Today we present you with a rare opportunity to taste some exceptional craft chocolate bars crafted in Taiwan and Japan.

Earlier this year we shared with you a highly limited collection of craft chocolate bars from Cacaoken, a Japanese craft chocolate maker. At the time we weren’t sure when we could obtain more stock, but today we are delighted to mark the return of Cacaoken and at the same time welcome three extremely rare bars from Fu Wan, a new chocolate maker from Taiwan. We have a very limited number of these bars and fear that we won’t be able to secure more until the new year.

As you might recall, Cacaoken is short for ‘cacao laboratory’ in Japanese. It crafts all its chocolate bars in its laboratory in Fukuoka. It sells in coffee stores throughout Japan and also via a caravan that Nakano-san drives around Japan (in which she and her mother, demonstrate how small batch chocolate is crafted) And on top of this it has a farm and research lab in Vietnam. Here Cacaoken grows cacao and experiments with bean fermentation. The bars all use these Vietnamese cacao beans (sometimes blended with Ghanaian cacao).

With such an incredible culture of food, patisserie, desserts and strong respect for artisan tradition, it may come as little surprise that Japan has now embraced bean-to-bar chocolate. One of these Japanese makers is Cacaoken by Yukari Nakano and her parents.

As well as plain milk, dark and white bars, Cacaoken also creates chocolate using local Japanese ingredients. Today we are welcoming three bars Cacaoken bars into our Chocolate Library: Milk Chocolate with Coffee, Milk Chocolate with Sea Salt and White Chocolate.

We were introduced to Fu Wan chocolate by friends in London just a few weeks ago, and we couldn’t wait to introduce you to their bars. Fu Wan is dedicated to sharing with the world the delicious ingredients that Taiwan has to offer, through the medium of chocolate. Fu Wan started its life not as a chocolate brand, but as a resort in Taiwan. Warren Hsu was the executive chef at Fu Wan Resort.

When the resort opened in 2011, Hsu’s mission was to provide guests with the very best local fusion cuisine. While sourcing ingredients locally, he met a cacao farmer who introduced him to the Taiwanese cacao, grown from grafted Indonesian cacao. Hsu was inspired, and Fu Wan Chocolate was born. The cacao industry in Taiwan is a relatively young industry, with the government encouraging farmers to plant cacao crops in response to the damage done to the land by the over farming of betel nuts.

Warren Hsu is one of only a handful of people crafting chocolate from bean to bar in Taiwan. He trained with expert bean to bar makers, before returning to Taiwan to start crafting bars. Through his chocolate, he is able to share the flavours of his native cacao not only with those who stay at Fu Wan Resort, but with people from across the world.

Fu Wan’s bars have gained a number of awards at their first outing at the International Chocolate Awards, both in the Asia Pacific Regional Awards and in the World Final. And we are delighted to have a small selection of their bars for sale.

We have only a very limited number of these bars for you, and if you’re lucky enough to be able to taste them, we hope you enjoy!

Shop the bars from Fu Wan and Cacaoken today.

Join us in saying ‘Bienvenido a Maraná!’, the newest Peruvian maker to joinour Chocolate Library.  

Peru is know to have a rich history of growing cocoa, however it has been relatively slow to join the revolution in craft chocolate making. Maraná joins only a handful of makers crafting chocolate from bean to bar in Peru.

After a decade in the corporate world, founders Zulema and Giuseppe were insearch of a more fulfilling career. They had come to learn about the growing popularity of Peruvian cocoa as an ingredient, and decided to explore ways inwhich they might be able to use their native cacao to craft chocolate in Peru.  They embarked on a  journey of exploration, learning in parallel about thedifferent cacao regions and profiles found within Peru, and about the technical skills needed to craft these natural ingredients into world class bars.

Very quickly they decided that their focus was to be on sourcing cacao fromsingle regions, and maintaining close relationships with those involved ingrowing the cacao.  For Zulema and Giuseppe, this means more than just giving their farmers a fair price for their beans.  They believe that the only wayin which Maraná can grow and improve is if their farmers grow too.  When weasked them about this, they said “At Maraná, we value the work of our cacao farmers and seek to make a real impact on theirlives and those of theirfamilies. We work with them hand-in- hand, as partners, implementing fair price policies that ensure sustainable development and sound living conditions. We also organize programs aimed at improving their harvesting and post-harvesting techniques and optimizing the quality of their products, thus allowing them to gain access to markets thatoffer higher prices.”

