Bars with Ecuadorian Beans

Pump Street Chocolate - Ecuador, Dark Milk 60%

Pump Street’s Ecuador dark milk is more intense than a typical milk bar, but still has the characteristic creaminess of milk chocolate. Featuring slightly yeasty notes, it rounds off with notes of honey and treacle.

The beans in this bar are Heirloom Designated Arriba Nacional beans, grown on Samuel Von Rutte’s Hacienda Limon estate in the Guayas Basin, Ecuador. Unusually, Samuel pre-dries the cocoa seeds before fermentation, which reduces both acidity and bitterness and contributes to their rich and nutty caramel profile.

Pump Street Chocolate - Ecuador 100%

Possessing an intense cocoa flavour, this bar has a low acidity earthy taste thanks to its long conche yields. With no added sugar, this is perfect for those who love powerful flavours and pure chocolate.

The beans in this bar are Heirloom Designated Arriba Nacional beans, grown on Samuel Von Rutte’s Hacienda Limon estate in the Guayas Basin, Ecuador. Unusually, Samuel pre-dries the cocoa seeds before fermentation, which reduces both acidity and bitterness and contributes to their rich and nutty caramel profile.

Pump Street Chocolate - Cookie Chip, Ecuador, Dark Milk 60%

This moreish 60% Cookie Chip bar from Pump Street is made with their very own Pump Street Chocolate Chip cookie dough, baked to a caramelised crisp, and embedded in their Ecuador Dark Milk chocolate.

The beans in this bar are Heirloom Designated Arriba Nacional beans, grown on Samuel Von Rutte’s Hacienda Limon estate in the Guayas Basin, Ecuador. Unusually, Samuel pre-dries the cocoa seeds before fermentation, which reduces both acidity and bitterness and contributes to their rich and nutty caramel profile.

Pump Street Chocolate - Croissant, Dark Milk 62%

This indulgent 62% dark milk bar encapsulates Pump Street Bakery’s handmade croissants. An indulgently buttery bar packed with crisp flakes of croissant.

The beans for this bar are grown in Hacienda Victoria, a 500-hectare cocoa plantation about half an hour from Guayaquil, Ecuador. Established in 2012 by Carlos Eduardo García Fuentes and named after his wife, Victoria, the estate is leading the way in sustainable, socially responsible cocoa agriculture.

Herencia Esmeraldas - Ecuador, Dark 70%

This dark bar has a vinous and wine-like flavour profile, with lots of eucalyptus and green notes thanks to the famous Ecuadorian Arriba Nacional beans. It ends with a lovely long finish that evolves and matures with great balance.

Herencia Esmeraldas is the result of a four-year development project funded by the Italian International Cooperation Agency. It is an association of 400 families – all partners in the business – who drop off their unprocessed cocoa beans at six different collection centres around the region. The beans are then processed centrally before being turned into chocolate bars. During fermentation and drying, sensors in the batches send real-time information to their systems, allowing them to learn from each batch and adjust their processes to obtain the desired flavours and fragrances.

Herencia Esmeraldas - Ecuador 70% with Mango

Herencia has combined its wine-like and vegetal dark bar, made from Ecuadorian Arriba Nacional beans, with the bright sweetness of mango, a staple crop in the local area. The result is a well-balanced inclusions bar that is sure to satisfy purists and newcomers alike.

Herencia Esmeraldas is the result of a four-year development project funded by the Italian International Cooperation Agency. It is an association of 400 families – all partners in the business – who drop off their unprocessed cocoa beans at six different collection centres around the region. The beans are then processed centrally before being turned into chocolate bars. During fermentation and drying, sensors in the batches send real-time information to their systems, allowing them to learn from each batch and adjust their processes to obtain the desired flavours and fragrances.

Naive - Ecuador Rough Ground, Dark 75%

A first-ever release from Chocolate Naive, exclusively for Cocoa Runners, is their ‘rough-ground’ chocolate.

