Creo Chocolate

We had a fun time doing Creo’s chocolate tour. It was fun to learn about the process of chocolate from bean to bar and you can tell they are very passionate about the product they put out. For the origin of the bean stuff they mostly have photographs on the wall of their farm and processing — not the most interesting and a video would be a cool improvement. However, it was a lot of fun seeing the machines in action. They have one innovative machine that sorts the crushed cocoa nibs from the shell pieces, a roasting machine, a machine that grinds up the nibs into something that looks more like chocolate, and a tempering machine that gets the chocolate all smooth and shiny. I appreciate that they keep things simple and don’t use a lot of ingredients or fillers in their chocolate — we learned about how other ingredients can affect the taste of chocolate. We got some samples throughout the tour of the nibs, some tempered liquid chocolate, and some brownie that the owner baked up with their chocolate, and they have samples of their bars. We went home with a yummy cherry and hazelnut dark chocolate. They also have some drinks made with their chocolate and we tried one of their chocolate fizzy soda type drinks (the name escapes me) which was pretty interesting. Creo is a fun local business to visit if your in town.

We had so much fun and learned some really interesting facts when we took a factory tour. We even got to make our own chocolate bar! I would highly recommend a visit to this amazing place.

OMG, this is a must do tour when in Portland, the chocolate is amazing and the sipping chocolate is too die for!
Thanks Janet for a wonderful experience, we had a blast!
Deanna from CA May 2016

I was here about 2 weeks ago and had a great experience. The space is open and spacious, but it’s not really in a convenient location. They don’t have too many chocolate products (that’s a good thing in this case), but it’s understandable since they back it all on-​site, at their storefront.
My friend and I were warmly greeted, and shown all their offerings and encouraged to try samples. Don’t mind if I do! I ended up getting their dried raspberry chocolate, a chocolate chip cookie, and their ‘shine’ drink, which is chocolate, spritzer, and milk. The drink was not bad, but it wasn’t something I’d go back have again. I’d say it was interesting. But the cookie was great.
They also have tours of their chocolate love making, which, I definitely want to take. I’m excited just thinking about it.

This is a great place to not only get really good Vegan chocolate but it is also run by some of the nicest people in the world. They gave us an amazing tour, which the adults AND the kids liked. I had no idea what a Cacao bean or pod looked like, so I am also smarter now.
It’s worth bringing yourself, your out of town family or anyone else to visit! Thanks Creo people!

I stopped by Creo Chocolate on a whim, and I am so glad that I did!
Janet (one of the owners) greeted me as I walked in and was extremely helpful. I arrived before tour hours, so she happily explained Creo’s chocolate making process to me and invited me to sample their delicious signature drink, a tea made of cacao powder. After sampling Creo chocolate, I settled on a combo pack because it is all so good!
The owners are very kind. After learning that I was visiting Portland, Janet was quick to offer suggestions of places to explore in the city. When I asked about local coffee roasters, she went out of her way to connect me with her favorite roaster in town.
I highly recommend adding Creo Chocolate to your list of Portland destinations!

Wonderful family owned business with a love for chocolate that shines through in the customer service. The chocolate tour was very informative and interesting. We had a family tour for 9 and it was a lot of fun for everyone kids and adults. After we had hot chocolate and brownies and cookies and everyone loved the products and chocolate tasting. Go by and enjoy this family owned shop. Well worth it.

Excellent tour of factory and beautiful customer service. Amazing knowledge of cacao and amazing chocolate! Best chocolate place in Portland.

Very nice owners. Dark chocolate bars are delicious with no unnecessary artificial flavors added.
Hot chocolate was very good. Nice to support a local, family-​owned business.

Always love their chocolate. They have great brownies and hot chocolate. We will be back for their brewed cacao which they were unfortunately out of, and of course they have their great chocolate bars available. Definitely recommend this place.

This is a shop of magic. Magical scents and creations I’ve found nowhere else. Real brownies packed with chocolate and baked to perfection. Pair this with their Portland Shine handmade chocolate soda and you won’t be disappointed. And while you’re there you can taste their delicious chocolate bars and see how everything is made. Stop by and try their magic.

Walked in and was immediately welcomed by owners. Got a very interesting explanation about the chocolate making process AND got to peel a cacao bean.
The aroma and smell were beyond amazing
My daughter and I got the coconut brownie and the ‘Shine’ Portland chocolate Fizz
We enjoyed every bite!

This is OMG chooclate for those who love dark and complex chocolate. There were samples and we had to make ourselves stop buying chocolate because it was all so incredible. The coconut chocolate was my favorite, with the cherry almost a close second. We bought ground chocolate for French press (maybe add a bit of rye, some coffee, and some whipped cream) and can’t wait to return for the tour and to pick up a couple of whole Cacoa pods.
Great, great place.

Janet was a wonderful tour guide and her passion for chocolate making was, so apparent and so endearing. They make chocolate with purpose and even donate $ 1 for every bar/​product to a local portland charity. I absolutely recommend the tour and their chocolate is delicious! Knowing their story and the fact that this is a family business is just the cherry on top!

