretum but also a dynamic food and beverage scene. Some people even consider this lovely Pacific Northwest city the food capital of the U.S. Great restaurants and coffee shops abound, as do locally owned craft breweries and distilleries, great restaurants and coffee shops. Portland also has a robust craft chocolate community. Here are Portland’s chocolate makers and more.

Creo Chocolate

Bean-to-bar chocolate maker Creo Chocolate has two locations that opened about a decade apart, and a team of 12. Kevin Straub, chocolate maker and self-proclaimed ‘maintenance geek’ is enthusiastic about chocolate and about the relationship with customers, saying, “We get to eat chocolate and have fun with chocolate. And the tasting experience [we offer] is a way we can have consumers come in and learn about chocolate and our company. We get to know our customers too.”

The company name reflects two languages. “In Spanish, it means ‘I believe,’” Straub says. “In Latin it means ‘I create’ or ‘I make.’”

Creo Chocolate works with one cacao farm in Ecuador. Hacienda Victoria is a family farm run by a father and son. And, although more than 60 product offerings crowd the website, Straub says three chocolate varieties are clear favorites among customers: salted caramel truffles, the Whiskey Milk Chocolate bar and the mildly Spicy Dark Chocolate bar. The company also combines chocolate with hazelnuts in several different ways, reflecting the fact that Oregon produces 95% of U.S. hazelnuts.

With a gentle snap when biting into each handcrafted truffle, Build-A-Box flavor options range from Dulce de Leche, Earl Grey or Ghost Pepper to Passion Fruit Hearts, an Orange Meltaway and Vietnamese Iced Coffee. Award-winning Black Sesame Seed Brittle, Peanut Butter Pearls, and Mayan Spice Sipping Hot Chocolate also entice Creo Chocolate customers. There’s even Chocolate Mint Lip Balm available.

“Our chocolates are really good,” Straub says. “We take great care in making great chocolate and the farmer gets a good price for their beans. And we take care in each step of the process of making our chocolate.”

Ranger Chocolate Co

Founder and CEO, George Domurot, opened the bean-to-bar company to the public in 2014. During March of 2025, the company expanded into a state-of-the-art facility inside the Olympic Mills building. A Portland Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places, this location more than doubles the company’s production capacity and space.

Public factory experiences have already allowed customers to view some production activities, including R&D products. “All our ingredients are super premium, and we always strive to do new things with chocolate,” Domurot says. The company also sources ingredients – beyond cacao – from as close to home as possible, such as salt or spirits.

Local collaborations have included a pinot noir chocolate bar for Adelsheim Vineyard plus a no-dairy Caribbean bar developed with Kann restaurants and Chef Gregory Gourdet. The bar reflects each man’s personal history – Gourdet’s association with Haiti, and Domurot’s, with Puerto Rico. Always interested in collaboration, Domurot will also launch the first Portland Craft Chocolate Festival in October.

With approximately 30 products, chocolate is the major part of the company’s DNA. But they have also created adjacent products like granola and bourbon butterscotch sauce.

Domurot and his staff still hand-wrap their chocolate bars, too. “I think it’s a very classic style-almost vintage looking,” he says. “Buy [our chocolate] for the packaging but we bring it home with the flavor, texture, and quality. We always strive to improve our process and our output.”

Verdun Fine Chocolates

Verdun Fine Chocolates began in the Lebanese mountains more than 40 years ago but the company’s first U.S. store opened in Portland in 2003. A second store in Beaverton, now offers a ‘chocolate bar’ with drinking chocolate and fruit for dipping in chocolate. It’s also where local owner, Hamoody Houdroge will soon begin crafting these legendary chocolate confections.

The handmade chocolates reflect more than four decades of chocolate making by company founder, Mahmoud Hamoush, and his sons. A Portland resident since 1987, Houdroge is the only non-family member to run a store.

Verdun Fine Chocolates believes chocolate should not only present exquisite taste and texture but also beautiful packaging. “Hand-wrapped [in gorgeous, colorful foils], every piece is a gift by itself,” Houdroge says. “And the base chocolate will still be made in Lebanon.”