In order for this to be a sustainable approach, very early on Zulema andGiuseppe decided to source cocoa from only three regions where they areconfident that  the cocoa is top quality and the farmers are keen to work inpartnership with Maraná.  Rather than producing a generic ‘Peruvian’ chocolate, they produce microbatches of chocolate, made from beans fromeach region.  They believe that this micro batch approach would allow them tosource the finest potable beans, and that by focussing on a single region foreach of their bars, they are able to showcase not only the flavours of Peru as awhole, but the flavours of the individual regions.  Zulema and Giuseppe identified three particular regions that they wanted to concentrate on from thestart: Cusco, Piura and San Martin.

Through their distinctive packaging, Marana has sought to represent thecultural identity and heritage of their nation with designs that perfectly capture the mystery of Peru’s Amazonian folklore. For example, the San Martin collection is inspired by the mysterious and alluring Amazonian engravings. These present images of everyday life for those living within the Amazon. Theyare then illustrated against the magical and mystical backdrop of their myths. You can see gigantic boas and magical sirens next to jungle farmers andvillagers on these bars.

Their hard work has paid off – not only do their bars taste (and look!) great, but they have also been recognised by a host of international awarding bodies.  They received a number of awards in the Latin American leg of the 2017 International Chocolate Awards, and two Silver Awards in the World Finals ofthe International Chocolate Awards in 2017.

We first met Zulema and Giuseppe when they were travelling in Europe earlierthis year, and we’ve been lucky enough to catch up in person again just thispast month in London and Paris –  we can’t wait to share more about theirupcoming projects with you too!

Browse Marana’s bars in our Chocolate Library today.

We hope you love these bars too!

This week we are delighted to say Welcome!, Yokoso and Bem Vinda toTomoko-san and Sue of our first Portugese Craft Chocolate Maker, Feitoria doCacao.

The genesis of Fetoria do Cocao is a combination of travel and cooking. Sue Tavares has a long career as a chef, and Tomoko-san and she met whilstTomoko-san was exploring Portugal as part of her singing career. A few yearsafter meeting, they went on an epic adventure, involving changing planes multiple times, to visit Sao Tome and find out more about cacao growing andvisit cacao plantations. The were blown away by what they saw.

Sue and Tomoko-san travelled all over the island, met local farmers and were humbled by the day to day challenges these farmers overcame. They also experienced the wonders of freshly harvest cocoa beans and were fascinatedby the different flavours that local farmers could coax out of the beans throughdifferent fermentation and drying techniques.

Returning to Portugal they determined to build Portugal’s first craft chocolate company. In the years since they first saw cocoa growing in Sao Tome, theyhave spent every spare moment learning as much as they could about crafting fine chocolate bars – corresponding with makers in the UK, Japan, the US, Germany and indeed all over their They have made it their mission to become connoisseurs of craft chocolate, tasting bars from a huge range of makers tohelp develop their palates and hone their craft.

Initially they experimented out of their kitchen, and then a year or so ago they opened a small story, with a craft factory in the basement, in their home town of Evora – described by the Portugese as the “Venice of Portugal” thanks to its canals and seaside geography. Evora is a short train ride from Oporto – and we were lucky enough earlier in the year to visit them, taste some of their new bars and see their operations first hand.

Since then we’ve caught up with them again in London when they visited to collect their well deserved awards from the the Academy of Chocolate, and weare now delighted to be able to offer you some of their bars.

Tomoko-san and Sue hand craft all their bars from small batches of beans. Their bars are, as far as we know, impossible to find out outside of Portugal –and Sue and Tomoka sell almost all of their bars straight from their factory assoon as they are made. It took nearly six months for us to persuade them to sell us an allocation of bars, so we would warmly encourage you to try them while you can.

Visit our Chocolate Library to taste these amazing bars today!

We hope you love these bars too!

Meeting a new craft chocolate maker and tasting their bars is always exciting. Meeting a new craft chocolate maker who has already won a host of awardsand tasting bars that make your jaw drop is pretty special.

At the Academy of Chocolate Awards this year we had the pleasure of meeting Maxime & Elfi of Qantu. Having only launched Qantu in February of this yearthey had flown over especially from Montreal to collect an award for every barthey entered (two Golds & one Silver) as well as a special New Chocolate Maker Award.

