PORT GAMBLE — With the twirl of a spoon and a deft flick of the wrist, Janis Kelley, owner and operator of the Port Gamble Tea Room, has created a little magic in her kitchen. That magic, better known as chocolate, is flowing forth into her dining rooms and onto her customers’ plates, much to their glee.

About two or three months ago, Kelley decided it was time that she learned the fine art of chocolateering — the craft of making truffles. She quickly enlisted the help of a professional chocolate maker, and has since been refining her technique of flavoring and creating.

“It’s quite fitting, because my husband and I both love chocolate,” Kelley said, speaking for her husband, Scott, who helps run the tea house. “It also further proves that learning about something only increases your love of it even more.”

After learning the basics, Kelley is now mastering the art of flavoring the chocolate in addition to making it. She doesn’t desire to have the flavor lost in the taste of the chocolate, but rather to pack a punch so it stands out.

“I don’t want customers to have to seek for the flavor,” she said. “It should be power flavor, so they taste it right off, without it overpowering the chocolate flavor. It’s a delicate balance that I’m working on.”

Working with chocolate is a constant learning curve, one that Kelley continues happily, though it hasn’t all been smooth shells and creamy insides since she started. Though she took to it like a chocoholic to, well, chocolate, there were one or two mishaps she had to work through.

“No, I did not,” Kelley said when asked if she thought she would be making chocolate when she bought the Tea Room. “But it has been a very pleasant decision, that I’m happy I made. It comes pretty naturally, and there was only one batch of truffles that I ruined fairly early on. The center didn’t come out the way I hoped, and I had to toss the batch.”

The shiny chocolates are selling like hotcakes since customers have been able to get their hands on them, she said. So far, she hasn’t heard one complaint, and people seem to like the unusual flavors that are her own creation — like Berry Cherry and White Chocolate with Apricot and Hazelnut.

“I’m hoping to have about 25 to 30 flavors that I’ve created by the time I’m done,” Kelley said. “I’ll also do an all white chocolate, all milk chocolate and an all dark chocolate for those people who just want something chocolate with no flavor. I’ve noticed that most people, when presented with a combination milk and dark chocolate, only want one or the other, not both.”

Kelley is also experimenting with different ways to use chocolate. For Valentines Day, she’ll be cooking up edible picture frames and pictures. All one has to do is email her a picture to put in the frame, and she’ll print it on edible paper with a chocolate background and a chocolate frame.

“I’m just trying different things as I learn how to make the best chocolate I can,” Kelley said.