Tcho’s dark chocolate form Ecuador

While in California my wife and I dropped in on family friend Brad Kintzer, chief chocolate maker at Tcho in San Francisco.  Not only does Brad have the sweetest job title I can think of, he also works for a company that has developed an innovative relationship with its cacao producers.

Most of the world’s chocolate, at least 90%, is made of cacao grown by micro producers, meaning farmers with two hectares or less.  Many of these small farmers are organized into cooperatives.  In a sense this is great, but because you’re dealing with so many individuals there has been a historical lack of consistency in product.  Cooperatives can have any number of members, in Mexico and Central America my very broad estimate is that these average about 500 members.  Presumably in Western Africa and South America cooperatives are just as big or bigger.  So controlling individual practices and processes to attain uniformity of quality and flavor has been one of the major challenges of selective chocolate makers.  Moreover most cacao producers have never tasted the chocolate made from their own beans.

One of the more interesting components of the program is the use of “flavor labs”.  These are essentially small, affordable chocolate factories designed to quickly make chocolate and analyze the quality of a batch of beans.  And because the quality of the beans are directly affected by its growers and cultivators, Tcho’s major coop partners are supplied with their own “flavor labs”.  These field labs are essentially identical to the lab used in Tcho’s San Francisco headquarters.  And for the producers to really take advantage of this system, (and to facilitate communication), sensory training is provided to their producers around the world.

I found the concept so important that we’ve decided to invest in a flavor lab for our own cacao plantation.  The thought is that we’ll be more equipped to produce consistent & flavorful beans for our own purposes and also give local growers access to the equipment.  In the end we want chocolate to garner the same respect, in terms of attention to origin, genetics and process as that of wine or cheese and Tcho’s efforts are a big step in that direction.

Molly chatting with Tcho chocolate maker, Zohara.

Cacao bean cross section

Brad, Jefe de los Chocolates

Finished chocolate bar, yummy

View near factory

On my last trip to the Darien I stopped in on this girl’s family, they’ve cultivated the cacao around their home for as long as they can remember.