For those of you who've never been - MakerFaire is this crazy and huge event, where "makers" and curious people come together. Makers exhibit bikes that look like fish, merry go rounds that are powered by jets, and Coke and Mentos fountains impressed the crowds. And we were there!

We had such a great time! We had a little table set up with a few of our 27 billion customized chocolate bars that you can make on our [site](http://www.createmychocolate.com, and we had a chocolate fountain along with some toppings, so people could make a "mini custom chocolate bar" in a cup! We also sold many of our pre-customized chocolate bars - with dark chocolate definitely being the crowd favorite at MakerFaire. We also met Jordan, who took up the challenge to eat the undefeated Firemaker - and didn't even break a sweat! Strong man, that Jordan.

One of my personal highlights at MakerFaire was also Jules Pieri's talk on Citizen Commerce - she mentioned how many young entrepreneurs, who a few years ago would have flocked to IT and software companies after graduation - are now attracted to innovating physical "things". And how social media fueled citizen journalism - and now citizen commerce. Everyone is now involved in making things, and in curating things. This spoke from my heart, because a) I used to work for a software company, and b) Yes, you who are reading this are an example of a citizen who is part of commerce - you're creating your own product on our site! Thanks @JulesPieri, not only for talking about it, but also making Citizen Commerce happen at Daily Grommet - a website taking videos of innovative products that you should all check out.

Last but not least, chocri won an Editor's Award at MakerFaire! Sooo proud. It even had a little comment "You rock" on the back of it. And CNet mentioned us as one of the 10 (ten!) highlights at MakerFaire in a fun slideshow. Maybe the nicest thing though was this little boy who, after trying our chocolate, said "This is the best substance I have ever tasted.". In exactly those words. Yes, "substance". Thank you, smart boy.

Today is National Coffee Day in the US, a country largely powered by an army of baristas in green aprons.

Coffee has exploded in popularity in recent years, due in a large part to the rising popularity of sweeter, iced espresso based drinks, and of course, a natural affinity between coffee and chocolate. Americans love to mix the two flavors, and coffee plays well with chocolate in many forms. In our recommended creations section, you can find coffee featured in a few National Coffee Day friendly chocris.

Our Extreme Concentration, Anti Hangover, Violet Blue and Dave Morin bars all have our popular ground coffee beans topping, among assorted others. Feeling creative? Love coffee? In honor of National Coffee Day today, we've marked coffee down in our Toppings section today, so you can add coffee to your custom chocri today only for free. This is a Coffee Day only sale, so if you can't face mornings without your daily latte, head over to our "Create Your Own Chocolate" page to prepare your coffee/chocolate masterpiece.

Don't know what to pair your coffee topping with? Our new recommendation engine can provide some helpful hints.

If our Facebook friends are any indication, everyone's excited about the imminent arrival of fall and all the things associated with it.

Mornings are cooler, and so are nights when the sun sets and the air smells like distant fires and a little bit like winter. Pumpkin picking trips are planned, Halloween is looming and summer becomes a distant memory. (Can you tell we're looking forward to it, too?) So we created a bar for everyone who's ready for raking, and long walks and harvest moons- from the description:

"Apple picking, bonfires, crisp nights, harvest moons and soft hoodies- does anyone not love the start of fall? We've added the "Fall Harvest Bar" to evoke the sensory associations we link with fall, and included our most autumnal ingredients. Apple Bits, Cinnamon, Bourbon Vanilla, Mini Cookies and creamy Milk Chocolate- like the remaining leaves, our "Fall Harvest Bar" is only here for a short while."

You can find our Fall Harvest Bar at the top of recommended creations- at $2 off the standard price, so in addition to being a tasty fall treat, it's also a fabulous deal.

So, this week at chocri, we recapped Mass Customization for you, ran a crazy special for White Chocolate Day and introduced a bar for National Pecan Cookie Day. And now, we've got this week's top five bar names!

