When dried cacao arrives at the chocolate making facility, there is still moisture in the beans that needs to be removed. Chocolate makers roast beans by various means of convection to further increase flavor characteristics and dry the beans out.

Next, cacao shells are removed in a winnower and all that remains are the crushed beans called nibs. The nibs are finely ground (with sugar and flavoring - if desired) into a moist puree under heavy rolling stones in a machine called a melangeur.

Once the cacao becomes a fluid, it is now considered chocolate. The chocolate is further refined to increase smoothness and remove additional volatile flavors in a conche - a machine that repeatedly grinds the chocolate against a stone slab and aerates the mixture to create the final product, ready for the making of chocolate treats by the chocolateur.