Quantu’s first three bars all use Peruvian beans and are classic, simple, andwonderful bars that just contain cocoa mass, cocoa butter and some sugar. The depth and balance of flavour in each iss remarkable. Qantu has nowadded a fourth bar to its collection: a 100% crafted from Peruvian Chuncho beans with a fantastically smooth, deep profile.

The pair attributes Quantu’s chocolate achievements to years of chocolate eating. A few years ago their gourmand hobby even led them to visit a farm inSan Martin in Peru, which planted the seed of their future endeavours.

When Maxime & Elfi decided to turn their long term passion into a life it wassimple to decide where they would start looking for beans. They traveled toPeru, where Elfi was born and raised, and where the couple first met. Thename Qantu also reflects these roots. Qantu or Cantuta is the national flowerof Peru (and, confusing, also for Bolivia).

They are currently working with two different farmer co-operatives: one inPiura and one in Ayacucho. Qantu buy and import directly from the co-opsthemselves without any middlemen.

They are currently working with two different farmer co-operatives: one inPiura and one in Ayacucho. Qantu buys and imports directly from the co-opsthemselves without any middlemen. Once the beans arrive from Lima, Elfi andMaxime can start crafting their bars. The time it takes to get from bean to bar varies, as the pair adjust roast and conche times for each of their chocolates. When asked the secret to their chocolate making process, the answer wassimple, ‘Just a lot of love!’.

They hand craft every bar. They’ve been delighted by the way their bars havebeen received – and have struggled to craft bars to meet growing demand intheir local home market. We’ve persuaded them to let us have a very small allocation for this year – so if you want to be on the few to try these amazing bars this year, we strongly suggest you order them now and “love them” thesame way Max and Elfi have enjoyed crafting them!

Try the bars from Qantu today.

We hope you love these bars too!

New dates announced for our ever-popular craft chocolate tasting evenings.

While the sun might be shinning at the moment, Autumn is sneaking round the corner.

Once the weather begins to cool, we always find ourselves yearning for the comfort of a little extra craft chocolate. So we invite you to join us at our new series of craft chocolate tastings, held at Prufrock Coffee.

You will be able to taste around 14 different craft chocolates while also learning more about the cocoa origins, crafting process, and industry as a whole. This the perfect opportunity to ask the questions you’ve always wanted to and meet like-minded craft chocolate lovers.

Our chocolate tastings are fun and informal events, generally designed around a particular theme. From passionate craft chocolate insiders, to those just discovering ‘bean-to-bar’ chocolate, we welcome a range of guests at our events. This is seated tasting, accompanied by a presentation and guidance

And if you want to treat a friend, you can also purchase a pair of tickets that can be used at any relevant tasting in the next 6 months.

Tickets cost £25 each or £45 for a pair. All tickets include a small glass of wine on arrival and water will of course be provided.

We hold our tastings at Prufrock Coffee, 23-25 Leather Lane. Events start at 7pm so we advise you arrive a few minutes beforehand. If you have any allergies or intolerances please let us know in advance and we will do our best to accommodate you.

We hope to see you soon!

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][vc_column_text]We think that all craft chocolate is magical. It tastes like nothing else, the simple ingredients mean its better for you, and open, sustainable supply chains means its better for farmers.

But sometimes craft chocolate can be even more magical.

This year Omnom is sponsoring Reykjavik Pride. For the festivities Omnom has whipped up 2000 bags of its rainbow Omnom Popp – a special popcorn coated in chocolate and available in five colourful flavours.

If you’re unable to attend the festivities then never fear! Omnom has distilled a little Pride magic into a limited edition batch of its Caramel + Milk flavoured Pride bar. As we’ve come to expect from Omnom, this bar is a feast on they eyes as well as the tongue. The beautiful packaging features prancing unicorns and of course a rainbow background. But this is just the start – open the packet to discover the delicious chocolate beneath.

Omnom will be donating all the proceeds from Omnom Popp and the Caramel + Milk bar to Reykjavik Pride. We are delighted to fly the flag and support our Icelandic friends.

And whether you’re on Brighton Beach or at home, you can taste some of the magic yourself. We’ve a very few of the limited bars for you so we recommend you grab yours while you can (rainbow unicorns are famously hard to catch).

OMNOM – CARAMEL + MILK 2017

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A joyful celebration of diversity, Icelandic unity and pride.

The sweet chocolate uses Omnom’s fudgy, malted-tasting Nicaragua Milk as a base.

Enhancing the caramel notes in the chocolate, the bar’s surfaces is sprinkled with caramel pieces that have been coated in even more milk chocolate.

