Meet the maker
Raphio Chocolate
About Raphio Chocolate
Established in 2016, Raphio Chocolate was born from husband-and-wife team Yohanes and Elisia, who make their craft chocolate bars in Fresno, California with their small team of 5 strong. Their mission? To focus on quality – no cutting corners, no fillers, and using the best ingredients possible for any chocolate they make. The name ‘Raphio’ is a combination of the names of their children, Raphael and Rio, which is part of the reason why Yohanes and Elisia strive for the best – they believe in the health benefits that come with real chocolate, and sell the same chocolate that they feed to their children.
Elisia and her two young children, Raphael and Rio.
Yohanes and Elisia were born and raised in Indonesia, which is where a lot of their passion for chocolate stems from. Yohanes has been a practising civil engineers for 20+ years, designing and building life-changing products. With deforestation to plant palm oil trees in a monoculture system, Yohanes believes he can build something even more impactful and change more lives for the better with regenerative cacao farming in Indonesia. The pair also often visit their families in Indonesia, and visit cacao farms while they’re there – it’s their goal to one day important these Indonesian beans to make more of their single-origin chocolate.
How they became makers…
Yohanes and Elisia got into chocolate by accident – literally. In 2014, Yohanes and his football buddy (who is also Indonesian) were looking for Indonesian cacao, but discovered it wasn’t available in the US for retail or wholesale. They found out there was a red tape imposed by the US government through FDA, called Import Alert 34-01 – long story short, importers have to go through a very risky process to perform additional testing before the border releases the imported cacao, and there’s a high probability that the US government could audit and reject the third-party lab test (which happened to Yohanes’ shipment in 2024).
In 2014, the pair did 2 small trial imports and were successful. The quality for the first two shipments was good, but the 3rd order, which was significantly bigger than the first 2 orders, contained subpar quality beans. The pair tried to sell them to the US craft chocolate makers, but to no avail, and the bean quality started deteriorating over a period of months as they were just sitting in an empty warehouse.
Yohanes’ partner was ready to throw in the towel but Elisia, Yohanes’ wife, was adamant to try and transform the beans themselves. Elisia took a small amount of cacao home, and roasted them in her oven – and they’ve not looked back since.
Raphio’s Sourcing
Raphio source their cocoa beans from the Ebier Suth Cokran Cooperative in the West Papua province of Indonesia via boat. The cooperative’s mission is to rehabilitate the abandoned cacao farm, established 40+ years ago, to create sustainable jobs and growth in the rural community.
The main crop is typically harvested during the May to September months, and the mid crop is harvested from October to January. Due to global warming, Indonesian farmers that Yohanes and Elisia have talked to report that their harvest seasons have shifted about 1-2 months earlier or later, depending on climate.
Want to explore more makers of the world's best craft chocolate? Just start typing their name (or any letter) into the search box to discover them.
20° Nord 20° Sud
9th & Larkin
Åkesson’s
Amaro
Amedei
AMMA
Ara
Askinosie
Auro Chocolate
AWKI
Aztec Gold
Baianí
Bare Bones
Bean & Goose
BeanCraft
Belmont Estate
Belvie
BOHO Chocolate
Bonnat
Bullion
Butterfly
Cacaoken
Cacaosuyo
Carambole
Casa Cacao
Castronovo
Chapon
Chequessett Chocolate
Choco Del Sol
Chococard
Chocokoo
Chocolarder
Chocolat Madagascar
Chocolate Tree
Chocolatemakers
Chocolaterie A. Morin
Chocolaterie Robert
ChocoMe Atelier
Claudio Corallo
Cocama
Coco Caravan
Cocoa Retreat
Conexion
Contour Chocolate
Cuna de Piedra
Damson
Dandelion Chocolate
DesBarres
Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate
Diogo Vaz
Doble & Bignall
Domori
Dormouse Chocolates
Duffy’s Chocolate
Encuentro
Endorfin
ENRICHD
Erithaj Chocolat
Ethereal
Feitoria do Cacao
Firetree
Fjåk
Forever Cacao
Fossa
Foundry Chocolate
Franceschi
French Broad Chocolates
Fresco Chocolate
Friis Holm
Fruition
Fu Wan Chocolate
Georgia Ramon
Goodnow Farms Chocolate
Grenada Chocolate Company
Hasnaâ La Feverie
Heinde & Verre
Herencia Esmeraldas
Herufek
Höganäs
Hogarth
Hoja Verde
Idilio Origins
Innato
Islands Chocolate
Ivee Promenade
JK Fine Chocolates
Jordi’s Chocolate
Junglegold Bali
Kankel
Karuna
Krak Chocolade
Krakakoa
La Naya
Land
Lapa-Lapa
Latitude
Levy
LIM
Lucocoa
Luisa Abram
Luisa’s Vegan Chocolates
Lumineux
Lyra
Madécasse
Malagos Chocolate
Manoa
Manufaktura Czekolady
Marana
Marou
Mast Brothers
Maüa
Mellow
Menakao
Mestico
Metiisto
MIA
Michel Cluizel
Mike & Becky
Milz Chocolat
Minka
Mirzam
Misina Cokolada
MOKA
Montecristi
Mucho
Nadalina
Naive
NearyNogs
ÓBOLO
Ocelot
Oialla
Omnom
Original Beans
Pacari
Pacha de Cacao
Palette de Bine
Parliament
Pitch Dark
Plaq
Pralus
PRIDI Cacaofevier
Puchero
Pump Street Chocolate
Pure Imagination
Qantu
Raaka
Radek’s Chocolate
Reine Astrid
Rio Nuevo
Ritual Chocolate
Rococo
Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé
Ruket
Seaforth Chocolate Co.
Shattell
Sirene
Sisters A. Chocolate
Soklet
Solkiki
Solomons Gold
Solstice
Soma
SPAGnVOLA
Standout Chocolate
Storm & Bille
Stranger
Svenska Kakaobolaget
Table
Taucherli
Taza Chocolate
TBROS
TCHO
The Careless Collection
The Smooth Chocolator
Theobroma Cacao
Tibito
Tobago Cocoa
Tosier
Undone Chocolate
Utopick
Vinte Vinte
Willie’s Cacao
Zotter
