FROM BEAN TO BAR
I get the cocoa beans directly from farmers, and then I manage the whole process from those beans to the final chocolate.
Kakaoarbo is a chocolate handmade from bean to bar. Although it’s very uncommon practice, this is the way to know what I'm doing and what I’m dealing with.
Most of the world’s chocolate is industrial coming from one of the giant cocoa grinders. Their priorities are consistency and low cost. It’s amazing to think that chocolate can be so inexpensive and can have such a consistency in flavor : that’s the magic of the industry. It shouldn’t be that way ! Think about wine : will you prefer a blend of all kind of grapes to find a consistent taste, or the wine that is made in a way to reveal all the characteristics of that specific grapes, in that specific area, with that specific ground, and the weather of that specific season ?…

THE PROCESSING
Once the beans are in my workshop, a long process starts:

Quality checking
First of all, beans are checked to put away any defect bean. I use only first quality beans to make the chocolate.

Roast
Roasting beans depends of the desired flavor. I prefer a low and slow process that keeps the taste of the beans than a strong roast. Like wine, chocolate can reflect the “terroir”, as every single combination place/tree will give unique characteristics to the chocolate. But the way of processing the chocolate can destroys it, like over-roast does.
A part of the cocoa beans are kept raw to make raw chocolate and enjoy the pure taste of the cocoa beans.

Winnow
Beans are then separated into nibs and husks. Only nibs are used for the chocolate.

Mill and mix
Cocoa beans are milled by stone mill. It’s during this process that the sugar is added. It can take up to 3-4 days to get the desired consistance. The aim is to breakdown the beans and the sugar into very small particules so the mouth cannot detect them.

Temper
This step will give to the chocolate its shine and consistance. Chocolate has to be heated and cooled down in a very special way, following accurate temperatures. Depending of this step, chocolate will be able to last very long (in dry place between 15 and 18°c).

Mold
Tempered chocolate is put into molds, and cooled down.

Packaging
Ready chocolate bars are checked and then packed, one by one, into handmade packages.

THE PACKAGING
No plastic.
No aluminum foil.
I’m not a scientist, I will not make any research about plastic and foil, so I will probably never know how harmful they are (or not) for health but I just don’t trust them… So I won’t use any in my packages. This is without to think about how much both plastic and aluminum manufactures can contaminate our environment… No more comments about this.
Bars are wrapped into a layer of naturally compostable “transparent paper” (a film made of wood).
A paper made from recycled cocoa husks is used to cover it and show the information about the product.
HOPE YOU’LL ENJOY !