Up until just a decade ago, you’d have been hard-pressed to find the name of a country of origin on a chocolate bar wrapper. These days? It’s standard practice for anyone starting a chocolate company.

But most small batch chocolate companies are going even further than just country of origin by naming the cooperative, estate, or producer from which their beans were sourced. On their end, many of these producers are now specifically targeting the high-end market. They’re carefully harvesting the ripest pods, fermenting & drying beans with the weather in mind, and storing their cacao in climate-controlled conditions. But even will all of that extra effort, will it be enough to attract buyers?

In this episode, we talk to 4 leaders in the craft chocolate & cacao industry about the slow development of cacao brands. Each of them has worked firsthand with farmers to improve their post-harvest handling of cacao, and has seen the amount of quality cacao on the market soar. Cacao producers began looking for a way to differentiate themselves, and in the process, they began approaching their product just like the chocolate makers do.

To read the article which inspired this episode, click here.

Show notes: https://damecacao.com/chocolate-on-the-road-cacao-brands/

Show Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chocolateontheroad/