Sleep Walk Chocolateria and Café has Roots in Coffee

Sleep Walk Chocolateria and Café storefront photo credit Barb Genuario

Inside a bustling Chicago café where chatter and chocolate flow, the aroma of roasting cacao hints at surprises to come. As the barista twirls a wooden molinillo (a hand-carved whisk) into frothy chocolate, a puzzled voice emerges near the counter, “Drinking chocolate? Is that the same as hot chocolate?” The barista’s face lights up, delighted with the question. At Sleep Walk Chocolateria (Sleep Walk), engaging with customers and fostering community is part of the company's mission. One bite or singular sip of an award-winning Sleep Walk chocolate can turn a customer into a fan for life.

Background

Chocolate on display at Sleep Walk Chocolateria and Café photo credit Barb Genuario

Sleep Walk Chocolateria was launched as the chocolate hub for the Chicago-based Dark Matter Coffee® (Dark Matter.) A Mesoamerican-focused coffee company easily recognized by its bold packaging, Dark Matter has been part of the Chicago coffee scene as a roaster and café for 17 years. The company takes pride in its reputation for transparent sourcing, and in building community both locally and internationally. With 8 café locations in Chicago and a global reach to coffee-farming communities, Dark Matter’s commitment to social responsibility has been a driving force.

Learning to Make Chocolate & Finding a Location

The first step to opening a Mesoamerican-inspired chocolateria was finding a suitable space. Chicago’s lively Pilsen neighborhood known for its flourishing street art and Mexican-American heritage proved the perfect fit for the coffee company’s expansion. When a historic 60-year-old Mexican bakery vacated a prime space, with floor-to-ceiling turquoise tiled walls and original wooden fixtures, it offered inspiration for their new venture. The added bright-turquoise tempering tables with white granite tops were destined to become the heart of the facility.

Sleep Walk staff spent months collaborating with La Rifa Chocolateria's owners Monica Ortiz and Daniel Rez in Mexico to master chocolate-making skills. The chocolate café opened in November 2020.

Connecting with Cacao Farmers

For Dark Matter, sourcing with integrity means close relationships with coffee farmers. Focus on close relationships with farmers also carries over to their chocolate venture with a commitment to sustainably grown cacao and creating Mesoamerican chocolate specialties. At Dark Matter supporting cacao farmers and coffee growers comes first. “It’s important for us to spend time at the farms getting to know the families and the cacao that we’ll be working with.” explains Kelly Roderer, Dark Matter Director of Quality Control. Sleep Walk also routinely arranges for staff to visit the small-scale farms, long before a bar or drinking chocolate hits the shelf. These trips are primarily to the Tabasco and Chiapas regions of Mexico, where most of their cacao is sourced, but recently have extended to Guatemala.

Highlights of Sleep Walk

Handcrafted Chocolate

Pouring chocolate photo credit Frank Ardito

Sleep Walk believes in investing in its employees, “We’re really proud of our chocolate team, 4 years of making chocolate and they keep getting better,” says Roderer. The skilled employees take pride in hand-tempering the 70% dark chocolate, bowl-by-bowl on the granite tabletop. After molding, each bar is carefully hand-wrapped in foil and secured in the colorful custom-designed cardboard sleeve. In addition to bars, blocks of drinking chocolate, and containers of chocolate sauce are prepped for use in the Sleep Walk and Dark Matter cafés.

Award Winners

Wrapping Sleep Walk bars photo credit Frank Ardito

As evidence of their growing success, in 2023 Sleep Walk earned a combined 6 Bronze and Silver awards. Commended were several of their single-origin 70% dark chocolate bars in addition to 2 of their 70% dark inclusion bars, including their popular Mole bar. The company continues to innovate, with new flavor infusions being introduced regularly such as their Revolution Brewing collaboration bar, the VSO Gravedigger Barrel-Aged 70% dark chocolate bar.

Drinking Chocolate: The Heart of the Café

A mug of drinking chocolate at Sleep Walk begins as a solid block of chocolate, melted and blended. Sleep Walk-inspired drinking chocolate is different from hot chocolate or hot cocoa. Although definitions vary, typically a cup of hot cocoa is made from dry cocoa powder mixed with milk and sugar. True drinking chocolate (sometimes referred to as sipping chocolate) is crafted using melted chocolate. Spices can be added, but the base is chocolate as opposed to powder, sometimes chopped or broken before a liquid, usually, water, is added. At Sleep Walk drinking chocolate in the traditional Mexican manner, the barista uses chocolate disks that contain 60% dark chocolate, sugar, and Mexican vanilla bean. Hot water is poured over the disk, and as it melts the mixture is frothed into a satisfying full-bodied creamy liquid using a hand-carved wooden molinillo. Sleep Walk's drink menu offers other hot and cold chocolate drink varieties including a spicy Dolor de Oro (Golden Pain) in which honey, cinnamon, and habanero are added to a 60% dark chocolate base. For the less adventurous, there's a coffee-chocolate mocha sweetened with a Sleep Walk house-made chocolate sauce. Sleep Walk also sells individual packets of make-at-home 60% dark drinking chocolate.

Rick Bayless Chocolate Collaboration

Frontera bars on display at Sleep Walk photo credit Barb Genuario

Sleep Walk’s commitment to quality and innovation caught the eye of nationally acclaimed restaurant owner Rick Bayless. The James Beard award-winning local chef, author and Emmy-nominated TV host proposed a chocolate bar collaboration with Sleep Walk. Together, Rick Bayless’ team at Frontera Grill and Sleep Walk staff experimented for 18 months to create a boxed set of four bars inspired by the flavors and regions of Mexico. The exclusive 70% dark bars are created from cacao sourced from Chiapas and Tabasco, Mexico, and promise 4 distinct and memorable taste experiences. The bars include a 2023 Bronze-medal winning Mole Bar (containing Oaxaca mole paste), Jalisco Bar with tequila and guajillo chile infusions, Oaxaca bar with mezcal and pasilla de Oaxaca chile infusions, and Aztec bar containing allspice and guajillo chile with inclusions of puffed amaranth, marigold petals and cacao nibs. Following the Sleep Walk tradition, each package features the work of artists of Mexican descent. To experience the 4-bar flavor journey through Mexico, order the Frontera Collection online from Dark Matter Coffee or Rick Bayless Shop.

New York City Launch

Looking to the future, Sleep Walk is expanding its chocolate reach to New York City’s Lower East Side. Their new chocolateria, ¡Adios Amigos!, is opening in Fall 2024. The café will include bean-to-bar chocolate making on-site, featuring a centerpiece granite-topped table to demonstrate the staff’s skill at hand-tempering. In addition to Sleep Walk's 70% dark bars and molinillo-prepared chocolate drinks, the café will serve Dark Matter coffees. Stay tuned to Dark Matter Coffee for updates on an opening date.