New chocolate batons deliver rich chocolate flavor and hold their shape through the high temperatures for professional pastry applications
BERKELEY, Calif., Sept. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- TCHO Chocolate ("cho"), the Berkeley-based pioneer craft chocolate maker, announced the launch of its new 60% Chocolate Batons, bringing a more cacao-forward chocolate experience to pain au chocolat and other professional pastry applications.
Developed specifically for pastry professionals, TCHO's 60% Chocolate Batons combine 60% cacao with high-heat performance, delivering rich chocolate flavor while maintaining their shape during baking. At 60% cacao, TCHO's new batons offer a notably higher cacao percentage than many leading professional chocolate batons on the market, giving pastry chefs an opportunity to bring more pronounced chocolate flavor to their finished pastries without sacrificing performance.
Developed with Professional Bakers in mind, TCHO's Chief Chocolate Maker, Brad Kintzer worked directly with professionals producing high volumes of pain au chocolat to better understand what pastry chefs and bakers need from a chocolate baton. Two priorities surfaced: great chocolate flavor and performance at high baking temperatures. The result is a baton designed to meet the demands of professional pastry chefs without compromising the flavor that TCHO is known for.
"Creating a chocolate baton is all about pushing flavor without sacrificing performance. We wanted a baton that hits hard on chocolate: deep, rich, and unapologetically cocoa-forward while holding its own in the intense heat of a professional oven. At 60% cacao, these batons put real chocolate flavor in the spotlight, giving pastry chefs and bakers the performance they need and the chocolate experience they actually want," says Kintzer.
The new 60% Chocolate Batons join TCHO's growing professional chocolate portfolio, which includes couverture, drinking chocolate, cocoa powder, roasted cocoa nibs, and chocolate chunks. Designed for chefs and pastry professionals, TCHO's chocolate is made in Berkeley, California, with a focus on flavor, ethical sourcing, functionality, and ingredient quality. All of which are certified organic and fair trade and made in a dairy-free facility.
TCHO Chocolate Batons have already found a place in professional pastry kitchens, including Petitgrain Boulangerie, where pastry professionals have incorporated the batons into their pain au chocolat.
"We're so grateful for the stance that TCHO has taken to increase the compensation of their partner cacao growers and offer their communities a greater participation in the chocolate-making process. Their new Batons nestled in our Pain au Chocolat have made their collection indispensable in Petitgrain's kitchen. We love the Batons so much that we've altered our shaping process to allow four Batons inside each Pain au Chocolat…oh la la! Merci, TCHO!" - Clemence DeLuz, Chef & Owner, Petitgrain Boulangerie in Santa Monica, CA.
Founded in 2008, TCHO Chocolate crafts award-winning and imaginative chocolate by collaborating directly with cocoa farmers at flavor labs across the world to grow better, more consistent cacao beans to create authentic craft chocolate to inspire the world's chefs and chocolate enthusiasts. Like wine or coffee, cacao's inherent flavors vary based on the terroir where it is grown, as well as on key processes, like fermentation or roasting, that influence the development of flavor.
Since not all cacao is created equal, TCHO established TCHO Source, a one-of-a-kind sourcing and educational partnership with farmers, co-operatives, and agronomists all over the world. By installing eleven TCHO Flavor Labs in key cacao-producing locations, creating industry cacao sensory analysis standards, conducting sensory training, developing standardized fermentation and drying processes, improving infrastructure, and sharing information throughout the world of cacao, TCHO has turned its suppliers into co-creators.
From there, TCHO hand-selects every ingredient used to craft its award-winning chocolates for a great experience from first glance to last bite. TCHO's professional line is used by top chefs around the country and includes TCHO Pro couverture, drinking chocolate, cocoa powder and roasted cocoa nibs. TCHO products are produced in Berkeley, Calif. To learn more about TCHO, go to tcho.com.
Media Contact
Riki Yamaguchi, TCHO Ventures, Inc., 1 3105968045, [email protected], https://tcho.com/
SOURCE TCHO Ventures, Inc.
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