Mark Christian unveiled the C-spot™ at the Smithsonian in 2010, followed by its public release.
Christian earned his Ch.D while researching the chocolate underground, surveying barsmiths in some of the most far-flung places before delving into the seedy world of cacáo breeding & genetics where he was mentored by Dr. Basil Bartley (field & lab scientist at CEPEC in Brazil; author of The Genetic Diversity of Cacao & its Utilization). Owner of the private travel firm Airtech.com, he has been able to visit the “20/20 Zone” — that magic belt 20º north & south of the equator — in which cacáo only grows.
Christian commutes between his hometown around the Great Lakes and NYC where he moved to attend Columbia University once, & sometimes receives unsolicited bars & boxed assortments on his doorstep; so much so that he has to share or even give some of it away to family, friends & neighbors… a few of whom have been known to call in the middle of the night asking “Hey Mark, got any more of that stuff?”
Since then he has appeared on radio & TV, in magazine & newspaper interviews, spoken at conferences & shows such as the Northwest Chocolate Festival, & consulted for various projects including the World Bank’s COCOA-RAAN initiative in Nicaragua. In 2013, Christian was named the Director of the HCP Fund (Heirloom Cacao Preservation). By 2017, he co-founded Landmark Wild Chocolate Reserve™ which harvests the original varietals — the crown jewels / rock stars — of chocolate in their birthplace: the Amazon Rainforest.
Tons have gone into building the C-spot; more is in the works…
Homepage image of exploding bar courtesy of Artisan du Chocolat
Communications Director
- Sonia Lyris
Contributing Editors
- Belinda Ber
- Jinxie
- Robert Latham
- Sonia Lyris
- Cristian Melo
- Sia Mullen
- Rev. RM Peluso
- Laura Spinner
- John F. Walter