Tech, Pot Chocolate & Tommy Chong: Défoncé Chocolatier Makes Big Moves

The cannabis industry has been home to many new and unique faces crossing over from various industries, but few have bigger impacts than those from the tech-side of things. Now this most progressive side of the business has entered the edible space in a loud way with Défoncé Chocolatier, a creation from the minds of former Apple Team members.

People are starting to take note and some huge names are getting in the mix.

“As a swiftly growing and ambitious cannabis company, we work hard to find premium partners — companies that share our passion for cannabis, for paying meticulous attention to detail and quality, and for building thriving businesses. And in Défoncé, we know we have found a fantastic collaborator,” said Cannabis celebrity and activist Tommy Chong. “These bars are like rectangles of munchies heaven.”

As the industry’s new tech players have revolutionized the processes around growing, delivery and the way cannabis dispensary operators interact with the regulatory system, one place they had been lacking was actually doing stuff with weed. They were tracking it, delivering it, and plenty were even smoking it, but mostly the greatest tech minds we’d seen yet offered ancillary services. Défoncé, backed by members of the Apple team, looked to take things in another direction, an edible chocolate space that was a constantly evolving beast with a few mainstays.

With their seed-to-bar approach focused on creating an artisan product with each offering, they find themselves challenging some of the longest held market shares in the edible space. New faces in the past have emerged since 2014 with the next big chocolate bar looking to mirror the success stories earlier in the decade of companies like Bhang and Kiva, most of them aren’t around anymore.

At the root of the product, besides great minds, is the single-origin cannabis. You can have Ms. Fields make your pot chocolates but if the bud is trash there is no escaping the quality of the results. Défoncé notes their cannabis grown in the Sierra Nevada foothills has the accents of the micro climate it’s grown in, as do the great coffees or wines of the world. They’re also using, “biodynamic farming techniques using advanced composting methods to build soil so microbially abundant that fertilizer is not required to grow cannabis.” Défoncé note the method leaves the smallest footprint possible for the farm and improves soil health.

From there, the cannabis hits the lab and is processed into oil via supercritical CO2 extraction. Défoncé state the lower temperatures of the solventless C02 process preserve the plant’s botanical flavor profile better for the final product, as opposed other methods that may cause heat degradation.

Those resulting oils are then paired with the finest cocoa beans from around the world. While Défoncé is not able to use the term organic due to USDA prohibition on approving its use in the edible cannabis space, all their ingredients are up to par. Currently, they’re crafted into white, milk, dark and super dark, with the super dark measuring at a whopping 81 percent cacao.

The California-based company has aligned with Chong for the celebrity’s first edible offering in his Chong’s Choice line that will include flavors like Crunchy Munchies, milk chocolate with potato chips and caramel. And how could people possibly not be getting hyped about Wake ‘N’ Bacon, Chong’s dark chocolate, waffles, maple syrup, and bacon offering?

“We are honored to work with Tommy Chong, a cannabis pioneer who now is building one of the finest cannabis companies in the United States,” said Défoncé CEO and former Apple iTunes producer Eric Eslao. “Chong’s Choice sets extremely high standards for its products, and we are eager to introduce the new line of bars to California’s booming edibles market.”

TELL US, do you have a favorite chocolate edible?