Naive is known for its experimental flavours in chocolate making, but had yet to play around with textures. This style – rough ground – is very much based on Mesoamerican chocolate-making, or rather on Mesoamerican drinking chocolate. Chocolate’s etymology dates back to the Mayans’ usage of cacao, where they would make ‘xocolatl’ (meaning bitter water). Xocolatl was a frothy, bitter drink made from roughly ground cacao seeds. The Aztecs adopted cacao into their own culture, and for their own personal consumption would add various flavours, like petals, chilli, cinnamon, vanilla and honey. This experimental approach taken by the Aztecs has definitely influenced the chocolate makers of today, from sweetening up the natural ‘bitter’ flavours of cacao, to finding flavours that really work with and complement the cacao.

Inspired by the Mesoamericans, Naive have taken Ecuadorian cacao beans, ground them ‘roughly’ with sugar crystals to produce this Rough Ground 75% dark chocolate. The style is rustic, unrefined, it has a gritty texture, yet the flavour is delicate: floral and slightly nutty.

Askinosie - San Jose Del Tambo, Ecuador 70%

Made from cocoa from the San Jose Del Tambo region of Ecuador, this chocolate has a wonderfully complex flavour with notes of bergamot orange, honey & jasmine.

A quiet, unassuming village at the foothills of the Andes Mountains holds one of cocoa’s best-kept secrets. Once an outpost for journeying Quechua Indians looking for rest before ascending the Andes, San Jose Del Tambo, Ecuador, has made its mark in South America as one of the best regions in which to grow cocoa. Its balmy weather and high altitude, coupled with the roaring waters of the Rio de San Miguela, together create one of the world’s best environments for growing superb cocoa beans.

Askinosie’s first-ever origin, Shawn visited this town in 2006 and has been excitedly journeying back every year since. Today, he works with a very small group of family farmers in San Jose Del Tambo that harvests the highly coveted Arriba Nacional cocoa beans. These beans—considered by some to be the best in the world—evoke the unbelievably rich, earthy soil of the Ecuadorian Andes.

Pralus – Ecuador Dark 75%

A rich & earthy dark chocolate with spicy and roasted flavour notes.

Pralus has been making patisserie and baked treats in Roanne, France, since 1948. Auguste Pralus quickly became famous for his Praluline, a gorgeous brioche packed with rose-sugar-coated pieces of almonds and hazelnuts. Auguste’s son François is now at the helm, and Pralus has become famous the world over for its fabulous chocolate. François is a master chocolate maker – he’s always on the lookout for new cocoa beans and has recently bought his own farm on the Madagascan island of Nosy Be.

Duffy’s – Corazon Del Ecuador Dark 72%

This is a sweet and nutty 72% dark chocolate made with Ecuadorian cocoa beans. It has a smooth texture, and is sweet for a 72% chocolate, with a nutty flavour and subtle orange blossom notes.

Duffy sources the cocoa beans for his chocolate directly from cocoa farmers and co-operatives, ensuring a higher price for the farmer and a better quality product. The beans used in this bar are the the Ecuadorian ‘Nacional’ variety. These are grown by the Camino Verde project, in Balao canton of Guayas province. Located below the Guayas river, the biodiverse region has a long history of growing cacao.

Bonnat - Los Colorados, Ecuador 75%

This wonderfully sweet and mellow bar from Bonnat is deliciously smooth, with a fruity and floral flavour profile, hints of honey, and a pronounced cocoa finish.

The Bonnat family has been making chocolate in Voiron, France, for over 130 years. It was current head Stephane’s parents, Raymond and Nicole Bonnat, who pioneered Bonnat’s first single-origin bars in the 1980s. Stephane has continued his parents’ proud tradition, now working with 35 different plantations worldwide to produce Bonnat’s world-famous chocolate.

The beans in this bar are sourced from the Tsachila indigenous people of northwestern Ecuador.

Solstice - Camino Verde, Ecuador Dark 70%

This is an aromatic cacao that gives rise to a nutty flavour profile, with hints of cinnamon and brown sugar.

