By Julia Fairclough

The art of cocoa bean cultivation by the Olmec Indians dates back as far as 1500 BC. Thousands of years later, the only producer in the United States of 100 percent stone ground, organic chocolate continues to thrive right here in Somerville.

Taza Chocolate, founded in 2006, will open its new factory store on August 18, which co-founder and chocolate maker Alex Whitmore boasts is one of the few chocolate factories in our region. To celebrate the grand opening, Taza is selling gift certificates (or “Taza dolllars”) in ten dollar increments.

Taza Dollars are $10 shopping certificates printed on recycled Taza chocolate bar wrappers, good toward any purchase at its Taza Factory Store.

Whitmore likes doing business in Somerville, a community that he describes as very supportive to small business owners. When the first floor of the Windsor Street chocolate factory was flooded out during the July 10 floods that inundated the city, people in the community clamored to buy more chocolate than usual at the local shops and farmers markets so that the company could afford to do some rebuliding.

The flood was unfortunate, Whitmore said. Workers had just produced new batches of chocolate, which was ruined and Taza had just moved into the Windsor Street facility in June.

“But the good news is that we are up and running again,” Whitmore said.

Taza purchases its beans directly from their grows. Taza roasts, winnows, grinds, tempers and wraps the chocolates in-house and by hand, according to Whitmore. Workers use only organic and sustainably farmed ingredients. The chocolate is a blend of high quality “criollo” and “trinitario” varietals, which is purchased directly  from small farms and cooperatives in the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Mexico, and Belize. The sugar is sourced from a company in Brazil, the Green Cane Project.

There are about 23 chocolate makers in the United States, including Ghiradelli in San Francisco; Hershey in Hershey, PA; and DeVries in California.

In 2005, Whitmore traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, and learned about the pre-Columbian ritual of the transformation of cacao into a drink. Having grown up eating European-style chocolate candy, Alex was surprised and inspired by the simplicity of the Oaxacan treatment of chocolate. He said he was compelled by the minimal processing and traditional method of stone grinding the beans. Whitmore and co-founder Larry Slotnick decided early on that they wanted to start a “company with a conscience.”