
Who: Mike Orlando
Where: Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara has great wine and Mexican food, but have you heard there’s a bean-to-bar chocolate maker producing some insanely good chocolate? Mike Orlando of Twenty-Four Blackbirds is DIY to the nth degree, from the equipment he built himself — all with curiosity, obsessive testing, and the power of the internet! — to the kraft paper packaging he prints on using a printer you’d find in your mom’s office. And of course, the elegant 1/2 ounce chocolate bars illustrated with a feather imprint. Look out, Willy Wonka! There’s a new mad chocolate scientist around!
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