I'm Dreaming of Chocolate with Tabula Rasa - Questions for Chocolatier Steven Lambeth
When my husband and I were first married, we lived on Circle Drive in Burlington. The street is literally a circle and it’s full of charming bungalows built in the late 1920’s. Our next door neighbors were the Lambeths and they had two sons…David and Steven. We lived there for about 5 years and then moved because we outgrew the house after our 3rd child (Sarah) was born. We remained friends with the Lambeths, but as children do, David and Steven grew up and moved on. Recently, I had the pleasure of becoming reacquainted with Steven Lambeth who is making a career of being a chocolatier and is creating exquisite chocolate. You’ll love learning about Tabula Rasa Chocolate Company and what it’s all about. (There is also a fabulous giveaway at the end that you don’t want to miss out on!)
How long have you been a chocolatier and why did you decide to start a chocolate company?
I started making chocolate about 6 years ago as a way to tend my heart after a breakup. Cacao helps the heart to stay open and I found that making chocolate with adaptogen or heart-opening herbs gave me a creative project to focus on to move forward in my life. It turns out that my community received a similar benefit just from eating my chocolates and in 2014, my friends at The Honeysuckle Tea House gave me the opportunity to start my business by making a signature line of herbal chocolates for their opening.
2. You recently rebranded and named your company Tabula Rasa. What does the name mean and why did you choose it?
Tabula Rasa means blank slate in Latin. It’s a little esoteric, but the philosophy behind that name holds that human beings are blank slates. Your life is a blank slate and we’re all striving to create something beautiful with this one life we have. I make chocolates to support you in creating the life you are longing for - abundance, beauty, balance and love are a few of the qualities my chocolate flavors inspire via herbal remedies.
3. What inspires you every day to keep growing and changing your business?
At the heart of it, I am growing and shaping my business out of the same inspirations that have driven people throughout time - love and family. Yes, I am passionate about making and eating chocolate, but I am also inspired to build a business that my girlfriend will be proud of (shout out to @alicerise_beads), that will support me in buying my first house and that will create a life that I would want my future children to grow up in. Chocolate and entrepreneurship are the means by which I am creating my dream from the Tabula Rasa of my life.
4. You use herbs in your chocolate. Can you tell me a little about that…why did you decide to use herbs instead of say…almonds or coffee beans?
When I started making chocolate I was passionate about eating a healthful and clean diet - I did not eat any refined sugars, dairy, gluten or meat and I did incorporate a lot of herbs, supplements and fresh foods into my daily life. I always thought healthy eating should fill my life with MORE joy, not some sense of self-punishment. So I took organic, shade-grown and fair trade raw cacao, sweetened it without cane sugar and flavored it with herbal remedies to create a product that I would actually feel GOOD about eating instead of feeling like I was cheating with store-bought chocolate.
5. Do the herbs add nutritional value to your chocolate?
Great question - the herbs are not going to substantially change the micro-nutrient content of the chocolate in levels that would get you closer to your recommended daily value set out by a dietician. If you’re looking for high doses of herbs you should still consider taking these herbs powdered or tinctured. However, the wisdom of herbalism holds that your body receives many of the benefits of herbs through the very taste of them - I carefully work with my recipes to make these herbal remedies delicious so you will actually get the benefit from tasting the herbs, which you don’t get if you take them in capsules, without being turned of by their sometimes bitter flavor (re: rhodiola, ashwagandha, cramp bark, etc.)
6. I’m drawn to any food that’s beautiful and presented beautifully and your chocolate is both! How important is the visual aspect of your chocolate to you?
I have to give my girlfriend credit for that! For the first 5 years of my business, I focused entirely on flavor and just left the bars looking plain. My girlfriend recently pushed me to invest more in the presentation - my bars now either feature beautiful whole herbs or stenciled herb and maple dustings on top - and I feel like they now visually represent the beauty and intention that I put into creating each recipe. It takes more time to make each bar than it did, but now that I’ve seen what my chocolates can be I could never go back to making plain-looking bars.