• Everything you love In A Bar. (White Chocolate with Gummy Bears, Organic Salt Pretzels, Rice Crispies, Peanut Butter Drops and Writing 'I Love You')

• Matt's Chocolate Stir Fry (Dark Chocolate with Ginger, Blueberries, Cashews, Organic Sesame Seeds and Bourbon Vanilla)

• In Russia... Bacon Eats You! (Dark Chocolate with Pistachios, Toffee and Soy Bacon)

• Night At The Movies (Milk Chocolate with Gummy Bears and Organic Salt Pretzels)

• lime in the coconut (Dark Chocolate with Lemon Chocolate Drops, Coconut Shavings and Cayenne Pepper)

Oh, hey- did you know we're going to be at Maker Faire this weekend?

If you've been reading business and tech press lately, you've seen chocri held up as a successful example for mass customization, particularly the mass customization of food. I think there are three reasons for that:

• We were one of the first companies ever to let you customize food online. Started in September 2008, there was only one other food mass customization company really, mymuesli.de.
• We have been growing a lot - in March 2009, chocri made about 17,000 customized chocolate bars a month. That's a lot, but that's less than half of what we make now - in the summer. Why good we grown so much? Because we have a really, really good product, and our customers recommend us and gift the personalized chocolate bars to their friends. Thank YOU
• We just received an investment from Ritter, one of the biggest German chocolate manufacturers. They wouldn't have invested in us if they hadn't been impressed in what they saw after they lifted the hood.

We believe in giving control to you, to empower you to make your own decisions - even with something so simple as creating your own chocolate bar. Because we know it's not just a chocolate bar. It's a way to say thank you, to reward yourself, to express yourself, to tell someone you love them or to get creative and to have fun. We'll definitely have fun making those beautiful custom chocolate bars and getting them to you!

If you're a regular chocri blog reader, you know I often extol the wonders of white chocolate. Its brothers, classic milk and health-conscious dark, often hog the spotlight when chocolate is discussed. But today is National White Chocolate Day, and we're celebrating by offering our white chocolate base for just $2.99.

Here are five tiny tidbits of information about white chocolate. Are you a fan? Let us know in the comments!

1.) Late night snacker? White chocolate has no caffeine, so it won't lead to tossing and turning.

2.) If white chocolate is your bag, baby, don't let anyone tell you it's not chocolate. It contains cocoa butter rather than cocoa solids, but it's totally chocolate.

3.) Before 1970, white chocolate was "virtually unknown." (I, for one, am grateful daily that it took off.)

4.) White chocolate also contains only trace amounts of theobromine, so it is safe to consume for most individuals who must avoid the chemical compound for medical reasons.

5.) Before it was called white chocolate, you could find the palest of chocolates by asking for "confectioner's coating, summer coating or Almond bark."

Last month, we celebrated National Trail Mix Day with a limited edition bar created to evoke memories of campfires, hiking and picking out the chocolate bits. Today, on National Pecan Cookie Day, we've got a new chocri creation at a special price to honor the humble but tasty pecan cookie.

From its description, the National Pecan Cookie Day bar:

"September 21 is National Pecan Cookie Day! In honor of the delicious pecan cookie in all its incarnations, we've created this chocri homage. Creamy milk chocolate, sweet sticky toffee, cookie crumbs and crunchy pecan halves combine for a pecan cookie in a chocolate bar experience. Get it today at a special pecan cookie day price!"

You can find the National Pecan Cookie Day bar in our recommended creations. And on National Pecan Cookie Day, we're offering this smooth, creamy and pecan-y creation at 20% off.

On our blog last week, we discussed the different ways you can personalize chocolate, for yourself or for a gift. One of the cool things about working for chocri is seeing all the one-of-a-kind chocolate bars created by our chocri fans that reflect their personalities, tastes and inspirations.

However, some of the coolest creations we see aren't one or two or three-of-a-kind- did you know chocri does custom chocolate favors for weddings, christenings/baptisms, parties, baby showers and bridal showers, and corporate gifts? Wedding favors are one of the most popular queries we get from brides and grooms who'd like a custom candy gift for their guests, but baptisms and showers are also a great place to put a personalized touch on an event. Candy favors or chocolate favors are popular, but we offer the ability to present a really special, individualized experience for those types of events.

