Sweet Bean company sells handmade chocolate around Cleveland

Sweet Bean is a “a small-batch, handmade confections company” based in Cleveland. Starting from the bean itself, Sweet Bean focuses on the goodness of chocolate.

“I've been making chocolates since 2011,” says Founder Kristin Barnes, “but we started Sweet Bean in February 2013.”

Kristin and her husband, Bob, are the ones who run the business, but “depending on the time of year and the demand for chocolate, any number of family members may roll up their sleeves and help.” The family affair makes these chocolates even sweeter.

They began selling chocolates to family and friends for Valentine’s Day of 2013. After customers took a survey, there was the unanimous opinion that Barnes should start a business.

“After that, we participated in the inaugural class of ECDI and the Cleveland Culinary Launch + Kitchen's Food Business Incubator,” said Kristin. They then made a public debut at the Cleveland Flea in September of 2013.

Kristin also studied fine arts in college and dabbled in sculpture, ceramics, and painting. She found joy in combining the two into one edible craft.

“We were living in Boston in 2011, and it was actually a Groupon - to visit a local chocolate shop and make candies for Christmas that got me really excited about chocolate. I spent the afternoon with a chocolatier learning how to temper and mold chocolate,” Kristin says.

Bob, seeing her excitement, bought her some molds and a tempering machine that Christmas. She would use them to make chocolate whenever she could.

Kristin is “responsible for the hand-painted molded chocolates and other treats” and Bob “is the primary craft chocolate maker, roasting and grinding cacao beans into scratch-made chocolate bars.”

Bob began with an interest in roasting coffee, but saw the parallels between coffee and roasting cacao beans for chocolate. Now, he selects cacao beans from different regions and develops their flavor through roasting.

The business tries to utilize local and clean ingredients for their chocolates. Depending on the season, you may be in for different style treats.

“I might be inspired to create a certain combo by something else I've eaten or had to drink. We've also had contests on our website to create new flavors. Usually I'll start with flavors of the season: florals in Spring, pumpkin in Fall, or peppermint in winter, and build from there,” said Kristin.

There were points when there were chocolates inspired by a salted caramel mocha or even one to mimic the breakfast flavors of bacon and syrup.

When it comes to chocolate decorating, every chocolate is hand painted and unique. Colored with cocoa butter paint, Kristin uses a variety of methods to decorate from swiping to splattering to swirling to layering the chocolates. The entire creation process can take several hours.

“We sell the chocolates direct to consumers and at local farmer's markets, flea markets and craft bazaars,” said Kristin.

You can buy the chocolates directly from sweetbeancandies.com or find their next location on their Faceboook page.

In the future, they hope to have a “brick + mortar sweet shop - a small-batch chocolate factory”, where Kristin would like to teach others how to work with chocolate, just like she started her journey into the delicious business.

Sweet Bean will be at the Adult Swim: Winter Wines & Chocolate at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium February 3rd and Cleveland Bazaar Valentine at Lake Affect Studios in Cleveland February 11th.