7. Do you ever get tired of chocolate?
Hahahaha, both yes and no. I rarely think to eat chocolate at home any more, which is a grace considering how much of it I have laying around. But whenever I eat any chocolate, whether I made it or not, I fall in love with chocolate all over again.
8. Do you pair your chocolates with other foods and if so what foods?
While my pure diet when I started making chocolate didn’t include coffee or dairy, now I cannot get over how amazing a few squares of chocolate are with a cappuccino. I would recommend my Empower chocolate with cordyceps and lion’s mane mushrooms as the earthy flavor of the bar, featuring rhodiola and ashwangandha with a holy basil-maple dusting, works beautifully on a fruit and cheese plate. I also think that a few squares of chocolate are the perfect way to punctuate any meal - instead of a whole dessert, any of my chocolates will leave you feeling satisfied and energized to go back to work or socializing.
9. Do you pair chocolate with wine? I can’t think of anything better than a glass of champagne and a couple of pieces of delicious chocolate with gold flecks!
I really enjoy my Love Within chocolate with hawthorn berry, rose petals and violets paired with a red wine or rosé, or just as you said having my Abundance chocolate with edible 24K gold leaf and Maldon sea salt flakes alongside a glass of champagne (or two).
10. How would you compare yourself to other high end chocolatiers such as Voges for example?
One of the things I love about the chocolate industry is the positive community of makers - there are so many fabulous people making exquisite chocolates and I’m honored to be among them. I make these chocolate bars in extremely small batches, working alone and I take care that each bar is as beautiful when you take it in with your eyes as it is delicious and healthful when you eat it. The herbal-maple stenciling is something that I borrowed from the bread industry and adapted to chocolate - I haven’t seen any other makers incorporating that technique. Otherwise, it’s all about flavor - you have to experience it to know for yourself.
11. Where do you see your business in 5 years?
Right now, I’ve been running full-speed, rebranding my chocolates, crafting new recipes and traveling to craft fairs (I’ll be at Renegade Craft in Brooklyn next weekend!) for the holiday season. In five years, I see myself still making all of my chocolate by hand, albeit with the help of a couple of employees, establishing a successful online sales platform and social media presence, and refining my travel schedule so that my chocolate business can fully support me in the life I want to live, including buying a house and starting a family. I’m not focused on worldwide distribution or becoming the high-end Hershey’s…I just want to continue pouring my creative energy into this business and sharing my chocolate with people who really get it.
12. How can someone order from you?
This giveaway is something of a teaser! Having just rebranded, I haven’t even setup a new website and I am scrambling to keep up enough stock for my local presence and craft fair sales!
I am going to offer 5 of these gift boxes for sale (4 assorted bars + 4 of my new beauty pastilles for $68 +$7 shipping) to the first 5 people who follow me on Instagram and send me a private message to arrange payment and shipping there.
Everyone else will either have to find me locally at the Carrboro Farmers Market in NC, at Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn NY next week, or wait until I launch my new online store in time for Valentine’s Day! My chocolates under the old branding are still available at Weaver Street Market locations for any local folks.
13. Where can we find you on social media?
Instagram - @tabularasachocolate. You can also look up my old branding on Facebook - Raw Chocolate for the Soul. Follow me to see the new flavors and online-store I will be launching!
14. Did I leave anything out?
I’d just like to say how grateful I am to everyone, including you, Suzanne for supporting me as I create this dream. Although this is a one-person business, my community has supported me at every turn to make Tabula Rasa Chocolates what it is today. I look forward to expanding that community in the years to come!
Today, I’m teaming up with Tabula Rasa Chocolates to give away 4 assorted chocolate bars and 4 beauty pastilles! This might be the best chocolate you’ve ever eaten…
To enter…click on the link below, leave your email when prompted, follow @tabula.rasa.chocolate and me @crazyblondelife on Instagram and TAG 2 FRIENDS. The winner will be announced here on Crazy Blonde Life tomorrow! Good Luck!