Customized candy is also a great option for corporate gifts because it can work as an extension of your organization's branding. Your colors, culture, or even your logo can be reflected in the customized chocolate bars you create. We provide the same service for retail, with options for creating a custom chocolate product that perfectly fits any retail environment.

Questions? You can find some more information on our "chocri in bulk" page, with sections for corporate gifts, custom wedding favors and chocri for retail. You can also drop us a line at hello@chocri.com to find out more!

Well, that was an eventful week. In addition to our news about chocri and Ritter, we also received a great bunch of creatively named chocolate bars. And like we do every Friday, we've compiled a list of this week's top five bars.

• Olivia's Preggers Bar- Don't Touch! (Milk Chocolate with Cashews and Peanut Butter Drops)

• Mozart's Bane (Milk Chocolate with Hazelnut Brittle, Honey Chocolate Drops, Cinnamon, Fleur de Sel and Bourbon Vanilla)

• Stairway to Heaven (Dark Chocolate with Real Gold Flakes, Organic Cane Sugar, Bourbon Vanilla, Cocoa Nibs and Cookie Crumbs)

• Schmeedle the Bard's Heart of Darkness (Dark Chocolate with Mango Cubes)

• For you, because... (Milk Chocolate with Real Gold Flakes, Marzipan Rose and Writing 'I Love You')

I wonder if the person who made the last bar knows you can order chocri wedding favors?

Busy day today! We have two big news for you:

Ritter Invests Seven Digit Figure In chocri

Ritter is one of the major chocolate manufacturer - and just invested in chocri. Ritter makes colorful chocolate bars with a wide variety (not 27 billion, but 17 different kinds, which is a lot in the mass production world) and are a family owned company. We're really excited about this, because it allows us to increase capacity and efficiency in production - which benefits you, our customers! While we make 1,000 personalized chocolate bars, Ritter makes 2.5 million. Yes. In fact, they already looked over our production during the negotiations, and the improvements they suggested to us increased our productivity by more than 30%! Which means - more customised chocolate for the world! Yay!

We're launching in the UK on Monday!

The beta site is already up, and if you want to, you can already order. The UK has the third highest chocolate consumption per capita, and as many of you know, the British care for their chocolate to be of great quality. That's us! Customization (oops, customisation) is still very new though, even in the country of bespoke tailoring, but we've set out to change that in the US, and so will we in the UK. Check out the site if you want!

Or if you're one of our new UK customers, "personalise" your chocolate.

As you may or may not know, chocri was conceived after one of our founders decided that the perfect gift for his girlfriend would be a personalized chocolate bar. While personalized chocolate makes a great gift because it is bespoke and created just for the recipient (unless you give a gift certificate so the recipient can customize their own chocri), the process can be a bit daunting for the first time virtual chocolatier.

You don't have to start from scratch to personalize a chocolate bar. While we love it when customers jump in and get creative with their bars (pretzels, pepper and pecans? Cashews, coconut and candied lilac?), there are a few ways to get a bit of help when you personalize your chocri.

1.) Check out our recommendation engine. If you fall in love with a single topping, it can generate some great suggestions to complement your choice.

2.) Tweak our recommended selections. Add or remove toppings to one of our ready-to-wear options.

3.) Fun with names. Even if you make a simple bar, creatively named personlized chocolate makes a great gift- for yourself or someone else. And we round up the top five each week on our blog.

Still stumped? Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook- we're always happy to guide you!

Chocri chocolate is a lot of things. For instance, as a white chocolate fanatic, I'm pretty sure our white chocolate is the creamiest. And with our ever growing list of toppings, our chocolate bars are arguably the most individualized you can find. (C'mon- where else are you going to get a milk and white chocolate bar with gummi bears and basil?)

