Meet the maker
Lucid Chocolatier
About Lucid
Lucid Chocolatier is a New Zealand bean-to-bar chocolate maker founded by chocolatier and chocolate maker Johnty Tatham in 2020. After an initial launch later that year, the company refined its vision and relaunched in 2022, quickly earning recognition with a strong showing at the New Zealand Chocolate Awards. Today, Lucid remains a small team, with Johnty working full-time alongside two part-time staff from the family farm where the chocolate is made.
From the beginning, Lucid has focused almost exclusively on Peruvian cacao, believing that a single country can produce an extraordinary diversity of flavours through differences in terroir, genetics and farming practices. This philosophy is expressed through two distinct collections. The Purist Collection showcases Peru’s finest cacao origins through single-origin dark chocolate, allowing customers to taste their way across the country while learning about the people and places behind each bar. Alongside this, the Inquisitive Collection draws on Johnty’s culinary and artistic background, creating inventive flavour combinations using carefully crafted techniques and meaningful New Zealand ingredients. Each bar bar tells a story, whether that’s slowly cooking fresh sheep’s milk from neighbouring farms into dulce de leche powder, or harvesting mulberries from a century-old family tree planted before Johnty’s great-great-grandfather left for war.
The name Lucid reflects the company’s philosophy. Rather than referring to lucid dreaming, it comes from the word’s original meaning: clarity of thought, simplicity and something luminous that naturally draws people in. That sense of clarity is echoed throughout the brand’s minimalist Incan-inspired packaging, revealing artwork, maps and stories about the chocolate’s origins.
How they became makers…
Food has always been at the centre of Johnty’s life. Growing up between the family farm and the kitchen, he was cooking full meals for the family by the age of ten. Although he initially studied Fine Arts and Psychology at university, food soon drew him back, and while at university, he started a Kiwi pie business from his flat kitchen, becoming fascinated by pastry techniques, fillings and baking. That curiosity eventually led Johnty to culinary school. After training, he worked across fine dining kitchens before discovering a passion for pastry, spending time in a number of pâtisseries before becoming a traditional chocolatier. It was while working with couverture chocolate that bigger questions emerged: where did chocolate come from, how was it made, and what determined its flavour? Those questions introduced him to the growing craft chocolate movement. With little money to spare, he bought a small melanger and a bag of cacao nibs, teaching himself to make chocolate in his flat after finishing work each day. On the eve of his 23rd birthday, he decided to take a leap of faith, moving back to the family farm to establish a bean-to-bar chocolate business. That decision eventually became Lucid.
They have since been recognised internationally, with Lucid winning Gold medals from both the International Chocolate Awards and the Academy of Chocolate within five months. While the awards brought global recognition, Johnty describes the greatest achievement as finally earning his own respect after years of constantly striving to improve.
Lucid’s sourcing
Lucid has always sourced cacao through Cacao-Life in Peru, but over time the company has shifted towards working directly with individual farming families rather than relying solely on cooperatives. After spending almost four months travelling throughout Peru and building relationships with producers, Lucid now communicates directly with many of the families who grow their cacao, placing orders roughly every 12–18 months after the main harvest. The process is slow, often taking eight to ten months from placing an order to receiving the beans, but the direct relationships and exceptional quality make the wait worthwhile.
Most of Lucid’s chocolate comes from Peru, with the Marañón Valley being one of its most celebrated origins. The cacao here is grown by four brothers led by Noe Vasquez, whose mission is to preserve the rare Nacional, or Fortunato No. 4, cacao variety native to the valley. Around 40% of the beans are naturally white, and the region is considered one of the birthplaces of cacao domestication. The family has produced cacao for more than 15 years, operating independently rather than as a cooperative.
Lucid also works with Cacao Betulia in Maceo, Antioquia, Colombia, which is Lucid’s only non-Peruvian origin. Founded by a Swiss family, the biodynamic-certified farm specialises in rare Criollo cacao. After searching Colombia’s forests for heirloom cacao, they selected three outstanding varieties (B6, B8 and B9) which are now cultivated on the farm for their exceptionally high proportion of white beans and distinctive flavour profiles. Fermentation and drying are treated with equal care. Marañón cacao undergoes a carefully monitored eight-day fermentation in tornillo wood boxes, followed by slow drying under shade on raised platforms to gently reduce acidity while preserving flavour. At Betulia, fermentation lasts five to six days before the beans are sun-dried until they reach around 7.5% moisture.
Johnty often discovers new producers by tasting other makers’ chocolate before travelling to meet the farmers in person. One memorable sourcing trip involved an 18-hour solo taxi journey into the Marañón Valley, while the relationship with Cacao Betulia began after finding the farm on Instagram and visiting shortly afterwards. Impressed by the family’s passion and remarkable cacao, Lucid purchased beans on the spot and had them air-freighted back to New Zealand.
Want to explore more makers of the world's best craft chocolate? Just start typing their name (or any letter) into the search box to discover them.
20° Nord 20° Sud
9th & Larkin
Åkesson’s
Amaro
Ara
Aroko
Askinosie
Auro Chocolate
AWKI
Baianí
Bare Bones
BeanCraft
BOHO Chocolate
Bonnat
Butterfly
Cacaoken
Cacaosuyo
Carambole
Casa Cacao
Castronovo
Chapon
Choco Del Sol
Chococard
Chocokoo
Chocolarder
Chocolat Madagascar
Chocolate Tree
Chocolatemakers
Chocolaterie Robert
ChocoMe Atelier
Coco Caravan
Cocoa Retreat
Conexion
Contour Chocolate
Cuna de Piedra
Dandelion Chocolate
DesBarres
Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate
Dormouse Chocolates
Duffy’s Chocolate
Encuentro
ENRICHD
Erithaj Chocolat
Ethereal
Feitoria do Cacao
Firetree
Fjåk
Forever Cacao
Fossa
Foundry Chocolate
Franceschi
French Broad Chocolates
Fresco Chocolate
Friis Holm
Fruition
Fu Wan Chocolate
Georgia Ramon
Goodnow Farms Chocolate
Grenada Chocolate Company
Hasnaâ La Feverie
Heinde & Verre
Herencia Esmeraldas
Herufek
Höganäs
Hogarth
Ivee Promenade
Jordi’s Chocolate
Junglegold Bali
Kankel
Karuna
Krak Chocolade
Land
Latitude
LIM
Luisa Abram
Luisa’s Vegan Chocolates
Lumineux
Manoa
Manufaktura Czekolady
Marana
Marou
Maüa
Mellow
Menakao
Metiisto
MIA
Mike & Becky
Milz Chocolat
Minka
Mirzam
Misina Cokolada
MOKA
Mucho
Nadalina
Naive
NearyNogs
ÓBOLO
Ocelot
Oialla
Omnom
Original Beans
Palette de Bine
Parliament
Plaq
Pralus
PRIDI Cacaofevier
Puchero
Pump Street Chocolate
Pure Imagination
Qantu
Raaka
Raphio Chocolate
Reine Astrid
Ritual Chocolate
Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé
Ruket
Shattell
Sirene
Sisters A. Chocolate
Solomons Gold
Soma
Standout Chocolate
Storm & Bille
Stranger
Svenska Kakaobolaget
Table
Taza Chocolate
TBROS
The Careless Collection
Theobroma Cacao
Tibito
Tobago Cocoa
Tosier
Utopick
Vinte Vinte
Willie’s Cacao
Zotter