Lovely family run local bean to bar chocolate factory. I recommend signing up for their chocolate tour Saturdays at 10:30AM. It’s free and only 30 min and you get to learn so much about them. Lots of delicious samples too! I’ve been on a couple chocolate tours before so the process of how chocolate is made wasn’t new to me but I did like hearing about how they pick their cacao beans and decide on their roasting, aging, tempering, etc.
One thing I found interesting is their chocolate bars are made of just two ingredients, cacao bean and and organic evaporated cane juice, which means it dairy free. Most chocolate bars contain some amount of dairy in it. I really loved their dark chocolate, and in fact I have to say I enjoy it more than Woodblock which was my previous favorite Portland chocolate. They are a little pricey at $ 8 but definitely worth it in my opinion. I liked their toasted coconut and nibs + sea salt flavors, but my favorite was just the original dark chocolate. For every bar they sell, they also donate $ 1 and on my tour they said they’ve already donated $ 1000. That’s quite a few chocolate bars for such a new place.
On the tour we also sampled their brewing chocolate and I loved it! I’ve never had anything like it before and apparently it’s just the entire roasted cacao bean including nibs and shell ground up and brewed using a french press. You drink it like you would coffee either black or with sugar and cream but this tastes amazing. I drink black coffee and this reminded me of it with some deeper chocolaty flavors. It’s supposed to be pretty healthy too with lots of antioxidants. I bought a bag $ 12 and I’m excited to try it out at home.

i had wanted to check this place out after receiving an email advert from Unilocal.I stopped in with 3 others. There is no parking lot so you have to take a metered spot on the street. The place is nicely designed. As soon as you walk in, you see the different types of chocolate bars they sell as well as the cocoa nibs and ground cocoa beans for brewing. Plus, there are lots of samples there of the different chocolate bars. They also had samples of the truffles and the brownies.
Of the chocolate bar offerings, i preferred the dark chocolate. It was excellent. The brownie was very good and we shared a cookie which was good, but not as good as the brownie. We had 2 hot chocolates which were tasty and presented well. And one of the employees brought out a plate of complementary truffles for us. I didn’t care for the brewed chocolate drink, but everything else was enjoyable.
Their chocolate tours have been booked solid but they said if you call on Friday, you can probably get a slot if there is a cancellation. Chocolate bars run around $ 8 each, $ 1.50 for cookie, $ 10 for bag of cocoa nibs, and I don’t remember any other prices.
Enjoy.

Creo is a beautiful space with passionate, expert chocolate owners on site. We were able to sample many of the chocolates as well as the brewed chocolate. The cocoa nib brownie is delicious — I have never had a brownie that had a crunchy bit that wasn’t from walnuts, so this was refreshing.
I ended up thoroughly enjoying my spicy hot chocolate. I have had a fair share of spicy chocolate beverages and drinking chocolates (including thick European style) over the years and I try to order it any time I see it on a menu. This one is one of the very best drinking chocolates I have ever tasted. It is strongly spicy, the way I like it. It may be too spicy for some people. It’s great for sipping or drinking slowly. Even the cups and saucers the hot drinks are served in have a glaze that is reminiscent of cocoa powder and shavings sprinkled over earthenware, almost seamless where the edge of the cup transitions to the beverage.
The counters are a warm cream granite with a fine speckling of layered brown tones, and the custom oak wainscoting has been stained a warm chocolate brown, and carried through to the cabinetry. Copper accents in the custom display shelving and light fixtures further enhance the warm yet clean and contemporary color scheme. One of the owners has a construction background in a previous life and his workmanship is evident as much as his passion for the chocolate he serves. The unique Moorish horseshoe arched windows and gentle barrel vault ceiling in this historic space lend a softness and elegant nostalgia where many spaces have neither. The space is gender neutral and sexy in an quiet smiling way.
What I love very much about this place is that it is not pretentious, there is no bs hipster vibe, and the menu isn’t littered with high margin filler products or bulk produced sugar overload options. They do real high quality chocolate and they do it beautifully, all right on site, short of growing and harvesting the cacao itself. For the price of the product here, you can’t find anything better. It is a superior value and I’d feel silly paying any money at all nearly anywhere else for a chocolate beverage now that I’ve had the pleasure of drinking Creo’s product. The [chocolate] bar has been raised!

You really need to taste it and take the tour! Great brewing chocolate, kind of like coffee but just cocoa beans roasted and brewed. So good.
Their chocolate bars are fantastic. Made without additives like soy lecithin, they keep the cocoa butter right in the bar!
And they make great brownies with their nibs.
Seriously, try the brewing chocolate.

I love supporting local businesses. They make their chocolates from scratch and no shortcuts. You can tell the difference when you eat good quality chocolates. Their brownies are to die for! I will definitely come back here for more and will spread the news.

This is a local start up company that produces high quality chocolate. It is family owned and have tours every Saturday from 10:30 to 11:00 am. The factory tour was very informational with samples of chocolate in all its different forms — from nib to the real chocolate drink. Please come visit them and support our local businesses.
Definitely worth the trip.
BTW, they also sell products like brownies made from their very own chocolate, from bean to products. What a great experience!