However, we can't be all things when it comes to chocolate. A record was just broken in the chocolate world, and our humble custom chocolate creations don't come close to being the planet Earth's biggest chocolate bars. That honor goes to Armenia's Grand Candy factory, who have broken the Guinness World Record for the world's largest chocolate bar.

Weighing in at 9,702 pounds, the dark chocolate creation measures 58.4 feet long by 9 feet wide. And I bet you wanted to know exactly what we wanted to know: can you eat it? The bar, which currently resides in Armenia's capital of Yerevan, will be divvied up and distributed to locals starting October 16th.

In case you missed it, Fashion Week is well underway in New York, bringing with it runway shows, parties and news of spring trends.

Chocolate is pretty much always in style, but sometimes we're inspired and we just have to create a bar to honor an event or concept. So how do you make a chocolate bar fashion forward?

We've created the Fifth Avenue Chocolate Bar, and we think it's a perfect ode to the fashionista. We start with sophisticated dark chocolate as the base- and while many of our favorite chocri creations sport a bevy of delicious accessories (or toppings), we've kept this one super simple. The single topping on our most stylish chocri is golden pearls. From the official description:

We can't hide it - we're a NY startup: trendy fashion (in food) and pure luxury chocolate. Well, at least our chocolate bars are trendy, like this one. It has class, is elegant, and extremely delicious. And other than what you normally see on Fifth Ave, this stylish item of goodness is totally affordable!

Think of it as the chocolate equivalent of a little black dress.

It's Friday! And every Friday we bring you chocri's top five bar names. Except this week, because this week we have a whole two extra top named bars. I had to highlight a pattern this week, which is bars with musical, flowery or romantic names. And then there's one at the end that's classic top five material, so there's no way we couldn't include it.

So here's this week's top seven, don't spill them on your pretty dress!

• Garden Party (Milk Chocolate with Candied Rose Petals, Organic Chamomile, Candied Lilac and Bourbon Vanilla)

• Sweet Rosemary (White Chocolate with Candied Rose Petals, Rosemary and Macadamia Nuts)

• The Carmina Banana in Strawberry Fields (Dark Chocolate with Strawberry, Banana Chips, Caramel Chocolate Drops and Cocoa Nibs)

• The Lovely (Dark Chocolate with Fleur de Sel, Candied Lilac and Raspberry)

• Lisa's Romance Pearl Bar (Strawberry Chocolate with Basil, Golden Pearls, Toasted Hazelnuts, Toffee and Raspberry)

• The Princess (Dark Chocolate with Caramel Chocolate Drops, Smiley (female), Rice Crispies and Raspberry)

And last but not least...

• I Rock I Roll everything but tequila (Milk Chocolate with Banana Chips, Real Gold Flakes and Rice Crispies in Chocolate Coating)

Oh, hey, did you see we now have cookie crumbs as a topping?

On your chocri, you can always get "mini cookies" as a topping. They're a bit more like tea biscuits, and they add great texture to all our bases. I have personally been hooked on them as a topping since my very first chocri- white chocolate with bourbon vanilla, banana chips and mini cookies.

Cookies and chocolate go together like- well, come on, do many things go together as well as cookies and chocolate? The sweet, buttery crunch of cookies blends amazingly with the sweet, creamy smoothness of chocolate. And while the "mini cookies" topping is awesome (and very popular), we've decided to add a second cookie option for September.

You can find "cookie crumbs" in our "confections" toppings for a limited time, and you might want to check them out soon:

"...so popular in our taste test that they were gone within minutes at the chocri office - we highly recommend this topping."

"Cookie crumbs" are a great addition to any chocri because they're so versatile. Pair them with milk chocolate, raisins and cinnamon for a comfort food type feel. Put them on dark chocolate with bananas and peanut butter drops for a slightly sophisticated but still sweet spin. Add them to a white chocolate bar with strawberries and chocolate honey drops.

How would you use cookies in your chocri? Tell us in the comments!

