"Mint," he manages to say between cheesy bites, but even that isn't enough for 7-year-old Allison's probing.

"Dark or light?" she continues, because—after all—their dad, chocolatier David Massey, makes his own mint pieces in either German dark chocolate or white chocolate.

"Both," her brother responds with a grin, the pizza finally swallowed.

What seems like a simple favorite flavor is much more involved for the Massey siblings, because they—like their parents—are connoisseurs of chocolate and have tasted varieties from around the world.

Their pizza finished, both children turn their eyes to the kitchen, where their parents, Lisa and David, are busy experimenting with new molds, caramels and styles to use in their fledgling gourmet chocolate boutique.

In November 2004, David's Gourmet Chocolates opened its virtual doors to the public, capping almost two years of taste testing, experimenting and research into chocolate making. They sold almost 2,000 pieces of chocolate over the holiday season through Internet and phone orders and are looking forward to their business growing. They've been getting requests for Valentine's Day.

"We're not aggressively marketing at this time," David says. "Because we're not relying on the business for income, we can pace ourselves."

Right now, David and Lisa say they just want to focus on making the highest quality chocolates they can. They're confident that if they succeed on that front, more customers will come, more money will be generated and one day their rented commercial kitchen will give way to a small chocolate shop.

"If I make something that I enjoy and I think that it's the best that I can do, then I think other people are going to want it as well," David says.

Although the Masseys have only been selling chocolates publicly since November, David has been making his own chocolate as gifts for family and friends for a dozen years.

He started off hand-dipping truffles for friends, but decided two years ago to pursue it as a business.

David knew a little about baking from helping his grandparents in their Boulder Creek bakery as a child, but he soon learned there was much more to a box of chocolates.

"It's kind of a convergence of a lot of things in my life and the end result is this chocolate," David says.

A self-proclaimed fan of automation, he began researching and testing a series of homemade "tempering" machines that carefully control chocolate temperatures to ensure success through the process. He settled on a series of laptop computer-controlled—using a program he wrote—tempering machines that use heat lamps or hot air to warm chocolate.

Chocolate must be carefully tempered before use, so it can be poured, hold its shape and shine when complete. Properly tempered chocolate also "snaps," when bitten. To temper chocolate, the temperature must first be raised—to 120 degrees for dark chocolate, lower for milk and white—and then brought down to the low 80s before being brought back up to 88 or 89 degrees. After it is tempered, David says he has about 90 minutes to use the chocolate, because after tempering, "Beta 5" crystals begin forming in chocolate. While the crystals are what make the chocolate hold shape and contract when it cools, they also make it harder to work with as they form.

"Chocolate is a very technical food, it can be very difficult to work with. But if you get it right, it can be very good," he says.

David also created a "shaker table" to violently—and loudly—shake chocolate in molds to rid it of air bubbles.

David's inventions are not limited to the kitchen. He's also created several programs for use in film broadcast—his day job—and invented a machine to develop color photo paper. His house is automated and controlled from a central location in the living room, including the 7-foot television screen that descends from ceiling.

But while much of the chocolate-making process benefits from the precision that comes with automation, a product is only as good as the ingredients. So David and his very willing—and rewarded—family and friends spent almost a year and a half testing chocolates and fillings from around the world.

"It's an art and a science at the same time, and that's why it appeals to me," David says.

The Masseys held blind taste tests and sampled ingredients at food shows. In the end, they settled on items from as far away as Germany and as close by as the East Bay. All the tasting has given David a sense for chocolate to rival some wine tasters. He can often tell where in the world a chocolate came from, and sometimes even the maker.

"I don't know if I could pinpoint the region that well, but I could get close," David says smiling.

For the ubiquitous dark chocolate outer shells, David uses Schokinag chocolate from Germany. The dark chocolate inside some of the pieces is Scharffen Berger chocolate from Berkeley. For the milk chocolate, he uses the Belgian Callebaut brand.

The Masseys order chocolate in bulk, and are known to have 25-pound plastic buckets of chocolate sitting in their kitchen

Their dedication to finding the right chocolate has paid off, and they've earned the respect of some noted Sunnyvale community leaders.

"I've probably eaten enough chocolate in my life to count as an expert," says Sunnyvale Community Services Executive Director Nancy Tivol. "I lived in Europe, so I had German chocolate and Belgian chocolate, and I can tell you David's chocolate is exquisite."

Tivol is not just a simple fan of chocolate. She is an accomplished dessert maker herself, who often donates her chocolate desserts to Community Services auctions and other events. She buys chocolate in bulk like the Massey's and knows what goes into a good chocolate product.

The Massey recipes are constantly being tested and improved, and on Feb. 3, David replaced the caramel he had been using with a new type that is both easier to squeeze into molds and has a more distinct flavor. He says the flavor of the insides is a delicate balance because a weak flavor will get lost in all the chocolate, but too strong a flavor will overpower the outer shell.

The Masseys have made almost a dozen different kinds of chocolate treats, but settled on six to begin selling.

For coffee fans, there are "Kona" chocolates with mild, sweet Hawaiian coffee flavoring, sweet cream and "Kahlua" inside. And for those who like tea, there's Chai, with the spiced tea and dark chocolate inside. Tyler's favorite "Mints" come in dark or white chocolate with a minty filling. The tallest of the chocolates, "eXtreme Caramel," has caramel inside, sitting atop a layer of chocolate "ganache," a mixture of chocolate and heavy cream. The last two types are fruit-based, "Lemon," surrounded by dark chocolate and the Valentine's Day-ready "Raspberry," shaped like a heart with a raspberry puree in a dark chocolate ganache.

"What I'm trying to do with this chocolate is make chocolates that are sort of unique but are still people's favorite, so they come back for more," David says.

Some, like the mints, have images such as stars on them. The images are made with a combination of food coloring and cocoa butter, and are imprinted by pouring the chocolate into a mold with a magnetic backing where a transfer sheet can be placed.

Because they sell the chocolates publicly now, David and Lisa cannot make them in their kitchen, so they rent a commercial kitchen in Santa Clara. However, the couple plans on moving their operation to Mountain View in March.

The Masseys typically work two weekends a month, and in an 8-hour day, working together, they can produce between 500 and 600 pieces of chocolate to fill their 6-, 12- and 24-piece boxes.

"He's the surgeon, I'm the nurse," Lisa says.

The couple has only been through one holiday season, but they did see a spike in sales and interest. For Christmas, they sold almost 2,000 pieces, and had people order from as far way as Wisconsin and Tennessee. They've also begun to see friends of friends and other people they don't know ordering chocolate—a sign that business is beginning to grow.

This past month, The Masseys provided chocolate award cups to all the winners at the 40th Annual Murphy Awards, and Tivol was so impressed that she is going to ask the couple to make gifts for all the guests at her son's upcoming wedding shower.

"I think anyone who tastes this chocolate is going to come back," Tivol says.

The Masseys are now getting orders in for Valentine's Day, and are packaging special boxes full of the raspberry hearts for the celebration.

But even as orders start to pour in, the Masseys are still experimenting with molds, colors, flavors and techniques to create products to please everyone from the finest candy connoisseurs to the children running through their own kitchen.

"Chocolate is as deep as you want it to take it; it pleases a wide variety of people and a wide variety of palates," David says.

For more information about David's Gourmet Chocolates call 408.761.1158 or go to www.DavidsGourmet Chocolates.com.