Valentine’s Day, outside the box

If you want add a twist to the chocolates-and-flowers experience with your Valentine, try a tour of the Taza Chocolate factory in Somerville at 2 and 4 p.m. Thursday snd at several other regular times throughout the week. Samples of Taza stone ground, Mexican-stye dark chocolate are offered.

Taza Chocolate guide Alison Hard explains how the chocolate is made while viewing the packaging and shipping room on a tour of the Taza Chocolate Factory. The 45-minute walk-through includes a discussion of the South American farms that provide the company with its cocoa beans

A Barth Sirocco 200 Red roasting machine sits in the roasting and willowing room. It roasts the raw cacao beans in the first step of making the chocolate.

Amelia Zai, 7, looks at raw, organic cacao beans while learning about how the chocolate is made on a tour of the Taza Chocolate Factory.

Suhayl Ramirez hands out samples of chocolate at the Taza Chocolate Factory retail store.

This Valentine’s Day, Taza is selling a special bar for $8: The 3-ounce Coco Besos, which includes chocolate shavings within the actual bar and, as the name implies, a good amount of coconut, too.

“The appeal of the tour is learning about where chocolate comes from,’’ said marketing manager Robin Ruttle, noting its Mesoamerican roots. “It’s something that a lot of people love, but that they maybe don’t know that much about. This is a way to be mindful about what you’re eating, and take a look at something you’ve enjoyed forever from a different standpoint.’’