As you unwrap the bar you might just discover an extra bit of sparkle…[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Five of The Best New Chocolate Bars

Every month, we allow you to discover four new chocolate bars with our monthly subscription. The chocolate world is a big one, with makers sourcing beans from all around the world from Peru to Africa to Papua New Guinea and the Dominican Republic. We’ve tasted chocolate from every corner of the globe and we love to try new bars, whether it’s dark chocolate or milk. Each bar tastes different in its own unique way and it’s surprising how different each bar cam taste and it’s all dependant on the beans used and how the bar has bean created from the tree to the shelves.

Here at Cocoa Runners, it’s our job to discover the world’s best chocolate bars. We have tried thousands upon thousands of chocolate bars; some we’ve disliked, some we’ve liked and some we cannot live without. We have carefully rounded u our favourite new chocolate bars that we think everybody should try.

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GEORGIA RAMON

R.A.W

This special addition bar is made with unroasted Trinitario cocoa beans from Peru, and at maximum temperature of 55.55° C, it tastes incredible. This chocolate gives notes of fruity acidity with the aroma and taste of an earl grey tea with a hint of orange.

There is no definition of raw, there is no get hold of raw. How are the fermented beans? That’s handiwork and the temperatures can be very high. How the beans are dried, that there is quite a difference, or it is on a concrete slab in the burning sun, or on grates in a tunnel with shade cloth. And if cocoa butter is added, this component is by definition not raw.

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MORIN

LAIT JAMAÏQUE MARAVIA MILK

Jamaican beans have a history of being one of the first cacaos to be imported to the United Kingdom, though at the time chocolate was primarily a drink rather than a bar for eating.

These beans from Jamaica carry natural flavours such as fruit, nutty hints and sometimes, even an earthy tone all at the same time. A relatively hard to get hold of origin, the beans are primarily Trinitario. This classic milk chocolate has a fresh cream quality and a gentle pannacotta note which deepens into caramel with every bite.

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FRUITION

CORAZON QUINOA CRUNCH

This bar made by Fruition is limited edition. Using beans from San Martin and Maranon in Peru. Fruition have created a truly delicious milk chocolate bar with a surprising crunch. With every bite, you will notices notes of passion fruit, berries and lime salt.

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DUFFY’S

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC TAINO 65%

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DAMSON

BUFFALO MILK BLEND

Before founding Damson in 2015, Dom Ramsey was a prolific chocolate blogger, as well as a founding member of Cocoa Runners. In between crafting bars in Islington, Dom managed to find time to write his own book. Simply titled Chocolate, the book covers everything from the history of cacao to how you can craft your own. This bar combines cocoa beans from Ingeman in Nicaragua, Akesson in Madagascar and buffalo milk from Laverstoke Farm in Hampshire.

This bar gives rich dark milk notes with sweet flavours of dark caramel and fudge. There is also a subtle hint of red berries which adds depth.

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To help you celebrate Father’s day this year, we are excited to announce a special Father’s Day giveaway for you. Together with a few of our favourite small businesses, we have created the ultimate Father’s Day gift bundle for you to win.*

Included in this prize are host of wonderful goodies to delight your dad.

Quiet Rebellion Socks

First for the fun yet fashion conscious father, we’ve three pairs brushed cotton socks from Quiet Rebellion. Quiet Rebellion puts colour back into the soles of office workers around the world! Office attire needs to look professional but this often feels dull. Quiet Rebellion injects fun into your weekdays through socks hidden patterns so you can still look serious yet feel mischievous!

Pushkin Press Books

If your dad’s a bit of a bookworm, he will love Pushkin Press’ beautifully bound books. Pushkin Press publishes the world’s best stories, to be read and read again, and they’ve got the ultimate reads for any dad this Father’s Day. From Sand, a darkly sophisticated literary thriller from a star of the German literary scene, Clinch, a visceral, compulsive read about a boxer on the run that packs a punch and will leave you reeling, to 1917, a collection of passionate voices from the Russian Revolution and finally, Stefan Zweig’s exquisite Montaigne, an account of the French philosopher’s life which asks how we ought to think, and how to live.

Honest Brew Beer

And since Father’s Day is a celebration, it seemed only right to add in a tipple or twelve. In this prize we’ve also included Honest Brew’s 12 Beer Mixed Case for Father’s Day. This super gift box includes a selection of the world’s finest, freshest and most delicious craft beers, an official HonestBrew glass, an extremely handy bottle opener, and an exclusive Father’s Day card designed by London-based illustrator HATCH. No nonsense, no naff novelty, just great beer and gifts.

