Cocoa Legato, a bean-to-bar chocolate factory and café that hosts live music performances, will open on April 26th, bringing its delicious and sustainable chocolate to the downtown Seattle community.
Founded by Seattle-based musician and chocolatier Aaron Lindstrom, Cocoa Legato creates chocolate with a groove, combining ethically sourced high-quality cacao from small South American farms with musical elements that champion Seattle’s thriving independent music scene.
“I wanted to create something that amplifies my city’s vibrant music scene and incredible artists while also honoring my Colombian heritage,” said Aaron Lindstrom in a statement, Founder and Executive Chocolate Maker at Cocoa Legato. “Tasting chocolate should be a symphony for your senses. The rich smell, captivating visuals, the fun feel of the chocolate bar design, mouthwatering taste, and now the sound. For the last decade, I’ve been fortunate to work professionally in both fields and I’m thrilled to bring my love of chocolate and music together on one playlist.”
The new location will offer specially curated chocolate menu items like Chocolate Grilled Cheese, Salad with Cocoa Nib-Infused Balsamic Vinaigrette, a Chocolate Mousse Flight & more. The café area will also feature vegan pastries and a coffee selection from Caffe Vita, Seattle’s leading independent coffee roaster since 1995.
“We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to partner with Aaron and Cocoa Legato as we share the same aspirations of bringing the community together and providing the best hand-crafted products in an encouraging space for community connection and collaboration,” said Scott Baldwin, National Sales Manager at Caffe Vita. “The space aims to create a warm gathering place where friends and families can indulge in fresh roasted delights while supporting their local artists, showcasing the best of both worlds in the heart of the Greenwood neighborhood.”
Each chocolate bar variety includes a musical pairing accessed through a QR code which will take you to a song by an independent Seattle-based musician and instructions on how to pair the music with your tasting experience. You’ll also find links to the artist’s musical catalog, merchandise, and social media so you can continue to support them long after you’ve finished enjoying your chocolate. The initial launch will include five chocolate bar flavors available for purchase in-store and presale online, with more flavors to be released in the coming months.
- Piano Bar: Colombian Dark Chocolate – 70% Cacao: This bar is your favorite album from childhood. The rich cocoa notes are classic. The warm, fudgy tones are nostalgic. And the subtle hint of fruit adds a unique twist that keeps you wanting more. Whether you love classic chocolate or crave a complex artisanal bar, this Colombian cacao is the right bar for you. Like that first cherished album, it’s layered, timeless, and guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.
- Guitar Bar: Peruvian Dark Chocolate – 80% Cacao: Bold, vibrant, and unmistakably fruity, this bar will exceed your expectations of what single-origin chocolate can be. Our Peruvian bar resonates with bright tropical fruit flavors and delicate citrusy undertones. While Cocoa Legato gets credit for ‘mixing and mastering’ this bar, the ‘songwriting’ credit goes to the farmers in Cusco, Peru. They cultivated the incredible cacao that allows us to craft this one-of-a-kind chocolate.
- Cello Bar: Sea Salt – 70% Colombian Cacao: Adding salt to chocolate is like buying a remastered edition of your favorite album. You might think you know every part of that record, but a remaster can highlight notes you never noticed before. Salt does the same for chocolate. It enhances flavors that might otherwise have been buried in the mix. It brings out sweetness! That’s why we’ve added flaky sea salt to our Colombian chocolate. It highlights an extra level of flavor that you didn’t know our chocolate had to offer.
- Snare Drum Bar: Nib Crunch – 70% Colombian Cacao: We’ve let our Colombian cocoa nibs dance across our Colombian 70% dark chocolate, and the combination is nothing short of explosive. It’s giving vibrant nutty flavors, loud crunchy textures, and enriched sweet tones. Normally, we recommend that you let your chocolate melt in your mouth, but this bar is an exception to the rule.
- Microphone Bar: Espresso (Feat. Café Vita) – 70% Colombian Cacao: This bar is the ultimate artist collaboration! We’ve teamed up with Café Vita to create a fresh and innovative take on the classic pairing of chocolate and coffee. By infusing Vita’s new Cold Shot Espresso into our Colombian cacao, we’ve crafted a chocolate that’s bold, cozy, and unexpectedly creamy for a vegan dark chocolate.
Cocoa Legato is located at 8420 Greenwood Ave N – Suite C, Seattle, WA 98103.
