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The life cycle
Eight stages, one valley, and about a year between the first and the last
01
It opens straight out of the trunk, no wider than a fingernail. Of the thousands a tree carries, only a few ever set fruit.
02
Five to six months from flower to ripe. Colour and sound say when it is ready, not the calendar.
03
Several rounds a season, every pod cut with a blade and never pulled. The tree keeps the cushion that will flower again.
04
Wet seed goes into wooden boxes and heats itself. This is where the flavour is made, and nothing downstream puts back what was never made here.
05
Out in the sun on the same farm, turned by hand. Over days rather than hours, because the pace is the point.
06
Roasted slow and low to a measured profile, never over open flame. Fire runs hot in one spot and cool in the next.
07
Ground between stone for as long as it takes. The texture disappears and the cacao turns liquid.
08
Every step of that happened in Guatemala, before any of it left the country. Cacao opens your heart.
Most origins send the seed away and buy back the chocolate. Ours does not cross the border until it is already what it is going to be.