Raaka Chocolate makes craft chocolate by hand in Red Hook. Ryan Cheney was introduced to chocolate making at a yoga school on a beautiful island in Thailand, where he was excited by the flavors of unroasted cocoa beans. He founded Raaka to explore low-temperature chocolate making and create a more equitable global society in which communities have the opportunity to improve their quality of life. Today, Raaka produces chocolate with cocoa coming from four regions of the planet: the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Belize, and Madagascar. Raaka offers what the brand calls virgin chocolate, which gets its name because of its manufacturing process. The cocoa beans are unroasted to preserve flavors that are often lost in the traditional manufacturing process.