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Mast Brothers Chocolate

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

By Luke Beard

November 28^th, 2013

If you spend any time in Brooklyn you will hear about Mast Brothers chocolate on a regular basis and run into their well designed chocolate packaging at almost any worthwhile retailer. Last week Sarah and I were lucky enough to get a short but sweet tour of their factory in Williamsburg.

Sarah stumbled upon their original storefront some years ago when they first opened, and has been a huge fan ever since.

Thanks to executive manager Derek Herbster, we got to see firsthand how their chocolate goes from bean to bar.

I would like to point out that almost everyone on staff was wearing an awesome hat. As a fan of fine headwear I highly appreciated the array of lids.

The winnowing machine

What are these photos about?

Super clean nib to start the chocolate creation process. They gave off an incredible smell.

What are these photos about?

Racks on racks.

Stone Grinders

One of the most interesting facts we learned was that these machines use friction, not heat, to melt the chocolate, running 24 hours for upwards of several days depending on the blend.

What are these photos about?

Not sure what we'd do without the Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt bars.

This room was a trip for our taste buds and olfactories. Melting dark chocolate and Maine Sea Salt.

Chunks.

Each bar used to be hand-wrapped, but now they use an incredibly efficient vintage packager from the 60s. They do however still add the final Mast Brothers sticker to the front of the bars by hand.

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The machine was refurbished in house and has over 10,000 moving parts.

Derek Herbster

Executive manager.

A family Cookbook

Their first cookbook features recipes both sweet and savory.

The Goods

Apart from chocolate bars and freshly-baked treats, the store sells cookbooks, quarterlies, and stationery based on their signature wrappers. All the packing is designed in house by just one designer.