Origin & Flavor

There is more to this chocolatey flavor that we have all grown up loving. Cacao beans possess a wide variety of inherent flavors, which vary greatly depending on their origin.


Most people think of chocolate as just one fudgy flavor because the vast majority of cacao used to make chocolate comes from one region that exhibits this flavor: West Africa. The reality is chocolate is one of the most diversely and densely flavored foods in the world, surpassing even coffee and wine. Yep, that's right - there are more flavors in the chocolate world than in your favorite wine shop. Who knew? (Clue: We did!)

Chocolate is layer upon layers of certain flavors. You have the typical chocolatey-fudgy taste we all know and love; then you have other flavors we categorize as Fruity, Nutty, Citrusy, Earthy, and Floral. We'll expand upon each in a minute, yet why are there so many flavors, you ask? Well, just as grapes are to wine, cacao is grown worldwide and picks up its flavor notes depending on its origin.

Each cacao origin has its unique genetics of the cacao plant (fancy people call this varietals). The soil, atmosphere, fermentation, and drying processes are different from origin to origin, all of which highly impact the flavor of the origin's cacao beans. Roasting also has a very high impact on the final taste, just like in coffee, we have light to dark roasting levels across the board.

Finally, we chocolate makers get to work with the cacao on our own to conch, blend and ultimately control the final flavor profile. It's truly an art, and our final product is dependent on the quality of the cacao beans we buy from origins and how we select these various flavors to use when making our chocolate. So, without further adieu, let us dig into each flavor specifically.