Tifa Takes on the Emmys

Tifa Chocolate & Gelato is joining the ranks of celebrity sweet suppliers. This year, the likes of Alec Baldwin, Steve Carell and Tina Fey will receive the Kanan Road establishment's newly packaged drinking chocolate in their 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards gift bags.

Each of the 50 nominees will receive one of three flavors—dark chocolate, lavender or peanut butter milk chocolate—explained Tifa owner Mike Ashamalla. "Kind of something for everyone," he said. 

The chocolate and gelato shop and wholesaler on Kanan Road specializes in rare chocolates from around the world, but is most known for its drinking chocolate. Rather than standard chocolate made from ground cocoa beans, Tifa's drinking chocolate involves melting chocolate and mixing in up to 20 spices.

The Emmy project came at a perfect time for Tifa, as packaging for the drinking chocolate had just been completed, Ashmalla said. A frequent customer and Screen Actors Guild member, Annie Gabriel, had encouraged Ashmalla to contribute to the nominees' gift bags. "She asked if we were interested," he recalled. "I said, 'Yeah!'"

Arranging for packaging of the drinking chocolate took two years, said Ashmalla, who has headed a variety of Internet start-up companies in the insurance industry and incorporated that experience into this enterprise.

"We started by experimenting with our own drinking chocolate to come up with the right recipes," he said. "After narrowing it down to 20 spices, we came up with a way to package them so they are microwavable." 

It was a challenging process, Ashmalla explained. "We went from making one drinking chocolate to making 40 to 50 at a time. With cayenne pepper, you can't just multiply by 40. It'll taste awful. You really need to work, and so, it was tough."

The chocolate is made in batches of 144 at a time, which averages out to about 33 pounds of two flavors each day. There will be 10 flavors in total—original dark, lavender dark, Thai tea, chipotle, cayenne pepper, orange cardamom, pomegranate, spicy peanut milk, peanut butter milk, and regular milk chocolate.

Customers can find the new packaged beverage on Tifa's shelves within the next two weeks. The product may also be purchased online at Tifa's website, and shortly, Ashmalla anticipates, at local gourmet food stores. 

"It's been a long haul," he said, "but we are having fun with it and we are excited to finally see it out there."