Cocoa Runners Hamper

Of course, no Cocoa Runners giveaway would be complete without chocolate! The lucky competition winner will also receive a Cocoa Runners Chocolate Lover’s Hamper. The wooden hamper is bursting with the finest artisan milk and dark chocolate bars. What more could your dad ask for?

How To Enter

In order to enter our giveaway, simply click on the button and fill out the form. We will contact the winner on Tuesday 13 June so make sure you check your emails. Good luck!

ENTER NOW

*Terms & Conditions apply. One entry per person. You must be 18 or over to enter. Prizes can be sent to UK addresses only. Entry closes at midnight Monday 12 June and a winner will be notified by email before 10am on Tuesday. The winner will have 24hours to contact us or we will redraw a new winner on Thursday. By entering, you are agreeing to receive marketing materials from all companies, but are welcome to opt out of mailing list at any time.

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Five of The Best Dark Chocolate Bars

By Cara Curtis

There’s something about dark chocolate that makes everyone indulge slowly a piece at a time. It’s more of an experience than a midday snack, whether the dark chocolate has fruity and citrusy notes or if it’s more smokey and earthy treat. It all depends on the bean quality, the skilled maker and the process the bar goes through from starting as a bean to then being shipped around the world.

Here at Cocoa Runners, it’s our job to discover the world’s best chocolate bars. We have tried thousands upon thousands of chocolate bars; some we’ve disliked, some we’ve liked and some we cannot live without. We’ve travelled from one side of the world to the other to bring you the best chocolate of the world from exotic places such as Madagascar, Peru, Dominican Republic and many more countries.

We have carefully rounded up our favourite 5 dark chocolate bars so take a look and let us know what you think – have you tried them before?

Here’s our picks from our Chocolate Library of some of the best dark chocolate bars:

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BLANXART

72% DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

This Dominican Republic bar is quite remarkable and completely incomparable. It’s as if the bar melts on your tongue and you’re suddenly met with wave after wave of chocolatey pleasure. This bar, made by the Spanish chocolate maker, Blanxart have nailed the art of dark chocolate in this bar alone. It gives notes of cream and intense chocolate. It’s simply a must-try.

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MENAKAO

SEA SALT AND NIBS

Whilst we are normally purists when it comes to single estate dark chocolate, we make an exception for this Menakao dark chocolate bar. This is an example of chocolate with inclusions done exactly right. This bar is jam-packed with fruity and berry notes that work perfectly alongside the intense chocolate flavour. The added salt serves for double purpose, whilst adding texture with the crunchy nibs, the sale also brings out the roasted fruity and raisin notes whilst reducing the bitterness. It’s simply perfect.

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PUMP STREET BAKERY

SOURDOUGH AND SEA SALT

This bar is an intriguing dark chocolate treat, with the sourdough adding an interesting inclusion and a gently crunch with a pleasant yeasty taste. It surprisingly works like a dark chocolate dream. It easily surpassed our expectations and earned itself a rightful place in our top five dark chocolate bars because of it’s unique yeasty and salty flavour which leaves you wanting more and more and … more.

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OMNOM

MADAGASCAR

This deliciously fruity, dark chocolate bar is the perfect example of what a Madagascan bean can do. This bar has a perfect balance between fruity and jammy notes which give for a sweet treat which is common for Madagascan bean bars. But, this bar didn’t make the 5 best dark chocolate bars for just been the best of its kind, it’s deserved its place by the slight sharpness of the cherry hints that break through the bar with every bite. For this, it has been awarded a Silver at the International Chocolate Awards 2015. Alongside this success, it also took home Bronze at the Academy of Chocolate Awards 2015.

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BONNAT

SELVA MAYA

This bar uses rare cacao from south-eastern Mexico which gives it a distinguished and unique taste. With every bite, there are floral and creamy notes that gives for a delicious and smooth mouthfeel. But we’re not the only ones that love this bar, the Chocolat Bonnat Selva Maya bar won World Gold at the International Chocolate Awards 2016 World Final, in London.

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On Tuesday 16th May we hosted our monthly Chocolate Tasting Evening at Prufrock Coffee. This time we did something a little different. Lizzie from Cocoa Runners invited Ama of Lucocoa to share the stage with her and talk about her experiences of chocolate making.

