Featured photo credit: Taza Chocolate

If you’re in Boston on Valentine’s Day, February 14, indulge in dessert at the Taza Chocolate Bar at the Boston Public Market, 100 Hanover Street. From 4 to 7:30 p.m., grab two hot chocolates and mini churros for $14 to share with a special sweet someone.

Alex Whitmore and his wife, Kathleen Fulton, founded Taza Chocolate in 2005 in Somerville, Massachusetts. It’s the first US chocolate maker to establish a third-party certified Direct Trade Cacao Certification program. The company maintains direct relationships with cacao farmers and pays a premium above the Fair Trade price for their cacao. Taza has partnerships only with cacao producers who respect workers’ rights and the environment.

Taza Chocolate is made in molinos, traditional Mexican stone mills, which preserve the flavors of the cacao beans and create a bold, rustic, gritty chocolate. The millstones are hand-carved—a craft Whitmore learned during an apprenticeship with a molinero in Oaxaca, Mexico. The chocolate produced at the Taza factory is inspired by Whitmore’s first trip to Oaxaca, where he took his first bite of original rustic Mexican chocolate.

Can’t make it to Boston or the factory store in Somerville? Find Taza Chocolate at a store near you or order online.