2019 Origin Trip #1: Davao- January 2019
This year marks our eleventh anniversary of being the first chocolate makers in the world to export cocoa from the Philippines, and of collaboration with our lead farmer partner, Peter Cruz.
Together with Peter and Johnny Silva, Peter's partner and the farm manager, Shawn visited the post-harvest and fermentation site and inspected our next shipment of cocoa beans.
After a cut-test and thorough analysis of random bean samples, Shawn shared profits from last year’s crop--our biggest profit share with this origin yet!--and discussed next year’s contract.
We’re excited because this year’s beans are better than ever! We can’t wait to get these beans in our factory in the coming months and start making chocolate with them. Without these direct trade relationships with esteemed farmer partners, we couldn’t make great chocolate.
While in the area, Shawn was also able to visit the site of our next Chocolate University School, Cadalian Elementary School, adjacent to one of the farms where cocoa beans we purchase are grown and harvested. We're excited to share more details on the exciting new developments in this program, coming soon.