Community & Business
31 March, 2022
Aroma of Easter in the air
THE aroma of chocolate fills the air at Mareeba’s Coffee Works as dedicated and creative chocolatiers produce thousands of handmade and intricately decorated Easter products for the upcoming festivities.
The Mareeba-based company has three chocolatiers on staff who are kept busy creating the many different products sold through five different outlets and online, but at the moment, their focus is firmly on producing the thousands of eggs, bunnies, chickens and other items for the Easter holiday period.
Despite having been a chocolatier for 11 years now, Denise Saunders is still excited about her work, enjoying styling each egg individually with flowers, swirls, birds, ducks and other intricate designs.
Assisted by colleague Nyssa Huber, who has only been doing the job for a year now, Denise says they produce around 40 of the bigger decorated eggs per day.
And surprisingly, they both still love eating their own product.
“Yes, we still like chocolate even though we’re around it all day, every day,” Denise said.
“We’re in one of the busiest times of the year at the moment – Christmas is very busy, followed by Easter, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and even Australia Day – we design products around those themes.”
The company only uses fine Belgium chocolate which is then tempered onsite, placed into moulds which are then refrigerated before undergoing the decorative process.
“The great thing is all our chocolate is gluten free, and the dark chocolate is dairy free,” Denise said.
Both women obviously love the creativity in what they do, even making customised products to suit a special moment in someone’s life.
“I grew up in Mareeba and I was always wanted to work here since I was a little girl,” Nyssa said.
