Alma Chocolate

"Stock up on those jars of salted caramel sauce now: Alma Chocolate, the 14-year-old chocolatier, announced it will permanently end operations for both its chocolate brand and cafe. A message posted to its Facebook page noted the closure will vaguely happen 'beginning in July,' though presumably it will take a short period of time before final batches of products disappear from store shelves. 'We invite you to enjoy your favorites for a short while longer until we say our final goodbyes,' the closures announcement reads. 'As many in our community have struggled with the challenges facing our world, we too have felt the impacts — diminishing our ability to make and share our chocolates.' Alma Chocolate was founded by Sarah Hart in 2006, part of the mid-aughts’ high-end chocolate wave, and was known for its drinking chocolate, filled bars, spicy peanut butter cups, and that caramel sauce. In 2015, it expanded from its small Northeast Portland shop into larger digs in Southeast in a hybrid shop/commissary; that space closed in September 2018. Just a week later, Hart announced Alma’s sale to Portland-based Moonstruck Chocolate, which moved all Alma’s candymaking production to its facility in St. Johns, Portland Monthly reported at the time. Like many other businesses, Alma’s retail and cafe operations closed in mid-March at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, shifting entirely to online sales (and offering its treats for purchase in bulk online). For now, the confectioner’s bars, bon bons, and salted caramel sauce are still for sale on the website." - Erin DeJesus

"Matcha Mint Bar, Alma Chocolate, Portland, Oregon. I’ve been a fan of Alma since they started selling at the Portland farmers’ market in 2005. They have a beautiful storefront now and regularly pop up on best-of lists, but owner Sarah Hart and her team of chocolatiers have retained their obsessive focus on making very good, very creative chocolates that look damn fine to boot. Like their sophisticated, unusual take on the classic after-dinner mint." - Aislyn Greene