Cacao Crazy in Costa Rica!

Magical Chocolate Balls, taken by Yarden

First day upon arriving on Costa Rica’s luscious caribbean side, I was lucky to find the most delicious and unique cacao I have ever savored. It wasn’t from one of the well established  bean to bar cacao cafes and tasting rooms that are scattered throughout the Talamanca area (even though these were all stupendous), but a local farmer, Emmanuel, with a table on the beach selling fresh orange juice, sugarcane juice, a variety of fruits, coconut oil, honey, cacao beans and powder, as well as his special cacao balls.

The cacao balls contain three simple and healthy ingerdients; ground roasted cacao, coconut oil, and honey, that’s it. He used all ingredients he created, and you could taste the love. The cacao balls have a gritty, sandy texture and like flavor bombs, exploding with a coffee like sweetness and intensity. They are so strong you can smell them from a few feet away, and look so dark and mysterious. My sister says, “There is a primal sensation of hunger as soon as it touches my tongue, and it’s so powerful I want more and more.”

So what makes these so good? It’s the quality of cacao, which is unlike any other I tasted. Our first day meeting  Emmanuel and drinking his fresh orange juice, he handed each of us a cacao bean. From my experience, most cacao beans were extremely bitter, and not pleasant, but this one was so sweet, rich and delicious, it started an obsession, and my love for cacao deepened.

CariBeans

Carabeans tasting room, taken by Yarden

Cacao Woman inside Carabeans Chocolate Shop and Tours, taken by Yarden

A great bean to bar cacao cafe I discovered was CariBeans, the first and only operating bean to bar chocolate company in Costa Rica, and locally sourced and roasted coffee on the Carribean coast of Costa Rica. They have their own cacao farm where they produce their cacao onsite, and a free tasting room in their cafe. Using only fine, organic, “fair trade” and locally sourced forestero cacao, and coffee, they produce some of the best quality cacao I ever experienced, and have a great sustainable business. I was able to talk to the employees at the business, and their main goal is to insure quality chocolate while supporting the local community, focusing on local family farmers. They are not certified fair trade, but declare working with only local farmers, as well as some local indigenous groups.

They also offer a week long program called School of Chocolate, where you learn how to micro batch produce your own chocolate, as well as learn the history and business of cacao in Costa Rica.

This was the best example of a sustainable cacao business I came across, and think what they are doing for the community is fantastic.

http://caribeanscr.com/chocolate.html