Have you ever been in a Capital One Lounge around the United States? You may have seen bars of this local chocolate, with flavors that vary depending on where you are in the country.

Krissee and Mariano D'Aguiar started River Sea Chocolates and currently have locations in Chantilly and Reston.

Let’s start from the beginning. Krissee began by explaining how chocolate has been a long-standing part of her family's history.

“I've always loved chocolate,” Krissee explained. “I have eaten it extensively for my whole life, especially dark chocolate. And my mom was actually a preemie baby in Romania, and she told me a story that when she was born, her dad, my grandfather, had to source chocolate for her because that was what the doctor said would give the premature babies the best outcome.”

Turning this passion into a business was very kismet for the D’Augiars. Both of them were out of work, and they decided to take some time and visit family in Brazil. In the backyard of Mariano’s cousin's home, there was a cacao tree.

“Our son, who was 12 at the time, climbed the cacao tree and he came down with the cacao pod, which we'd seen at the Botanical Gardens in DC before,” Krissee explained. “He was like, 'How do you make chocolate from this'?”

Someone pouring chocolate into molds. — These chocolates are truly a work of art. | Photo via River Sea Chocolates

Krissee was intrigued by this concept and got to work on figuring it out. She began to attempt to make chocolate from scratch and fell in love.

“I was doing it; I was just like, 'this is what I want to do with my life,'” Krissee said. “I love working with chocolate. It just seemed to make so much sense when I was thinking about my history and my mom's story and how much I love chocolate. I still love chocolate. I eat chocolate every single day."

In 2017, they began selling chocolate. The Chantilly location then opened in 2018, while the Reston location opened last year. Plus, they’ll soon be opening their first location in DC at Union Market, which is expected to open by the end of the summer.

Krissee and Mariano also wanted to bring this business to Northern Virginia because they saw a gap in the market.

“What I really wanted to bring was this idea of single-origin chocolates,” Krissee explained.

And this is exactly what the D'Aguiars did. Are you now in the mood for a sweet like me? Give some chocolate a try and order here.