A Family-Run Chocolate Shop in Oregon That Brings Back Childhood Memories

Walking into Creo Chocolate feels like stepping into someone’s kitchen where magic happens daily. The smell of roasted cacao beans fills the air, where the Pelaez family has built something truly special.

This isn’t your typical candy store with mass-produced treats lining the shelves. Every chocolate bar, bonbon, and truffle tells a story that begins thousands of miles away on a single farm in Ecuador and ends right here in this cozy northeast Portland shop.

The family’s dedication to craft and quality shines through in every bite, reminding visitors of simpler times when treats were made with care and shared with love.

What makes this place unforgettable isn’t just the award-winning chocolate. It’s the interactive experiences that transport you back to childhood wonder, and the genuine passion that turns cacao beans into edible memories.

The Family Behind the Bean

Passion runs deep when chocolate-making becomes a family affair. Tim and Barbara Pelaez didn’t just open a shop; they created a space where their love for quality chocolate could be shared with everyone who walks through the door.

Their hands-on approach means you might find them roasting beans, tempering chocolate, or leading a tasting session on any given day.

The couple’s journey into chocolate-making started with curiosity and grew into a full-fledged mission to bring exceptional bean-to-bar chocolate to Oregon. They’ve built relationships directly with cacao farmers, ensuring fair practices and superior quality from source to sale.

This personal connection to every step of the process shows in the final product.

What sets them apart is their willingness to share knowledge freely. During visits, they’ll explain the nuances of fermentation, the importance of roasting temperatures, and why their Ecuadorian beans taste different from others.

Their enthusiasm is contagious, making every customer feel like part of the Creo family story. The warmth they bring to their craft reminds visitors of grandparents sharing secret recipes, creating an atmosphere where chocolate becomes more than just candy.

Ecuador’s Hacienda Limon Connection

Halfway around the world, a single farm produces the beans that give Creo chocolate its distinctive flavor. Hacienda Limon in Ecuador isn’t just a supplier; it’s a partner in the truest sense, with a relationship built on mutual respect and shared values.

The farm’s dedication to sustainable practices and quality cultivation aligns perfectly with the Pelaez family’s vision.

These aren’t ordinary cacao beans. The trees at Hacienda Limon produce heirloom varieties that have been designated by the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Initiative, recognizing their genetic purity and exceptional flavor profile.

This certification is rare and highly prized in the chocolate world, indicating beans that offer complex taste notes you won’t find in commercial varieties.

Direct sourcing means the farmers receive fair compensation for their exceptional product while Creo maintains complete transparency about where their chocolate originates. Visitors to the shop often hear stories about the farm, the people who tend the trees, and the care taken during harvest and fermentation.

This connection to origin adds depth to every bite, reminding chocolate lovers that great treats come from great relationships. The practice brings back childhood lessons about knowing where your food comes from.

Build-a-Bar Experience Magic

Creativity meets confection in an experience that brings out the kid in everyone. The Build-a-Bar sessions aren’t just about making chocolate; they’re about reconnecting with the pure joy of creating something delicious with your own hands.

Participants aged eight and up gather around tables laden with an impressive array of toppings, from traditional choices to unexpected surprises.

The experience begins with education. Tim or another team member guides guests through chocolate’s fascinating history, explaining how beans become bars while offering generous samples along the way.

Tasting different percentages of cacao and various flavor combinations helps everyone understand what they’re about to create. Then comes the fun part: designing your own bar.

Spread before you are options like crunchy toffee bits, colorful sprinkles, sea salt flakes, dried fruit, and nuts of every kind. Some choose classic combinations while others go wild with unexpected pairings.

The bars are then cooled, packaged, and taken home as edible souvenirs. This hands-on activity recalls the simple pleasure of decorating cookies with family, when the process mattered as much as the result.

Reviews consistently praise this as a highlight, with families and couples alike calling it unforgettable.

Award-Winning Quality Recognition

Excellence doesn’t go unnoticed in the competitive world of craft chocolate. Creo’s creations have earned both gold and silver recognition at the International Chocolate Awards’ Americas competition, placing them among the continent’s finest chocolate makers.

These aren’t participation trophies; they’re hard-won acknowledgments from expert judges who taste hundreds of entries blind.

The awards validate what regular customers already know: this chocolate stands apart. Judges evaluate everything from appearance and snap to aroma, flavor complexity, and finish.

Creo’s bars impressed across all categories, demonstrating technical skill and artistic vision. The recognition has brought attention from chocolate enthusiasts across the country, but the family remains focused on quality over fame.

What makes these awards special is that they represent consistency. One exceptional batch might be luck, but repeated recognition proves mastery of the craft.

Visitors often spot the award certificates displayed in the shop, physical proof that this small Oregon operation competes successfully with much larger producers. The achievement brings back memories of hard-earned accomplishments, when dedication and practice finally paid off.

For chocolate lovers seeking the best, these awards serve as reliable indicators that Creo delivers something truly special worth traveling for.

Handcrafted Bonbon Artistry

Small, jewel-like confections line the display cases, each one a miniature work of edible art. The bonbons at Creo aren’t mass-produced; they’re individually crafted with fillings that range from familiar favorites to adventurous combinations that surprise and delight.

Hand-decoration gives each piece personality, making them almost too beautiful to eat.