Low in sugar, preservatives, gluten-free, and organic, these extremely high-quality chocolates cannot be mimicked. “There’s nothing like it anywhere else in Portland or the States,” Houdroge says. That includes the company’s top-selling Dubai Bar, which has become especially popular among 15 to 25 year olds. Verdun Fine Chocolates is also well-known for their gianduja, available in several different flavors.

“A lot of people call this the best chocolate in town,” Houdroge says. “But I haven’t ever had better chocolate than this, anywhere in the world. I could not get tired of this chocolate.”

Woodblock Chocolate Manufactory

Woodblock Chocolate Manufactory has been crafting bean-to-bar chocolate from cacao and pure cane sugar for 15 years. They source, roast, conche, age, and temper ‘origin chocolate’ in a Southeast Portland manufactory, with a small retail shop where customers can watch the chocolate-making process and sometimes sample experimental goodies.

Chocolate maker, Charley Wheelock, also believes Woodblock Chocolate Manufactory makes Portland’s best chocolate. Top sellers include 70% House Blend, Coffee Milk Chocolate, and Dark or Malted Milk bars. “We’re trying to keep the artisan chocolate industry alive,” he says.

“My wife Jessica and I wanted a family business, and we made a list of things we thought would make us happy – but also asked, would Portland support it?” Wheelock explains that when Jessica realized the difference between a chocolatier and a chocolate maker, they moved forward with creating a business. Says Charley, “Portland is a food town, and this totally fits.”

Charley previously worked at a winery where educated palates assessed their chocolate too. He studied chocolate making at UC Davis and visited Costa Rica and the Cocoa Research Centre at The University of the West Indies. Jessica manages back-of-the-house operations, including logistics, shipping, and packaging.

“We look at the cocoa bean like a winemaker looks at a grape,” Charley says. “To bring out the specific nuance of single-origin chocolate bars, we let the cocoa bean guide our process –accentuating its unique qualities. We are transparent about our supply chain and follow good practices with our sourcing - including visiting all our cacao sources.”

Additional Local Chocolate Makers

Wildwood® Chocolate (2010; initially called The Chocolate Maker's Studio)

Venezuelan chocolate flavors bars, individual candies, and drinking chocolates

Cloudforest

Maker of bars, caramels, candied cacao, and hazelnut cacao spread

Missionary Chocolates

Offers handcrafted vegan truffles

Moonstruck Chocolate Co.

Truffles, bars, hot cocoa

Treehouse Originals

Makes drinking chocolate

Chocolate Retailer

The Meadow

A Chocolate Library inside each of Chef Mark Bitterman’s shops in N Portland, SE Portland, and NW Portland offers hundreds of chocolates, including locally made ones.

Industry Supplier

Meridian Cacao Company

Meridian Cacao provides world class cacao to the bean-to-bar industry, including home hobbyists and craft chocolate makers. They also offer cocoa pods, pulp, butter, and powder, plus cacao nibs and liquor, organic sugar and vanilla.

The company works directly with cacao-growing farms and estates, to source unique, varied flavor profiles that reflect beans with origins as diverse as Vietnam, Ecuador, Tanzania, or Madagascar. Most of their cacao is sold in jute bags ranging from 45 - 70 kgs. Customers may also make purchases by the kilo in the online store.

“We visit farms at least once a year and communicate with them frequently,” says Gino Dalla Gasperina, founder and CEO, who opened the company in 2012. “When I was 24 it was the tail end of the last recession. I met Charley (Wheelock), from Woodblock, and they were looking for commercial space.

“I had lived in Trinidad and Tobago and Charley suggested going there to source beans and to the Cocoa Research Centre. They were super gracious and gave us a crash course in quality and we met the cocoa board.”

Charley remains a good friend and customer. Gasperina says his company typically has 150-200 customers with about 2% located in Oregon and 95% percent domestic.

Meridian partners with cacao-producing farmers and farm groups who work to maintain land biodiversity as well as worker health and safety. “I think one of my mottos is, ‘We work with people, not beans,’ Gasperina says. “The chocolate industry really is a high-trust, relationship-based business.”