Portland-based Ranger Chocolate Co. is heading south for a free public tasting at Stumptown Coffee Roasters' newly opened Starland Cafe in Los Angeles's Lincoln Heights neighborhood on November 18, from 10 a.m. to noon. The drop-in event, titled "Chocolate + Coffee, Three Ways," brings together a focused lineup of specialty makers to demonstrate how cacao and coffee intersect across formats — from a straight pairing to a confection and a liqueur-based truffle.
The Tasting Lineup
The event features three distinct expressions of the chocolate-coffee combination. First, Ranger's Nord 75% Northern Haiti single-origin dark chocolate is paired directly with coffee — a straightforward showcase of complementary flavor profiles. Second, a Dirty Chai Bonbon incorporates Stumptown's El Injerto Bourbon coffee alongside Steven Smith Teamaker Masala Chai. Third, a Coffee Liqueur Truffle features Accompani Coffee Liqueur, itself made with Stumptown cold brew. Stumptown El Injerto Bourbon Coffee Caramel Sticks — a new retail item available at Stumptown locations — will also be on hand to try alongside the café's current seasonal drink menu.
Craft Collaboration in Context
The pop-up reflects a broader pattern in the specialty beverage and artisan confection space: bean-to-bar chocolate makers increasingly partnering with coffee roasters and other craft producers to reach new audiences and add storytelling depth to their products. For operators, these cross-category collaborations offer a low-cost mechanism for in-store activation — a free tasting that drives foot traffic to a newly opened location while giving participating brands direct consumer contact.
Ranger Chocolate Co., founded in 2013, builds its positioning around responsibly sourced cacao and maker-to-maker partnerships, a model that aligns well with Stumptown's specialty coffee identity. Stumptown's Starland Cafe at 2624 N. Broadway represents a new retail foothold in a Los Angeles market that continues to attract independent and regional specialty food and beverage concepts.
For hospitality and foodservice operators watching the craft chocolate and coffee category, events like this underscore how experiential retail — even in a brief, no-cost format — can deepen brand affinity and introduce cross-category products to consumers who might not otherwise encounter them. George Domurot, founder and CEO of Ranger Chocolate Co., described the intent plainly: "This is a casual event for folks to pop in and share a midweek moment."
The tasting is free, open to the public, and requires no reservation.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
