"I was the first person that came to East Timor and asked about East Timor cacao... one of the guys there had somehow gotten a hold of some information on how to ferment and dry, so he had done just a little bit with a few trees, and they sold me …
interview
Interview: David Castellan, Co-founder of SoMA Chocolate
"When we first started trying to purchase beans, when we called up the bean broker... we said, you know, we just want to buy one bag, two bags [of cocoa beans], and they kinda laughed and said 'no one ever orders two bags of cocoa... I only have 11 …
From Big Family Business To Cacao Farmer & Beyond
It's the 1950's; your country is poor and in the throes of recovery from WWII— but in the south, there's the promise of land. The Japanese occupied the Philippines for 3 years, and after they were forced out, the country was devastated. Many …
Interview: Emily Paek, Founder of Public Chocolatory
"I think even if the [cacao] beans are all the same, but the makers are different, the outcome is very different."-Emily Paek, Founder of Public Chocolatory Emily Paek was one of the first craft chocolate makers in Korea, and quite frankly, it's …
Interview: Emily Stone, Co-Founder Of Uncommon Cacao
"Craft chocolate is still such a small industry that it's very rare that one, or even five craft chocolate makers would be able to purchase the entire harvest of one origin... they need the stability of a buyer who can bring on the cacao from the …
Interview: Vincent Mourou, Co-Founder Of Marou Chocolate
"Every farmer that we started with [in 2011], we are still working with."-Vincent Mourou, Marou Chocolate Vincent Mourou is widely recognized as one of the first craft chocolate makers in Asia. He's one of the co-founders of Marou Chocolate, a …
How Young People Are Reorienting Philippine Cacao
A commonly-quoted statistic is that the average age of a cacao farmer is 50 years old. That statistic comes from this 2014 article detailing studies done to determine the average age of cocoa farmers in West Africa. So while that number is not …
Maddy Smith, Barefoot Chocolatini: Growing The Napa Valley Of Chocolate
Maddy Smith comes from a family of fabricators. For her entire childhood, her family had this secret chocolate toffee recipe that served as the envy of the neighborhood. For the longest time, this was Maddy's favorite treat. Years later, her …
Chocolate On The Road: The Internet
To listen to the previous episode click here. The Queen of England, with all her billions, cannot buy better chocolate than you can.-Clay Gordon Craft chocolate's growth, just like that of Milliennials', has paralleled the rise of the internet. …
Puerto Rico: My First Taste of Latin America
I've just been to Puerto Rico for a week. Except for a few days in Spain before I started university, I had never been in a Spanish-speaking country. All I wanted was the sand and the sun, and I think I got plenty of both, though maybe a bit too …
