Coenraad Johannes van Houten ( March 15 1801 , Amsterdam - 1887 , Weesp ) was a Dutch chocolate maker known for creating a method for pressing the fat from roasted cacao beans to create cocoa powder . Coenraad Johannes van Houten ( March 15 , 1801 , Amsterdam - 1887 , Weesp ) was a Dutch chemist and chocolate maker known for the treatment of cocoa mass with alkaline salts to remove the bitter taste and make cocoa solids more water-soluble ; the resulting product is still called `` Dutch process '' chocolate . He is also , incorrectly , credited with introducing a method for pressing the fat ( cocoa butter ) from roasted cocoa beans , which was in fact his father 's invention .