Origin:  Ecuador

 

These beans - are not fair trade certified, or direct trade certified, but somewhere in between.  Sustainably sourced for sure.  I'll be working on the proper designation in the time to come, and am very pleased to be able to offer both these beans and the support they give to those who grow and process them.  As you can read below, these beans were sourced with care about the farmer and co-ops, premiums well above the market minimum were paid (double in this case) and only the best beans were accepted.

The People: (text from Joe and Barbara)

Mindo was founded by Joe (José) Meza and Barbara Wilson in 2009. While roasting coffee beans for their Bed and Breakfast, El Quetzal , in Mindo, Ecuador, Barbara decided to bake the best brownies to accompany their hand-crafted coffee and realized they were in the cocoa capital of the world, yet she could not find any good chocolate made in Ecuador. They visited a local cooperative of cocoa farmers to learn more about cocoa. They made chocolate for the first time and the business started. The chocolate business began to grow from there, and a whole new adventure as well. In addition to producing a high quality chocolate and building new friendships with Ecuadorian farmers and their families, Joe and Barbara are committed to maintaining high ethical standards from recyclable materials to organic practices. They work hard to maintain a sustainable, environmentally friendly company that complies with (and betters) fair trade standards.

The beans

Mindo selects only certified organic, shade grown Nacional beans.  Only the healthiest beans are chosen. We see the beans in the fruit and do not purchase beans that are not in excellent condition. The beans that we refuse are sold to cocoa bean brokers. We pay twice the going rate for the healthiest of beans as the farmers are used to selling the unhealthy beans for the same price as the good beans. Mindo ferments the beans themselves in clean cedar boxes and we dry the beans on elevated drying beds away from dirt and debris, unlike most beans in the world that are unfermented and dried along side of the road. Fermentation mellows the flavor and begins to develop the precursors to what we know as chocolate flavor.