Chocolate can be a remarkably expressive thing, but knowing what you are tasting — and why — changes the experience. On 27 and 28 June, Pump Street Chocolate and Cocoa Runners are inviting flavour-curious visitors to Suffolk for a two-day weekender that follows chocolate from its sensory possibilities to the practical work of making it.
The first day, held at Pump Street’s workshop at Richmond Old Dairy in Gedgrave, is built around Cocoa Runners’ Taste, Flavour & Chocolate Masterclass. It begins with coffee, hot chocolate and pastries from the bakery, before a full day exploring how we taste.
Developed by Cocoa Runners’ Spencer Hyman, Cacao Latitudes’ Kate Cavallin and Master of Wine Peter McCombie, the course moves beyond simply deciding whether a chocolate is liked or disliked. Participants will work with the five basic tastes, aroma-matching exercises, retronasal olfaction and multi-sensory perception, developing a more useful language for describing flavour.
The afternoon traces where chocolate’s character comes from. Fermentation and drying affect cacao long before it reaches Suffolk; then roasting, grinding, conching and sugar each leave their mark. Tastings through the stages of production offer a direct way to follow those changes, while a lunch from the Pump Street team keeps the day properly rooted in food rather than theory.
On Sunday, the focus shifts to Orford, where Pump Street’s bakery and factory will open the door on the next part of the story. The programme includes a guided factory tour, a tasting of the maker’s signature drinking chocolates and a hands-on workshop to create an inclusion bar of your own.
There will also be brunch, with the bakery opening early for the group to choose from its pastries, breads and baked goods. It is an opportunity to spend time with one of Suffolk’s best-known food makers in the village where its bakery is based, and to see how close attention to flavour carries across both chocolate and baking.
Weekender at a glance
| Day | When and where | What the day includes |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday 27 June | 10am–6pm, Pump Street Chocolate Workshop, Units 5 and 6, Richmond Old Dairy, Gedgrave | Taste, Flavour & Chocolate Masterclass; coffee, hot chocolate and pastries; lunch; tastings and practical flavour exercises. |
| Sunday 28 June | 11am–4pm, Pump Street Bakery & Factory, 1 Pump Street, Orford | Guided factory tour; signature drinking-chocolate tasting; make-your-own inclusion bar workshop; brunch and early bakery opening. |
The Pump Street Chocolate Weekender runs from 10am to 6pm on Saturday 27 June at Pump Street Chocolate Workshop, Units 5 and 6, Richmond Old Dairy, Gedgrave, and from 11am to 4pm on Sunday 28 June at Pump Street Bakery & Factory, 1 Pump Street, Orford. Tickets can be booked through the Cocoa Runners website.