About TheChocolateLife

TheChocolateLife is a long-standing online community and resource dedicated to the world of chocolate, founded and curated by Clay Gordon (me). Its journey ⋯ and mine ⋯ reflect the broader evolution of online communities, niche publishing, and the craft chocolate movement.

In The Beginning

TheChocolateLife’s roots trace back to June 2001 with the launch of chocophile.com, a hand-coded site focused on chocolate reviews and commentary. This early site was a personal project, lacking community features but offering direct engagement through email. As the chocolate world and web technologies evolved, the site transitioned to discoverchocolate.com, aligning with the publication of my book, Discover Chocolate. Both sites were primarily blogs, with no interactive features for readers.

Building Community

In January 2008, seeking to foster a global chocolate community, I launched TheChocolateLife.com, offering social and interactive features missing from earlier iterations, allowing for member engagement, discussions, and a sense of belonging among chocolate enthusiasts. This period marked the true birth of TheChocolateLife as a community, not just a blog.

The most recent chapter in TheChocolateLife’s evolution is its move to Ghost, an open-source publishing platform. Ghost’s focus on content, memberships, and integrations provided the flexibility and modern design I sought. For the first time, TheChocolateLife introduced premium (paid) memberships, while maintaining free access and community commenting. This move reflects a broader trend in niche publishing: balancing sustainability with accessibility.

#PodSaveChocolate: Podcast Archive and Thematic Exploration

#PodSaveChocolate is a podcast series that streams live to YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook. The show delves into news, trends, and deep conversations about cocoa and chocolate, often featuring interviews with industry figures, tastings, and explorations of broader issues in the chocolate world.

Thematic Threads

Across its episodes, #PodSaveChocolate consistently explores:

1. Craft and Quality: What defines craft chocolate? How is quality assessed, both in cocoa and finished products?
2. Industry Transparency and Ethics: Frequent discussions on supply chain transparency, fair trade, and the use of technology (like AI) to analyze industry reports.
3. Community and Education: The podcast serves as a platform for education, demystifying chocolate for both newcomers and aficionados, and fostering a sense of community.
4. Innovation and Trends: From new chocolate products to evolving business models and event formats, the show tracks and critiques innovation in the field.
5. Global Perspective: Interviews and tastings feature makers from diverse regions, highlighting the global nature of chocolate culture.

TheChocolateLife’s Broader Mission and Features

TheChocolateLife is more than a podcast or a blog; it’s a hub for chocolate lovers, professionals, and the curious. Its features include:

1. Forums and Community Spaces: Encouraging discussion, sharing experiences, and building connections among members.
2. Archives and Resources: Comprehensive archives of podcasts, live streams, and written content, making it a valuable reference for anyone interested in chocolate.
3. Consulting and Collaboration: Offering expertise to chocolate businesses, media, and event organizers.
4. Membership Model: Balancing free access with premium content to support sustainability.

Reflections on Community, Technology, and Chocolate

The story of TheChocolateLife and #PodSaveChocolate is one of adaptation, resilience, transformation, expertise, and community-building in the world of chocolate. TheChocolateLife began as a personal project—an early web experiment in sharing chocolate knowledge—before evolving into a global, interactive community and a multimedia platform for deep chocolate exploration.

At its core, TheChocolateLife is about more than chocolate; it’s about curiosity, connection, and the pursuit of quality ⋯ values that resonate across disciplines and communities. TheChocolateLife is driven by a commitment to curiosity, transparency, and the elevation of chocolate discourse. My journey through various web platforms mirrors the broader search for the right tools to foster genuine connection and knowledge-sharing. Each migration was motivated by the desire to balance technical capability, community needs, and editorial independence, reflecting a philosophy that values both substance and user experience.

The #PodSaveChocolate podcast archive exemplifies this ethos in action. It’s not just a record of episodes, but a living chronicle of the questions, challenges, and innovations shaping the chocolate world. The podcast’s topics—ranging from the definition of “good” chocolate, ethical supply chains, and the use of AI in industry analysis, to interviews with makers and tastings from around the globe demonstrate a relentless pursuit of depth and clarity. The show’s structure, with regular news updates, AMAs, and thematic explorations, invites both newcomers and experts to engage, learn, and question.

Community is the thread that ties everything together

TheChocolateLife is designed as a participatory space, with forums, archives, and consulting resources that encourage dialogue and collaboration. The introduction of premium memberships alongside free access reflects a pragmatic approach to sustainability, ensuring that high-quality, independent chocolate content remains available while supporting the ongoing work behind the scenes.

Personal Statement

As I moved from being a blogger and author to being an active moderator of a global online community, living TheChocolateLife – Living La Vida Cocoa – has taken on a greater meaning and purpose for me:

1. Finding and connecting with a topic that truly interests you and a skill are good at. (Mine are chocolate and communicating through words and pictures.)
2. Using your connections to the topic and skill to drive personal and/or professional growth. (I've built a fulfilling career around cocoa and chocolate literally from nothing; in 1994 there were no professional chocolate critics.)
3. Actively using your ChocolateLife as a tool to inspire others to find and follow their own ChocolateLife. (Many hundreds of people of all ages from around the globe have told me that my example and tutelage have inspired and helped them find and follow their ChocolateLife.)

My following my ChocolateLife has taken me to chocolatales in the depths of the Beni in the Bolivian Amazon to the chocolate capitals of Europe and many places in between and elsewhere – my path has had many loops and detours.

My following my ChocolateLife has given me a chance to be part of the lives of tens of thousands of people around the globe, in person and online.

My hope is that the community I have helped foster here will inspire you to find and follow your ChocolateLife.

If you want to get in touch with us, visit the Contact TCL page.