On our blog, we've posted before about the benefits of chocolate for people with high blood pressure and those seeking to cut cholesterol. Chocolate is frequently linked with better cardiovascular health when consumed in moderation, and a new study highlights chocolate consumption benefits for women in particular.

WalesOnline says recent research suggests that chocolate that contains a high amount of cocoa solids has a positive impact on cardiovascular function, particularly for women middle-aged and older:

Studies have shown that one or two 19g to 30g servings of chocolate per week – containing a high percentage of cocoa solids – can reduce the risk of heart failure in middle-aged and elderly women by up to 32%... opt for a good quality dark chocolate as it’s this that has the good stuff, the antioxidant plant compounds called flavonoids, believed to protect against heart disease and high blood pressure...

Interested in reading about the other studies linking chocolate with better health? Click here for our posts on the subject of chocolate's health benefits.

Chocolate candy has an interesting and very long history. 90% of this history occurs in the New World where chocolate was a favored drink among the Aztecs who loved the drink so much that they required tributary payments from conquered peoples in the form of cacao beans. This was not chocolate candy by any stretch of the imagination, this drink was very bitter and was often spiced with vanilla and chile peppers, a distant cousin to our modern, super-sweet chocolate candy!

Europeans took awhile to catch on to the delicious qualities of chocolate, but once they did they fell for it hook, line and sinker. Chocolate drinks became fashionable among the upper classes in the 18th century (the first chocolate house in London opened its doors in 1657), these Europeans sweetened their bitter chocolate with sugar and milk, sort of like a chocolate tea.

Chocolate candy as we recognize it, in solid form, wasn’t invented until 1819 when the first Swiss factory opened its doors. The owner of the factory had patented a new method for taking the fat out of cocoa beans to make cocoa powder and cocoa butter, the ingredients that bring us the modern chocolate bar. This is called the “dutch process” of chocolate making and persists to this day!

The Swiss torch was passed on to legendary choclatiers such as the Cadbury brothers and Henri Nestle who pioneered delicious products that would spread delicious chocolate candy to all the corners of the world.

Today two-thirds of the world’s cocoa production comes from western Africa with the Ivory Coast accounting for a full 43% of the world’s cocoa! Life can be tough for cocoa farmers who have to maintain very low costs to remain profitable. The Chocolate Manufacturer’s Association acknowledged in 2001 that children are a major source of labor for cocoa farmers. There are many organizations trying to improve life for these children though. Check out the DIV Kinder website, and consider helping them out with a small donation if you can!

Chocolate candy has delighted millions of people the world over for many, many years and will continue to do so for years to come! In the mean time, if you’re looking for a historically delicious chocolate bar, try “The Aztec:” dark chocolate with ground chili and bourbon vanilla!

For more information on the transformation of cocoa from bean to bar check out this article!

It's a holiday weekend, everybody! Woo! Hopefully you can eek the last bits of fun out of summer before the leaves start falling. Since it's Friday, here are this week's top five chocri creations.

• Baconflakeapeño (Milk Chocolate with Cornflakes, Jalapeños and Soy Bacon) Because we love the portmanteau!

• Cold Toffee Nut Latte from the Hot Barista (Dark Chocolate with Caramel Chocolate Drops, Coffee, Fleur de Sel, Cayenne Pepper and Toffee) Because that's totally the name of a novel, or will be.

• Not So Bitter Coffee Delight (Milk Chocolate with Hazelnut Brittle, Caramel Chocolate Drops, Cappuccino Chocolate Drops, Coffee and Bourbon Vanilla) Because coffee, it's a theme now.

• Five Years of Bliss (Dark Chocolate with Strawberry, Strawberry Chocolate Drops, Basil and Smiley Male) Because can I get an awww?

• Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (Dark Chocolate with Coffee, Macadamia Nuts and Bourbon Vanilla) Because that's Hawaiian for nom!

Digging on the super creative combos but don't know what you feel like yet? Have a look at our limited edition National Trail Mix Bar for a great example of chocri ingenuity. (Thanks to our Facebook friends!)

