Browse & Buy Original Beans Esmeraldas Chocolate

The Esmeraldas Province lies at the southernmost point of one of the most threatened and least known rainforest ecosystems on earth – the Chocó. Esmeraldas cacao, from Mache Chindul, is the last coastal cloud forest of Ecuador which replenishes all major rivers in the region and is home to an enormous variety of plants and wildlife, including the spectacular Imbabura Tree Frog and the Mache Glas Frog.

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Esmeraldas Cocao

Heirloom Arriba Nacional cacao remains unaffected by Ecuador’s boom in hybrid cacao, but is threatened by deforestation along with other flora and fauna. Notes of caramel and hazelnut with Fleur de Sel resonate throughout this rare Arriba cacao, floating down from Ecuador’s last Pacific cloud forest, where silky tree frogs bask in the humid breeze.

SUPPORTING LOCAL FARMERS & ECOLOGY

In several village communities, Original Beans help to preserve and reforest local Arriba Nacional cacao varieties and provide training in organic cacao growing, fermentation, drying and quality control. In return to our investments, the community of Mono Bravo has already committed 800 hectares of highly biodiverse rainforest as a village forest reserve.

PRESERVE THE RARE

To make sure that cacao beans of distinction and the rainforests in which they are found are protected and safe from extinction, Original Beans grow one tree for every bar sold. When you break off a piece of Original Beans chocolate, not only are you a moment away from enjoying the earth’s rarest cacao beans in their purest form, but you are breaking ground for a tree in a cacao producing region under threat.

Through their One Bar : One Tree programme, Original Beans customers and farmers have grown millions of trees to date. #OneBarOneTree

TASTE THE RARE

Like other tree fruits, cacao is infused with flavours from the environment in which it grows. Its seeds, also known as beans, are full of nutrition and when harvested, fermented, and dried with craft, they reveal the unique characters of their distinct origins. Since 2008, the ‘Bean Team’ travels to the rarest places on earth to bring original beans to you.

Each of the beans, and their origins, has a story to tell. We invite you to taste them all.

DARE TO BE RARE

Original Beans has been on a mission to encourage the world to grow a taste for preserving nature. Since 2008, they have ventured into remote rainforests to feature the world’s rarest cacaos and transform the culture of chocolate, food and luxury. In doing so, Original Beans has been demonstrating that it is not only possible, but in many cases practical too, in order to regenerate what we consume.

Together, we can preserve nature in all its rarity. Taste the rare and preserve it.

THE BEAN TEAM

The ‘Bean Team’ goes to extraordinary lengths and distances to source previously undiscovered, forgotten and tucked away cacao beans for their chocolates. These adventurers trek through jungles, climb mountains and cross fast-flowing rivers to get to cacao groves, often meeting indigenous tribes and cutting themselves off from the outside world for weeks on end. The result is an amazing collection of unforgettable characters who reveal far off tales with every bite.

The Bean Team is also responsible for the sustainable development of Original Beans farmers and the implementation of the One Bar : One Tree programme.

FAIR+

Becoming an Original Beans farmer is like moving from a short-term free agency contract into long-term employment at twice the income. High, direct, and secure prices paid for beans mean a stable income, an incentive to make the best product, and a bright outlook for the future for cacao farming families across the world, with zero incidents of child labour and the empowerment of hundreds of young farmers, including women in more traditional societies.

Original Beans supports over 160 farming families full time and close to 7,000 on a part-time basis.

CLIMATE+

Since their launch in 2010, Original Beans products have been restoring the climate, by designing every part of the supply chain climate consciously, and reducing CO2 emissions at every step. In fact, the largest climate cost of Original Beans chocolates comes from tiny organic cacao farms. This is not even from CO2 but from natural N2O emitted during the composting of leaves, twigs, and pods – essential to keep to the soils healthy.

However, on their cacao farms is also where the great climate surplus happens: through the Magic Of Trees who breathe in and store CO2.