ChoCoaque  Cacao Cooperative

Jama, Manabi, 

Ecuador

There are 3 main cultivar groups of Cacao beans grown today:

Forastero,  

Trinitario

and Nacional .

 

Nacional is a Criollo Cacao grown from ancient heirloom beans, and is the rarest of the three because the trees are especially difficult to grow.

Chocolate made from  Criollo Nacional Fino de Aroma Cacao beans has a delicate, complex array of flavors.

The “King of Cacao", Criollo Nacional Fino de Aroma is highly prized and is used in Cacao Ceremony, and by the world's finest Bean-to-Bar micro chocolate makers.

ChoCoaqueCacao Cooperative Nacional Fino de Aroma Cacao is hand harvested from a single-origin.   The beans are sourced from Jama Valley small-holder Certified Organic family farms, then fermented in wood boxes, and sun dried, as local farmers of this land have practiced for generations.

Farmer members of ChoCoaque Cacao Cooperative  set their own prices, and continue to work cultivating and processing Criollo Cacao in their traditional ways.

Finca ChoCoaque  was purchased to save 6 acres of heirloom Cacao orchard from being cleared for cattle, and  has been preserved and restored to full health using all natural fertilizers, integrated pest management and agroforestry.  

This small, certified organic, 

woman-owned farm, and the 

ChoCoaque Cacao Cooperative 

use absolutely no child or slave labor.