Kokak Chocolates in SF is spreading love one truffle at a time

SAN FRANCISCO -- At Kokak Chocolates in San Francisco, creating memories is special, but creating chocolate memories is extra special! And so is Pride month.

"We are an LGBTQ-owned shop and Pride month is a very big celebration for us. It also just happens to be the first anniversary of Kokak Chocolates," Owner and Chief Chocolatier of Kokak Chocolates Carol Gancia shares. "We are celebrating who we are."

Gancia grew up In the Philippines with a family of chocolate lovers.

"I had chocolate birthday cakes, chocolate ice cream, all sorts of chocolate brownies as treats," Gancia recalls with a smile.

But it was her uncle that opened her mind to another world of chocolate.

"He was an engineer. He traveled to Europe a lot for work," Gancia explains. "He would bring European chocolates to us and that was my first experience of really good quality chocolate."

Gancia fell in love with chocolates made from cacao called "Nacional," the oldest and rarest cacao in the world.

"Not all chocolates are made the same. And Nacional has a very distinct flavor profile," Gancia reveals.

Using single-origin chocolate from Central America, Kokak Chocolates carries 29 different flavors of truffles, chocolate bars, cacao porridge, and even a variety of luxurious hot chocolates. There is handcrafted chocolate to satisfy any sweet tooth.

"We're a small business, we're a small shop with just a few people, but we want to be proud of what we're doing. And if we're going to do something, we want to make sure we do it really well," Gancia relates.

And Pride month is no different.

"For Pride Month, we want to spread love one truffle at a time. And that's how we're doing our two different types of truffles," Gancia reveals. "We have two truffle collections: 'Love is Love' and 'Out and Proud.' We want to tell the story of the Castro with chocolate gift sets that we carry here at the store."

Carol was a video producer before becoming a chocolatier. Her love for chocolate led her to achieve her dream.

"I feel very excited to wake up every day, to think of new flavors to write up recipes to come up with ideas on how we can share our chocolates with people. And so this is very fulfilling to me. I think, you know, I decided to do this business, because life is short. Life is truly short," Gancia says.

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