A flavor for every chocolate sweet tooth

Blue Spruce Chocolates in Kittredge creates handcrafted treats

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

While chocolate makes most people happy, it takes on a larger happiness dimension for Mark Joyce.

Joyce has opened Blue Spruce Chocolates in the Adobe Creek Center in Kittredge, and this isn’t your average chocolate shop. Joyce sells chocolate from bean to bar, which means he imports the cacao beans and works his magic to create the chocolate.

e results are handcrafted white, milk and dark chocolates, and Keto-friendly and vegan chocolates of a quality not found in an average grocery store.

It takes 84 hours from start to nish for one batch, and since Joyce opened his store, he’s been using every hour to make his bar-chocolate creations. Half of his building is the kitchen while the other half is the retail store.

Joyce, Blue Spruce Chocolates’ president and alchemist, is proud that his white caramel chocolate with roasted hazelnuts took gold in the 2023 international Craft Chocolate Challenge hosted by the Chocolat Inn and Café in Kentucky. Blue Spruce Chocolates also took the overall silver in the competition with about 30 chocolatiers who make

WANT TO GO?

Blue Spruce Chocolates is located at 26290 Highway 74, Unit 5, in Kittredge. It is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/BlueSpruceChocolates.

bean-to-bar chocolate. e medals hang in the retail store.

Ironically, although his life has become all about chocolate, he doesn’t eat much of it.

“I’m not a sweets guy,” Joyce said.

“I appreciate the avors, and most of my chocolate eating is tasting.”

A path to chocolate

How does someone living in Kittredge suddenly decide to make chocolate? Joyce was exposed to the art of chocolate making on a trip to Belize.

“It was pretty impressive,” he said.

“ e chocolate tasted di erent.”

So ve years ago, Joyce decided to give chocolate-making a try as a hobby, and as it became more of a passion, he began doing it professionally three years ago.

Chocolate was a new endeavor for the retiree as he has learned what it takes to maintain health-department standards for the kitchen plus the nuances of chocolate avors. Chocolate making is both a science and an art.

“I’m not trying to compete with

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