“Like a Box of Chocolates”: Formosa Chocolates’ Kimberly Yang Talks About a Life That Led Her to Chocolate Making

If life were like a box of chocolates, one could only hope it would be a box of Formosa Chocolates; each, a veritable jewel box of brightly colored chocolate bon bons with flavors like coconut caramel, passionfruit, or a surprising membrillo yogurt. Its founder Kimberly Yang is a psychiatrist-turned-chocolatier and her boxes of bon bons are a diverse and adventurous assortment. Today, she produces chocolates out of her commissary kitchen in San Rafael, California. The variety evolves and changes, reflecting the memories, new and old, of its maker.

Yang grew up in Oklahoma, where Taiwanese food wasn’t prevalent, but luckily with family connections to the famous Taiwanese breakfast restaurant Yi Mei in Southern California, they had a regular shipment of frozen mantou, youtiao, and shaobing. Come Mid-Autumn Festival, Yang’s aunt shipped mooncakes to Oklahoma, making Yang’s mother the impromptu moon cake distributor for local friends and neighbors. Formosa Chocolates, born many years later, was inspired in part by Yang’s memories of the Taiwanese custom of gift giving.

Interview has been edited for brevity.

Kimberly and her chocolate tempering machine | Photo Credit: Adahlia Cole

What was it like to grow up in Oklahoma? Is there a Taiwanese community there?

There just wasn’t that many Asians let alone Taiwanese people in Oklahoma. We [went] to Chinese school but it’s not like we had Chinese friends in school. It wasn’t that easy to get Taiwanese ingredients so my parents would go down to Dallas every few months to get some Taiwanese things. That’s about a three hour drive.

It was not necessarily [from] wanting to be different but I definitely downplayed my Taiwanese heritage. I get it. That’s what kids do. But it does make me sad. Most of my family were living in Diamond Bar and Arcadia (Southern California) and they were surrounded by Taiwanese people growing up. I didn’t have that. Plus, my cousins grew up with my grandparents so they learned to speak Taiwanese. My parents spoke to us in Mandarin and they used Taiwanese to keep secrets from us. I understand it perfectly but my mouth doesn’t make the sounds. I tried taking Taiwanese lessons to pick it up again.

Chocolatier Kimberly Yang decorates the Asian ‘Twix’ bar at her business, Formosa Chocolates, in San Rafael on Feb. 1, 2024. | Photo Credit: Beth LaBerge

It’s a really difficult language to learn!

I do think I have the advantage in that I at least grew up hearing the sounds.

Was there a point in your life where you felt motivated to reclaim your Taiwanese heritage?

Yeah, it was in college. I was looking around at the student body leadership and realizing that everybody was white. I went to the University of Oklahoma, which is a Greek heavy school. If you didn’t have the backing of one of the fraternities or sororities, it would be really hard to become Student Body President or something.

I didn’t have any aspirations for that myself, but you can see that the sororities might have like one token Asian girl so I thought, we should have our own sorority. I had some other Asian friends at that point so I thought, let’s start a sorority!

We did try to have a KDPHI (Kappa Delta Alpha) charter. We drove down to Austin for that, but at the time, they didn’t think we had enough Asians to support it. So like, fine, we’ll start our own. That was Phi Delta Alpha and I still can’t believe that it’s still up and running! That was twenty something years ago.

Has it always been part of your plans to feature Taiwan and Taiwanese elements in your business?

When I was thinking about names for the company, it took a couple weeks just thinking of ideas. What things define me? I thought, “Okay, psychiatry.” Maybe, a chocolate disorder or something, but that’s hard to say. So then I thought okay, “What about my cultural background?” I just always thought the name Formosa was such a beautiful name. I knew a kid in Chinese school who had the name Formosa and I just thought that was so pretty that if I had a kid, I’d consider naming her Formosa too.

When I started it, I didn’t have a whole lot of Asian flavors because I was trying to offer ones with more broad appeal. From the beginning I thought presentation was super important. The more I got into it, the more I felt like anybody could make a raspberry or peanut butter bon bon but we need more representation in the food industry.

I saw that you visited Taiwan recently. What were some of the experiences that were most meaningful to you?

I had not been back to Taiwan in 12 years. It was really amazing to be able to spend a whole month there with my mom. It had changed quite a bit but I thought it was really easy to navigate, especially with my Mom’s reading skills. Besides visiting Fuwan Chocolate, I visited other cacao farms in Southern Taiwan.

Also, we visited this li zhi 荔枝（lychee) farm in Pingtung. It was just so interesting. This was a third generation farmer and his Dad was the one who grew the original root stalk. This was Yu He Bao 玉荷包, the variety of li zhi, and it was so so good. The son was learning about more innovative agricultural techniques. I have never had such fresh lychee before. All these little things they were pointing out, like how you actually don’t want it to be too sweet because it’s cloying, so you pick them right before it gets to that very sweet point because it keeps you craving more.

That’s a real expert touch. It’s an easy assumption to say we want all fruit to be as sweet as possible. It takes someone with real intimate knowledge of those flavors to determine when it’s at its prime.

Absolutely. And learning about dried longan, I didn’t know what an artisanal process it is.
They’re roasted in kind of like a hut and this guy is turning it every couple hours but for two weeks. So I had a whole new appreciation for that.

I [used dried longan] for my Lunar New Year box. I remember having it in sticky rice as a kid and it was always raisiny. I’ve always loved rum raisin so I thought, why not cognac and longan?

That’s genius!

I was trying to get that Renaissance Rum, but that’s expensive and super hard to get, so I thought “Okay, it doesn’t have to all be Taiwanese.” I went with Hennessy. That was a flavor I really liked.

What else can I share with our readers about Formosa Chocolates?

If anybody is looking for work, I need help with marketing and running pop ups and sales.

I did try to hire somebody to do marketing and it only lasted a few weeks because I just think she wasn’t telling the story right. She wasn’t Taiwanese, and not that you have to be Taiwanese to do the job, but I think it helps.

I would love it if this article somehow led to you finding the right person for the job. To that end, reader – if you’re interested in these positions, reach out to Kimberly via info@formosachocolates.com.

Formosa Chocolates is a Taiwanese-American woman owned, artisanal chocolatier based in San Rafael, CA (San Francisco Bay Area). Our name is a tribute to our heritage. Formosa means “beautiful,” in Portuguese — and is taken from “Ilha Formosa,” a name Portuguese sailors dubbed the island when they first spotted its beautiful coast in 1542. Their work has been featured in the Michelin Guide, Consumer Reports, Bon Appétit, the Food Network, SF Chronicle, and 世界日報 (World Journal). Shop their full collection at https://www.formosachocolates.com/

TaiwaneseAmerican.org Food Editor Tiffany Ran is a chef and writer based in Seattle, Washington. Her writing has been featured in Seattle Magazine, Vice Munchies, Goldthread, Seattle Weekly, Lucky Peach, and more. She runs a Taiwanese pop-up called Babalio Taiwanese Pop Up, showcasing lesser known dishes and aspects of Taiwanese cuisine. She is very passionate about tracing and contributing to the growing recognition of Taiwanese cuisine in the U.S.