Notes from the selva
Straight, sourced guides to Colombian cacao for chocolate makers: what makes a bean fine, how to read a cut test, which varieties and regions matter, and how to choose who you buy from.
Fine-flavor vs bulk cacao: what's the difference?
Fine flavor cacao vs bulk cacao: the ICCO definition, genetics, fermentation, taste, and how a chocolate maker can tell the two apart in the workshop.
Why fine-flavor cacao costs more (and what you're paying for)
Why is fine flavor cacao more expensive? Genetics, hand harvest, fermentation, testing, small lots and traceability, plus what a 25 kg box turns into.
From harvest to chocolate: how a cacao bean becomes a bar
How is chocolate made from cacao beans? Follow the bean to bar process from harvest and cacao fermentation to drying, roasting, conching and tempering.
Buying cacao beans wholesale: order sizes, prices and what to ask
The order-size ladder from sample to container, what really sets a wholesale price, landed cost, and the questions to ask before you buy cacao beans in volume.
How to choose a cacao bean supplier: a checklist for bean-to-bar makers
Choosing a cacao bean supplier? A 10-point checklist for bean-to-bar makers: samples, lot lab data, continuity, landed cost, minimums and import paperwork.
The cacao cut test, explained (with real lot data)
The cacao cut test explained for makers: how to cut and classify beans, what each defect means, NTC 1252 and ISO 2451 grades, and a real lot report decoded.
Colombian cacao varieties: a maker's guide to TCS, FSV, FEAR and Luker clones
Colombian cacao varieties explained for chocolate makers: AGROSAVIA's TCS clones, Fedecacao's FSV 41 and FEAR 5, CNCH and Casa Luker's Luker 40, with bean size and flavor.
Colombian cacao regions: where the country's fine-flavor beans grow
Colombian cacao regions for chocolate makers: Santander, Magdalena Medio, Arauca and Meta, Tumaco, Huila, the Sierra Nevada and Quindío, with production data.
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta cacao and the TCS 01 clone: a maker's guide
What AGROSAVIA's TCS 01 clone is, what the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta means as a cacao region, and how to judge a TCS 01 lot, with real numbers from our Canaán origin.
The history of cacao in Colombia, from the Amazon to the bean-to-bar era
The history of cacao in Colombia: upper-Amazon origins, the Caquetá genetic cluster, colonial Criollo, pajarito, national breeding and the bean-to-bar era.