One of the first things we put on our Seattle vacation itinerary was a visit and factory tour of Theo Chocolate, the first organic and fair trade certified bean-to-bar chocolate factory in the US. Factory tours always remind of the good ol' days of grade school field trips, plus you don't have to twist my arm to get me to eat chocolate!Factory tours are a reasonable $6 per person, and run 7 days a week, but be sure to book your tour in advance, as they fill up fast. If booking in advance slips your mind, you can get on a waiting list when you visit the store and factory (and you want to visit the store!). When we were there, a handful of people on the waiting list made it on the tour due to no-shows, so there is hope. They also have a "walk-in" tour every day at 2:30 where it's first come, first served.
Why do you want to visit the store? Because they put out samples of almost every bar they create! You can easily eat a few bars worth of chocolate just circling the room tasting here and there. They recommend you hold off on sampling the chocolate before going on the tour because you'll sample chocolate on the tour as well, and they don't want you to spoil your palate. You don't even know the self control involved in that request! 
A group of about 20 followed our tour guide into a room with chairs where the guide enthusiastically, clearly, succinctly, and sternly told us the story of Theo, explained chocolate plants, and chocolate politics while passing around props and bowls of chocolate. Like school children, we could barely contain ourselves from giggling and making faces as we flashbacked to dominating, authoritarian teachers of past. Our tour guide (there are others) was actually very good, but just didn't give off warm fuzzies. Pretty much the antithesis of Willy Wonka.
Here you see an 1930s era German ball roaster in the background, and cans filled with raw cocoa beans in the foreground.To my dismay, the Theo Chocolate factory doesn't operate on the weekend, so our tour didn't involve machines churning and workers scurrying. Book a tour Monday through Friday, and you might catch the factory in operation.
It was in this room, where the beans are roasted then put through a winnower that separates the outer husks of the cocoa beans, that we were given samples of bitter, crunchy cocoa nibs, which are roasted, crushed cocoa beans.
And, here's the kitchen where truffles and confections are made, and flavors like curry and coffee are added to chocolate before being molded into bars. I really would have liked to have seen some workers scurrying in the kitchen, tempering chocolate on the large, slab marble tables.
A few more stops at some machines and work stations, and the tour was over.
Back in the store front, I went crazy and ate multiple samples of everything they had on the floor. Then I bought a can of cocoa nibs (so good in oatmeal cookies), and a variety pack of their flavored bars (gone in a week!).
I'd recommend the tour if you have older children, or for yourself if you are on vacation (or staycation) and want to goof around and do something you wouldn't normally do. But, I highly recommend you visit the store, and eat your way around the room. Buy a bar or two, too. They're quite good!Theo Chocolate
3400 Phinney Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98103
206-632-5100
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