Origins —
Latin America
Cacao’s homeland and the fine-flavour heartland. Learn to hear a country in a bar.
The map of the Americas
This is where cacao was domesticated and where most fine-flavour beans still originate. Each country carries a loose signature — click through them:
Origin is a tendency, not a guarantee. Ecuador grows both floral Nacional and flavour-poor CCN-51; fermentation and roast can override the "typical" profile entirely. Use origin as a hypothesis, then taste.
Place one origin
Taste blind
Score a Latin-American bar on the instrument before checking the country.
Form a hypothesis
Bright and floral? Suspect Ecuador. Nutty and mellow? Venezuela. Earthy and robust? Dominican Republic.
Reveal and reconcile
Check the label. Where the bar defies the signature, the maker’s fermentation or roast is usually why.
Questions
Flashcards
Lock it in
From memory:
- Where was cacao domesticated?
- Give the signature for Venezuela, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic.
- Why can Ecuador be either floral or flat?
- Which country leads fine/organic volume?
- What is "silvestre" cacao?
Origins — Africa
& Asia-Pacific
Where most of the world’s cocoa actually grows — as bulk — with a few brilliant fine-flavour exceptions.
The other two-thirds of the world
Africa grows most of the world’s cocoa, nearly all of it bulk; Asia-Pacific mixes volume with a rising fine-flavour scene. Click through:
Volume vs the exceptions
Volume origins
- Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, most of Indonesia
- Bulk Forastero sold by weight
- Clean, classic "chocolatey" (Ghana) to smoky/rough (some Indonesia)
- The base of the global commodity market
Fine exceptions
- Madagascar (Sambirano), Vietnam, top PNG lots
- Bright red fruit, citrus, spice
- Sold on flavour, not tonnage
- What the craft world seeks out
Questions
Flashcards
Lock it in
From memory:
- Which two countries dominate world production?
- What is Madagascar the reference for?
- Which origin gives a signature smoky note, and why?
- Is most African cacao fine or bulk?
- Name a rising Asian fine-flavour maker/country.
Dark across
the spectrum
Two bars can both say "70%" and taste nothing alike. The percentage is the least interesting number on the label.
What shapes a dark bar
Percentage sets the sugar; the maker sets everything else. Click each lever:
Two philosophies of the same bean
Light-roast, fruit-forward maker
- Preserves acidity and origin fruit
- Bright, distinctive, sometimes challenging
- Lets a fine bean speak
- The modern craft signature
Dark-roast, classic maker
- Develops deep roasty, cocoa-forward flavour
- Rounder, more familiar, more forgiving
- Masks origin — and can rescue a lesser bean
- The traditional style
When two 70% bars differ, roast and conch — not the number — are usually why. Taste the maker’s intent, not the percentage.
Questions
Flashcards
Lock it in
From memory:
- What does % actually fix?
- How do light and dark roast differ in effect?
- What does conching trade off?
- Name the biggest single flavour lever.
- Why isn’t a higher % automatically better?