Creating bonbons requires different skills than bar-making. The chocolate shells must be perfectly tempered, the ganache fillings balanced in sweetness and texture, and the final decoration applied with a steady hand.

Some feature passion fruit centers that burst with tropical brightness, while others showcase earthy mushroom flavors that sound unusual but taste remarkable. Customer reviews specifically mention these unexpected combinations as highlights.

The variety changes with seasons and inspiration, giving regular visitors reasons to return and discover new favorites. Some bonbons incorporate local Oregon ingredients, connecting the chocolate to its home state in delicious ways.

These treats recall the special occasion candies of childhood, the ones saved for last because they were too precious to rush. Watching them being made or simply admiring their artistry in the case adds another layer to the Creo experience, proving that chocolate can be both delicious and beautiful.

The Cozy Northeast Portland Home

Location matters when building community connections. Creo found its perfect spot at 122 NE Broadway in Portland, Oregon, where the neighborhood’s creative energy matches the shop’s artisan spirit.

The space itself feels intimate rather than commercial, more like visiting a friend’s well-stocked kitchen than entering a retail store.

Large windows let natural light pour in, illuminating displays of colorful bonbons and carefully wrapped chocolate bars. The layout encourages browsing and conversation, with staff members eager to offer samples and recommendations.

Unlike sterile commercial spaces, this shop has character in every corner, from the equipment visible in back to the thoughtful merchandising up front.

The Broadway location puts Creo in the heart of a walkable Portland neighborhood, making it accessible for locals and visitors alike. Operating hours run Wednesday through Sunday, with extended hours on Fridays and Saturdays when more people can stop by.

The 4.9-star rating from over 800 Google reviews reflects not just the chocolate quality but the entire experience of visiting this special place. The atmosphere recalls neighborhood shops from decades past, when store owners knew customers by name and took pride in their community role.

Finding Creo feels like discovering a secret that you can’t wait to share with others.

Small-Batch Dedication to Detail

Bigger isn’t always better, especially when it comes to craft chocolate. Creo deliberately keeps production small, allowing for the kind of attention to detail that large-scale operations simply cannot maintain.

Each batch is monitored closely, tasted frequently, and adjusted as needed to achieve perfection. This approach prioritizes quality in ways that mass production never could.

Small batches mean greater flexibility to experiment with new flavors and respond to seasonal ingredients. If a particular roast isn’t quite right, it’s easy to adjust before making more.

When a new flavor combination works beautifully, it can be refined and perfected without wasting massive quantities of chocolate. This nimble approach keeps the offerings fresh and interesting.

The downside of small-batch production is that popular items sometimes sell out, but customers seem to appreciate the authenticity this represents. Knowing that your chocolate bar was made recently, in small quantities, by people who care deeply about the result adds value beyond taste.

It recalls a time when artisans took pride in limited production, when scarcity indicated quality rather than marketing strategy. This commitment to doing things right rather than doing things big defines the Creo philosophy and keeps customers coming back for more.

Educational Chocolate Journey

Learning enhances appreciation, and Creo takes education seriously. The Build-a-Bar experiences include substantial educational components that transform casual chocolate eaters into informed enthusiasts.

Participants discover where cacao grows, how it’s harvested, what happens during fermentation, and why each step matters to final flavor. This knowledge deepens every subsequent chocolate experience.

The presentations aren’t dry lectures. Tim’s storytelling ability, mentioned repeatedly in customer reviews, makes the information entertaining and memorable.

Videos supplement the talk, showing the farm in Ecuador and bringing the origin story to life. Generous sampling throughout the session lets everyone taste the principles being discussed, connecting theory to delicious reality.

Some visitors arrive knowing nothing about chocolate production and leave as passionate advocates for quality craft chocolate. The experience covers chocolate’s rich history, from ancient Mesoamerican ceremonies to modern bean-to-bar movements.

Even children gain appreciation for the work involved in creating their favorite treat. This educational approach recalls the best teachers from childhood, the ones who made learning feel like discovery rather than memorization.

Creo proves that education and entertainment aren’t mutually exclusive, creating experiences that inform while they delight. The knowledge gained makes every future chocolate purchase more meaningful.

Sustainable Practices and Values

Doing good while making great chocolate isn’t just possible; it’s essential to the Creo philosophy. Sustainability starts with direct relationships with farmers who use environmentally sound practices.

By purchasing directly from Hacienda Limon, Creo ensures fair compensation reaches the people doing the hardest work. This model benefits everyone involved while protecting the land for future generations.

The heirloom cacao varieties Creo uses are part of preservation efforts to maintain genetic diversity in cacao plants. As climate change threatens conventional cacao growing regions, these hardy heirloom varieties may prove crucial to chocolate’s future.

Supporting farms that grow them contributes to long-term sustainability beyond any single purchase.

In the shop itself, practices reflect environmental consciousness. Packaging is thoughtfully designed to minimize waste while protecting the chocolate.

The small-batch approach means less energy consumption than industrial production. Customers mention appreciating these values, knowing their purchase supports ethical practices from farm to finished product.

This commitment to sustainability recalls earlier generations who understood that taking care of the earth meant taking care of future children. Creo demonstrates that premium quality and responsible practices go hand in hand, creating chocolate that tastes good and feels good to buy.