Husband and wife Scott Query and DeAnn Wallin founded Solstice Chocolate in 2013, among the scenic vistas of Salt Lake City, Utah. Utah has recently been dubbed the craft chocolate capital of the States, and rightly so with its boom in makers and retailers of small-batch craft chocolate. Starting as a hobbyist before running Solstice as a business, DeAnn has always been fascinated by chocolate. Chocolate made its way into many of DeAnn’s family activities, from making chocolates as a child with her grandmother, to making chocolates as a mother with her daughters. Yet another example of chocolate finding wonderful ways to bring people together.

The beans in this bar are grown by Vicente Norero on the Camino Verde Estate, located near Balao on the southern coastline of Ecuador.

Cocoa Retreat - Mono Bravo, Ecuador Milk 50%

This is a wonderfully mild and buttery EcuadorIan milk chocolate with pronounced flavours of toasted almonds, floral honey, and nougat. The buttery texture is characteristic of Cocoa Retreat bars.

Cocoa Retreat is a one woman operation producing small batch craft chocolate. Oenone Thomas is a chocolate maker with an incredible sense for good flavours, using her expertise to roast to perfection and create wonderful recipes for each variety of cacao bean.

In Oenone’s first career, she trained and worked as a journalist before moving on to become a child and adolescent counsellor. Behind the scenes, she has always had a love for chocolate, initially this was  a hobby for finding new and wonderful chocolate and a joy for eating it. Slowly, she developed the knowhow for producing small batch chocolate and has since been perfecting her craft.

Ritual - Camino Verde, Ecuador 75%

This is one of two dark bars made by Ritual using Ecuadorian beans. This has slightly lower cocoa content but what the bar lacks in intensity, it more than makes up for in flavour.

The chunky bar has a clean snap. As you break off a piece, inhale the floral aroma layered with jasmine, orange blossom and an earthy undercurrent. The smooth bar starts out chocolatey and a little chocolatey and sweetens to into a honeyed green note. Sugar snap peas and sweet vegetables mix with creamy, almost nutty flavour. The slightly drying finish has just a hint of astringency.

The cacao is from the Camino Verde estate. The lush plantation was recently restored and the farmers have been working hard to improve with each and every harvest. The beans are the ‘Arriba Nacional’ variety, the fine flavour cacao that Ecuador is famous for and characterised by its floral aroma.

Heinde & Verre - Hacienda Victoria, Ecuador 100%

Discover the exquisite Nacional Arriba cacao variety from the Hacienda Victoria Estate in it’s purest form. The 100% chocolate is smooth, with tasting notes of walnut, coffee, herbs, and rich chocolate brownie.

Hacienda Victoria is a 500-hectare cocoa plantation about half an hour from Guayaquil, Ecuador. Established in 2012 by Carlos Eduardo García Fuentes and named after his wife, Victoria, the estate is leading the way in sustainable, socially responsible cocoa agriculture. For this bar, Dutch makers Heinde & Verre have selected the highest ASSPS quality cacao grade of Ecuador – meaning that the beans for this bar are processed separately by the farmers at the plantation to make a special, unblemished selection of perfect fermented beans.

Maüa - Hacienda Limon, Ecuador 100%

This 100% dark bar from Maüa is bright and vibrant. The chocolate takes time to build before bursting onto the palate with all sorts of floral and green notes.

Maüa was born in April 2020, from the love between Silvia Sánchez and Jaume Martorell Mir. The name ‘Maüa’ actually comes from a fusion of two very different origins – the ‘Ma-‘ of Maüa is taken from Mallorca, where Jaume is from, and the ‘-ua’ has been taken from Nicaragua, where Silvia is from. And it’s not just the name that demonstrates Silvia and Jaume’s roots – Maüa’s packaging (designed by Xisco Barceló, a recognized designer in Mallorca) is a mix between the traditional fabrics from Mallorca and indigenous fabrics from Nicaragua. Today, the pair are based in Mallorca, working alongside 6 employees as the very first bean-to-bar makers on the island.