At chocri, we will often highlight one of our very many toppings on its national day or month. We know our toppings inventory is pretty extensive. How do you choose which ones to try on your very own chocolate creation?

This month, we're celebrating papaya. September is National Papaya Month, and the tropical fruit is an excellent way to work more Vitamin C into your diet in a tasty, tangy way. In addition to being totally tropically delicious, papaya is hella versatile- it's popular in sweet dishes, savory ones like curries, and it even has medicinal applications. (It's also very common in spas for its natural exfoliating abilities.)

To honor National Papaya Month, we've marked papaya down 50% for all of September. So in addition to being a bright, flavorful and delicious addition to any chocri creation, Papaya is also an attractively priced one. You can find papaya on the fruit page of our "create your own" section.

Need some help in pairing papaya? Our recommendation engine can help you decide which toppings to add to your papaya-inclusive chocri.

Image: Flickr

Today is our birthday! We've been in the US only for a few months, but chocri as a company is turning two!

2 years ago, chocri was founded by Franz Duge and Michael Bruck in Germany. The world's first company that allows you to design your own chocolate bars - no one had ever done anything like this before!

Below some fun milestones in the "history" of chocri, but before that, we of course want to share our joy with you! That's why today, and today only, we're offering a 20% coupon code! There's only 200 of them - first come, first serve. 20% off your bars, only today, with the code "chocri2" when you enter it at checkout.

Chocri wouldn't be here without you - without you being creative, making your own chocolate bars, and without you recommending us to your friends. We are very, very grateful for that. Thank you.

We look forward to many more awesome years!

A quick history of chocri

April 2008
Franz is desperately looking for a birthday gift for his girlfriend- nothing comes to mind! Last minute, he uses some of the chocolate from his and Michael's chocolate fountain business, melts it and decorates it with gummy bears and trail mix - the first chocri was born. Shortly after, a business idea is born, too

September 2008
After months of preparation, chocri is ready to launch! Franz and Michael are a bit worried - will they sell enough chocolate bars to cover the fixed costs? They need to sell at least 500 bars personalized chocolate bars a month!

Franz and Micha right after they founded chocri. They now look dramatically different today - Franz's hair is a bit more tamed and Micha's about half this size. They will hate me for putting it up! ;)

October 2008
chocri is hustling! A few newspapers covered the story of the two friends, and the young company is flooded with orders. Friends and family are helping to create customized chocolate bars.

December 2008
People love chocri's customized chocolate bars because they are such a unique christmas gift! But chocri can't keep up with demand - they literally "sell out" and don't accept orders online anymore

April 2009
Chocri moves to a new facility to increase production - now three times as big! They now produce about 18,000 customized chocolate bars per month. Also, chocri redesigns its website. It's now much prettier - as you see it today!

June 2009
A German MBA student from U Chicago starts to plan the entry of chocri to the US market. That was me!

September 2009
Chocri win's the Founders Award - one of the most prestigious awards for startups! They receive 300,000 Euro in services from an advertising agency, law firm and others

December 2009
Alas, increasing the production was still not enough - demand has increased even more! Chocri sells out before Christmas, again.

January 2010
Chocri launches in the US! The new website is featured by Thrillist and Self Magazine, Epicurious and many others in the month of the launch

March 2010
Internet celebrities Gary Vaynerchuk, Violet Blue, Leah Culver and Dave Morin make a chocri chocolate bar each for the conference South By Southwest.

April 2010
Chocri introduces a fourth base chocolate. The possibilities explode! There's tens of billions of ways to make your own chocolate bar on the site!

June 2010
Chocri moves again - we now make about 50,000 bars every month, and are beginning to prepare for this year's holiday season - this time we won't sell out early!

July 2010
Customized chocolate bars are now also available in Canada!

August 2010
Chocri's sexy recommendation engine makes it much easier to create your own chocolate bar - based on the analysis of thousand of previous orders, it recommends toppings that pair well with what you've already selected

September 2010
That's today!