Words by Johanna Harlow
“Let it melt a little bit,” urges Michael Sigmon, owner of Minée Chocolate, as I bite into a bar. Resisting the instinct to chew and swallow, I savor it. “See how that’s really smooth and it just finishes really clean?” the Menlo Park resident says of his original 75% bean-to-bar dark chocolate, a formula that took three years to perfect. “That’s because of the balance and how long I grind it … It doesn’t coat with hard tannin in the back of your throat like a normal dark chocolate would. You want that lush finish, but you want it to disappear.”
Before me, Michael has dealt out a set of chocolate bars. The illustrations on their packaging and colored foils remind me of trading cards, only tastier. He proffers a piece of Magick, his darkest bar at 80%. “I roasted a little darker to get the richness out of it, which is why it’s nuttier,” he explains. On we forge to the 60% dark Crescendo. “You get more of the vanilla in that.”
Despite using the same three organic ingredients in those three bars—cacao beans, cacao butter and vanilla-infused sugar—each one is completely distinct from the next. What unites them is that velvety mouthfeel. “I wanted to create this texture that would give you this super silky feeling,” he says, chalking it up to the lengthy stone-grinding process. “Some people do two to three days—but I feel like there’s this extra magic that occurs on the fifth day.” He compares it to making a satisfying stew. “There’s still a sense of the flavors meeting and mingling” at the beginning, he explains. “The ingredients, they’re still finding themselves.”
This choice of metaphors makes more sense given Michael’s culinary background. Not only was he a chef at Mendocino Café and Theo’s Restaurant in Soquel, but he co-owned the Windmill Café in Santa Cruz and served as a personal chef for professional athletes and politicians (but he’s not naming any names). The care and consideration he brings to all things culinary is evident. “If you’re gonna make something, you actually have to learn where it starts. Not even just its origins, but the people, the philosophy behind it,” Michael asserts. “Anybody can take a red snapper and wrap it in a banana leaf and say, ‘Hey, there’s a Chilean bass,’ right? But what’s the essence of the flavor behind it? And why would they do that? That’s what led me into chocolate making.”
Michael co-founded Minée Chocolate with Renée Fadiman who consults and acts as co-art director. Partners in life as well as business, their combined names comprise the company’s moniker. “Without Renée, it would just be meh,” Michael jokes. On a more serious note, “She’s the inspiration behind it … She’s the one who said, ‘Hey, keep going.’” And how’d these sweethearts meet? “We swiped right,” Michael says with a twinkle.
Michael makes his tantalizing treats in a space carefully converted to his specifications. “I’ve designed lots of kitchens,” he says. “So, it was really easy for me to stainless-steel a place out.” He buys his beans from an organic co-op in Ecuador. “Tropical fruit overtones were really what I was looking for,” he shares. “It needed to be aromatic and grounded.”
But before you even taste the chocolate, feast your eyes on Minée’s illustrated labels. The images are a combination of Michael’s two favorite art styles: art nouveau and anime. Michael says he’s been captivated with the former ever since seeing an exhibit on this turn-of-the-century style at the Legion of Honor Museum. “It won my heart in ways that I can’t even explain,” he reflects. “It’s timeless.” To him, anime is the contemporary equivalent. “I feel like that’s the modern version in its way. Art has to keep moving.”
The labels represent the women in his life. The milk chocolate bar is an homage to his mom Marsha, while the decaf coffee beans (another product he roasts and grinds) are dedicated to his grandmother Dot, the first person who introduced him to the beverage. “We’d sit on the porch in the mornings and just watch the world go by. I still remember that time with her as some of the best moments of my life,” Michael writes on the side of the bag. “We found a decaf that, when roasted dark, is full-bodied and robust. Just the way she liked it.” He pauses in recollection, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Anything you can do to have them with you for an extra minute when they’re gone—do it.”
Despite starting only a few years ago, Michael has already met with marked success, recently winning silver and bronze for two of his bars at TasteTV’s San Francisco International Chocolate Salon. Minée has also found its way onto the shelves of Sigona’s Farmers Markets in Palo Alto and Redwood City, the Willows Market in Menlo Park and Vino Locale in Palo Alto. Michael’s response to the accolades? He shrugs. “Cool. I’m gonna make some more chocolate now.”
A man of his word, Michael is releasing three new bars in 2025, including a “dark white chocolate” with maple and coconut sugar. “This one took me a little bit to figure out,” he admits.
Despite the successes, Michael wants to keep things grounded. “I’m not saying mine’s the best,” he insists. “If you ate a Snickers or Twix, and that was your bar when you were a kid … it’s gonna be the best chocolate you’ve ever had.” Who is he to compete with childhood nostalgia? But one thing’s for certain: it’s been a pretty sweet journey. “This is the life I choose,” Michael says. “And I choose it every day.”
Spill the Beans – teamminee.com