Meet the maker
Qantu
About Qantu
Qantu chocolate is one of Canada’s newest and most exciting new craft chocolate makers. ‘Qantu’ is the national flower of Peru – the place where Elfi and Maxime, the founders of Qantu, first met in Cusco. The pair have now moved to Montreal, Canada, and started experimenting with chocolate in summer of 2016. They founded Qantu in February 2017, and by the summer of 2017 already had two Gold awards and one Silver from the Academy of Chocolate.
Qantu’s mission is to promote chocolate made with native cocoa beans. A lot of farmers convert from native to hybrid because they get more quantity, and Qantu want to prevent that from happening. In addition to protecting these native beans, Qantu also strive to educate people on the difference between hybrid and native cocoa beans and why it’s important for biodiversity to preserve native beans.
How they became makers…
Elfi is an industrial engineer and Maxime is an IT data specialist. A pair of true chocolate lovers, Elfi and Maxime visited the Alto El Sol in San Martin, Peru in 2014 and absolutely fell in love – the farmers were kind, generous, and proud of their products created a spark inside of Elfi and Maxime to start creating their very own bars.
Qantu’s Sourcing
All of Qantu’s beans are sourced directly from the cooperative and imported with no middlemen. Elfi and Maxime visit the cooperative when it’s possible, if not meet with them in Lima, Peru and ask how they work (harvest, fermentation, drying). Qantu also ensures that the cooperative have good post-harvest and business practices. The company has some contacts with DEVIDA, MINAGRI and APPCACAO so they can help Qantu to validate the level of quality of the cooperative. Then, the pair request samples of the beans so they can evaluate the physical aspect (moisture level, fermentation %, defects) as well as the flavours. If it’s good, the beans are bought and imported directly from the cooperative – a company must be paid to take care of the customs in Peru but that’s it, there is no middlemen, and all the money goes to the cooperative.
An Interview with Qantu
We asked Efli & Maxime a few questions about Qantu:
- What’s your background? Why and how did you get into chocolate?
- When did you start your company — and with whom? How many are there of you?
Company was founded in February 2017, Elfi and Maxime are the founders. We did our first test with chocolate on August 2016.
- What mission have you set yourselves for making chocolate?
Our mission is to promote chocolate made with native cocoa beans. A lot of farmers convert from native to hybrid because they get more quantity, and we want to prevent that from happening. We also educate people on the difference between hybrid and native cocoa beans and why it’s important for biodiversity to preserve native beans.
- Where do you want to go next? New bars, beans, markets?
We want to have more beans from other regions of Peru, then we’ll target other native cacao from Latin America. For the markets, local market is pretty small so we want to leverage our prizes at the AOC to enter different countries in the world. We have orders from USA, UK (Cocoa Runners!) and Toronto, Canada. Other European companies showed their interest in tasting our products.
- What is the story behind your company name?
Qantu is the name of the national flower of Peru and Bolivia. It’s a wild flower that origin where Elfi and Maxime met 10 years ago. It’s also a symbol of unity among people.
- Who designed your packaging – and what are you most proud of about your packaging
The idea comes from Elfi who wanted people to understand the steps to produce chocolate so she came up with the idea of using 9 icons, one for each step. It was also designed to help sellers in different stores to remember easily the steps so they could explain to the clients. It’s also a good way to explain people the difference between a chocolate maker and a ‘chocolatier’ who buy chocolate and only melt it to make its products.
- How did you source your beans?
All our beans are sourced directly from the cooperative and imported with no middlemen. We visit the cooperative when it’s possible, if not we meet with them in Lima, Peru and ask how they work (harvest, fermentation, drying), we ensure the cooperative have good post-harvest and business practices. We have some contacts with DEVIDA, MINAGRI and APPCACAO so they can help us to validate the level of quality of the cooperative. Then we request samples so we can evaluate the physical aspect (moisture level, fermentation %, defects) as well as the flavours. If it’s good, we buy and import directly from the cooperative, a company must be paid to take care of the customs in Peru but that’s it, there is no middlemen, all the money goes to the cooperative.
- What inspired your choice of wrapper/mould design?
The mould represent the houses in an old neighbourhood or Montreal. It’s also the ‘Maison Qantu’ (Qantu’s House). We wanted something from Montreal in our packagind/mould.