The beans in this bar are Heirloom Designated Arriba Nacional beans, grown on Samuel Von Rutte’s Hacienda Limon estate in the Guayas Basin, Ecuador. Unusually, Samuel pre-dries the cocoa seeds before fermentation, which reduces both acidity and bitterness and contributes to their rich and nutty caramel profile.

Höganäs - San Jose, Los Rios, Ecuador, Dark 80% with Nibs

The bar is made with the CCN51 varietal, a high-yield & disease-resistant cacao that is used by the majority of the chocolate industry – try the bar, and let us know what you think!

Höganäs chocolate was founded by Gustavo Marun Cozzarelli in 2018. Gustavo was born and raised on the Hacienda San Jose cacao farm in Ecuador, which has been owned and run by his family for almost 100 years. The name ‘Höganäs’ was inspired by the man who transforms their single-origin cocoa beans into bars, in his chocolate factory in Sweden. As the beans are grown in Ecuador and the chocolate is produced in Sweden, the packaging for their bars is designed as a postcard to connect both the farm and the factory together. Höganäs’ mission is to turn all of the cocoa grown at Hacienda San Jose into high quality, award-winning chocolates, that have full traceability and sustainability.

All of Höganäs’ bars are made with beans sourced from Hacienda San Jose in Los Rios, Ecuador. Gustavo’s family have been perfecting the fermentation methods for the beans for five generations, adapting techniques from harvesting other crops such as bananas, giving the farm the highest production yields in the country for cocoa.

Höganäs - San Jose, Los Rios, Ecuador, Dark 70%

The bar is made with the CCN51 varietal, a high-yield & disease-resistant cacao that is used by the majority of the chocolate industry – try the bar, and let us know what you think!

All of Höganäs’ bars are made with beans sourced from Hacienda San Jose in Los Rios, Ecuador. Gustavo’s family have been perfecting the fermentation methods for the beans for five generations, adapting techniques from harvesting other crops such as bananas, giving the farm the highest production yields in the country for cocoa.

Höganäs - San Jose, Los Rios, Ecuador, 100%

This 100% dark bar is perfect for those who like their chocolate in its purest form. The chocolate is smooth, with a long finish and a hint of dried fruit and nuts. The bar is made with the CCN51 varietal, a high-yield & disease-resistant cacao that is used by the majority of the chocolate industry – try the bar, and let us know what you think!

All of Höganäs’ bars are made with beans sourced from Hacienda San Jose in Los Rios, Ecuador. Gustavo’s family have been perfecting the fermentation methods for the beans for five generations, adapting techniques from harvesting other crops such as bananas, giving the farm the highest production yields in the country for cocoa.

Original Beans - Esmeraldas Milk

Consistently one of our most popular bars, you can’t go wrong with this creamy milk chocolate from celebrated chocolate maker Original Beans. Esmeraldas is made in Switzerland from the finest Ecuadorian Arriba beans and is difficult to put down, with notes of caramel and hazelnut. A touch of sea salt has been added to complement the silky sweetness.

Esmeraldas Milk is also a great choice whenever you’re baking anything chocolatey – chocolate brownies, tarts, mousses, cookies, etc. The depth of flavour in this fantastic Swiss chocolate makes a big difference to the final taste. Your guests will certainly be able to tell the difference!

The cacao for this bar is grown by the villagers of Mono Bravo in the cloud forest reserve of Mache Chindul. With its fair prices and tree-planting initiative, Original Beans has helped the community designate 800 hectares of this special rainforest as a village forest reserve, to protect one of the most threatened rainforest ecosystems on earth.

Herencia Esmeraldas - Dark 85%

This 85% dark bar from Herencia Esmeraldas is made from the famous Ecuadorian Arriba Nacional beans, giving the chocolate a bold wine-like flavour. The bar has a lovely long finish, which is extremely well-balanced.

The beans are processed centrally before being turned into chocolate bars. During fermentation and drying, sensors in the batches send real-time information to their systems, allowing them to learn from each batch and adjust their processes to obtain the desired flavours and fragrances.