Shops We Love: Pollinator Chocolate | The Chocolate Professor

Mark Burrows, Founder of Pollinator Chocolate

Location

786 Highway 133, Carbondale CO, 81623

Mark Burrows started making chocolate in 2019 with a passion for high-quality sweets after tasting some of the craft bars other shops were making. “I had no idea how to make chocolate,” says Burrows. “But it dawned on me that maybe I should stop buying so much of other people’s chocolate and see if I can make my own.”

Burrows bought beans from the Chocolate Alchemist and sought out tabletop devices to help with roasting, grinding, and molding for the chocolate. He also read every book he could find and watched many how-to videos before completing courses at Ecole Chocolate and joining the Fine Chocolate Industry Association. The next couple of years were spent perfecting his craft and showcasing the sweet treats all over at various other markets and pop-ups. Chocolate soon became a viable income for Burrows and not long after, he opened his storefront in Carbondale, Colorado.

Today, he offers his small-batch, bean-to-bar chocolate and other confections in this location and the rest is history.

The Shop

Inside the shop, all the manufacturing happens behind a glass wall where customers can sit at the bar and watch the chocolate being made. Craft chocolate lines the shelves showcasing the shop’s different bars along with other sweet treats on display, such as truffles and bonbons served in a glass case. But it’s not only a store; the retail space also serves as a coffee shop, open daily, starting at 7am with late night hours in the works to soon in order sell cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and desserts, shares Burrows. The space is bright and colorful with bursts of red and yellow and a bold honey hive theme, making for a welcoming environment that beckons customers to stay and linger.

Top-Selling Chocolates

Honey Foam Bar

Made with cacao from Bolivia and honey from Colorado, this bar is one of the major sellers at the shop. Burrows calls it his “crossover bar” — and for good reason. It’s 70% dark chocolate for those fans of dark chocolate, but milk chocolate lovers can also appreciate the taste thanks to the honey foam (made with cane sugar, honey, and soda Bicarbonate) as it “takes the edge off the bitterness.”

Sour Cherries Bar

This bar is made with Organic Dominican Republic cacao and sour cherries that have been sweetened with cane sugar, offering a fruity but buttery mouthful which complements the dark chocolate nicely. “I think sour cherries work really well,” says Burrows. “A fruity chocolate is delicious.”

Pistachio Bar

This dark chocolate bar is also made with Organic Dominican Republic cacao along with roasted salted pistachios to provide that perfect mix of sweet and salty. “People like the saltiness of this bar,” says Burrows. “And the nuts inside of it.”

Also Look For

The company would not be called the Pollinator without a chocolate bar made with bee pollen. As a beekeeper and chocolate maker, Burrows knew he wanted to play around with his two passions, which is where he got the idea for the Bee Pollen Bar. Made with Bolivia cacao and Western Colorado pollen, along with edible flowers (such as rose and marigold) to give it a pop of color, this bar is not only pretty to look at and delicious to eat, but it can have some health benefits too, thanks to pollen, which is a high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.