- What innovations in tech, crafting, marketing etc. are you pursuing?
At crafting level, we just want to make chocolate our way. A lot of chocolate makers buy their beans on Internet with little consideration of the farmer or cooperative. We search for good native well fermented and dried beans. We work hard to preserve to the maximum all the flavors of the beans (less roasting means more winnowing work!). Also, we would like to do a partnership with a cooperative to help them export their own product. Many of them gets help with growing cocoa trees but very few gets help to produce a good quality chocolate and find clients oversea. We have 2 prospects at this time, Cooperative Songori from Selva Central and Fundo Estrella (Augusto Palomino) from Quellouno near Cusco. They working at improving the post-harvest this year, so hopefully next year we’ll start a project with them.
- What is your favourite food? Wine? Other chocolate makers?
Elfi: Food: Ceviche and Sushi; Wine : white from Inniskilin, Discovery series Pinot Gris; Chocolate: Soma Peru Nacional
Maxime: Food: Aguadito (soup from Peru); Wine: Red Pinot Noir from Cloudline, Oregon; Chocolate: Dark Milk bars from Chocolat Madagascar.
- What chocolate achievement are you most proud of to date?
To win gold medals at the AOC on our first year. It was totally unexpected. We sent samples just to have feedback on our chocolate and know where we stand compared to other chocolate makers. We are also very proud that chocolate made us meet so much interesting and generous people, like the farmers, other chocolate makers, chocolate passionates, and you guys of Cocoa Runners 🙂 !!
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
Amedei
AMMA
Ara
Askinosie
Auro Chocolate
AWKI
Aztec Gold
Baianí
Bare Bones
Bean & Goose
BeanCraft
Belmont Estate
Belvie
BOHO Chocolate
Bonnat
Bullion
Butterfly
Cacaoken
Cacaosuyo
Carambole
Casa Cacao
Castronovo
Chapon
Chequessett Chocolate
Choco Del Sol
Chococard
Chocokoo
Chocolarder
Chocolat Madagascar
Chocolate Tree
Chocolatemakers
Chocolaterie A. Morin
Chocolaterie Robert
ChocoMe Atelier
Claudio Corallo
Cocama
Coco Caravan
Cocoa Retreat
Conexion
Contour Chocolate
Cuna de Piedra
Damson
Dandelion Chocolate
DesBarres
Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate
Diogo Vaz
Doble & Bignall
Domori
Dormouse Chocolates
Duffy’s Chocolate
Encuentro
Endorfin
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
Hoja Verde
Idilio Origins
Innato
Islands Chocolate
Ivee Promenade
JK Fine Chocolates
Jordi’s Chocolate
Junglegold Bali
Kankel
Karuna
Krak Chocolade
Krakakoa
La Naya
Land
Lapa-Lapa
Latitude
Levy
LIM
Lucocoa
Luisa Abram
Luisa’s Vegan Chocolates
Lumineux
Lyra
Madécasse
Malagos Chocolate
Manoa
Manufaktura Czekolady
Marana
Marou
Mast Brothers
Maüa
Mellow
Menakao
Mestico
Metiisto
MIA
Michel Cluizel
Mike & Becky
Milz Chocolat
Minka
Mirzam
Misina Cokolada
MOKA
Montecristi
Mucho
Nadalina
Naive
NearyNogs
ÓBOLO
Ocelot
Oialla
Omnom
Original Beans
Pacari
Pacha de Cacao
Palette de Bine
Parliament
Pitch Dark
Plaq
Pralus
PRIDI Cacaofevier
Puchero
Pump Street Chocolate
Pure Imagination
Raaka
Radek’s Chocolate
Raphio Chocolate
Reine Astrid
Rio Nuevo
Ritual Chocolate
Rococo
Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé
Ruket
Seaforth Chocolate Co.
Shattell
Sirene
Sisters A. Chocolate
Soklet
Solkiki
Solomons Gold
Solstice
Soma
SPAGnVOLA
Standout Chocolate
Storm & Bille
Stranger
Svenska Kakaobolaget
Table
Taucherli
Taza Chocolate
TBROS
TCHO
The Careless Collection
The Smooth Chocolator
Theobroma Cacao
Tibito
Tobago Cocoa
Tosier
Undone Chocolate
Utopick
Vinte Vinte
Willie’s Cacao
Zotter