Among the guests was Terese Weiss. Terese is as keen about bean-to-bar chocolate as we are and is currently on the Teacher Training Programme at the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Training (IICCT). If you’ve taken one of the IICCT’s courses in the UK you might just have had the good fortune to have been taught by Terese.

After attending the event, Terese was kind enough to write an account the evening, which we are delighted to share with you below.

A ‘Hakuna Lucocoa matata’ kind of chocolate event

An evening of learning, tasting and a meeting a chocolate maker – 16 May 2017

When was the last time you met the maker and personality behind a product you eat pretty much daily?  Living in a big town like London, that in itself is rather uncommon, even in a time when specialty and craft are increasingly celebrated.  That is what made the most recent Cocoa Runners’ ‘meet the maker’ event so enticing and intimate: to hear and taste the story with the maker – in this case Lucocoa, aka team Ama and Andy.

To make an unusual start, let me tell you that as a professional interpreter, this would be my favourite kind of assignment.  What’s there not to like?  A relaxing yet informative evening with guided tastings of 14 quality chocolates and peppered with entertaining titbits.  (Who by the way knew that the UK chocolate market is bigger that the book and music industry combined!). But why is that relevant to interpreting – and how is that the reason the Cocoa Runners’ gig is one to keep looking out for.  Well, hear me out.

Interpreters are often regarded as semi androids, a hidden button somewhere is switched on, A language goes in, B language comes out.  Not quite so.  Language is just the top of the iceberg.  We look below and listen for meaning, intention and delivery – how well they align… or not.  I have interpreted many good and not so good presentations, so I can tell you: Cocoa Runners’ event was aligned, like a string of cocoa beans.  They speak fluent chocolate, no interpretation needed.

The evening was mainly hosted by Cocoa Runners’ staff Lizzie who did a deft job in giving sizable insight into the world of chocolate.  Although we covered a lot, (beyond the tasting itself – recognising quality, ingredients, the surge of the craft bar, how it is made and personal stories about every sample and maker, the size, shape and make up of the industry as a whole – and much more), I didn’t feel overwhelmed.  And that on a hot Tuesday evening after a long day’s work.  It takes a skilled and knowledgeable presenter to do that – and probably some of the most visual and entertaining slides I have long seen, which kept the evening light and engaging.  Who would have thought that a picture of chicken nuggets or a baby donkey could perfectly exemplify just about anything chocolate.  If you don’t believe me, go see for yourself!

Lizzie was seconded by Ama in a gentle duet, partly to hear Lucocoa’s story, partly to get a maker’s perspective.  If you don’t know Lucocoa, they are London’s first bean-to-bar maker, having set up in 2014.  She and Andy still juggle day jobs and have turned their spare room into a small chocolate factory, (doesn’t that sound like pure bliss), although plans to upscale elsewhere are on the horizon.  Ama’s background as a nutritionalist and the couple’s discovery of the Amazonian ‘super food’ lucuma fruit, (looks like a cross between a tennis ball and a granny smith) gave birth to Lucocoa’s name and signature ingredients: coconut sugar and lucuma powder.

There was something quite disarming in Ama’s ‘down to earth-ness’ and admittance of the teething problems she and Andy went through as new kids on the chocolate block.  Like how they leaned the hard way to navigate import and export, having travelled and found the beans they wanted to buy from a local woman in Belize and thinking it would just be a small matter of shipping them back to the UK.

We tried 4 of Lucocoa’s bars from Belize, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala showing us a fan of different flavours – and a delicious ‘natural blonde’ white bar.  However, for Ama it seemed more important to tell the story behind the bars, about the 3 different women, (Minni, Idelsa and Yasmira), who grow the beans, how they met and their relationship.  Aptly, the range is called ‘celebrating our women farmers’.  The direct trade and connection is, as summarised by Lizzie, exactly ‘what we love about craft chocolate’ namely ‘that you get really close to the individual farmer’.  The emerging availability of beans from these and other unique origin growers is also what is making the craft market and Cocoa Runners’ library boom these last few years – and what you get a select taste of at their events.

Listening to Lizzie and Ama it mostly felt like a couple of friends were sitting me down and telling me about their jobs and area of expertise.  There was no lecturing, no sleek marketing spiel, just nice people and a good atmosphere, with a pile of fine chocolate samples.  Indeed, what is there not to like?!

You can find out more about Lucocoa’s chocolate here.

You can find out more about the ICCTT here.