Soconusco: the beginnings

Working with cacao from Mexico had been an idea in the back of our minds for quite some time, but it’s rare to find it here in the US. There’s a decently broad internal specialty market within Mexico (ask us for recommendations of our favorite Mexican makers!), and for this very good reason, there isn’t a lot that is exported. We knew Mexico would come in time, but not probably not right away. However, a friend of ours was traveling through southern Mexico in the spring of this year, and through some serendipitous chance (on his very last stop through San Cristóbal before heading to the airport and home to Panama), he met a chocolatier by the name of Yair Gomez, who works directly with producers in the Soconusco region of Chiapas.

Ever the consummate connector of people, Juan Carlos got to talking to Yair about these fledging bean to bar makers he knew in Washington who were looking to build relationships with farmers in the area producing quality cacao.

In June we flew down, and our friend Juan Carlos met us there. We spent a handful of days getting to know a little bit about the Chiapas region, the importance of cacao to the area, and meeting with and learning from Yair. He hosted us in his home multiple evenings and generously shared endless knowledge with us on cacao growing, processing, grading, and finally, his philosophies and processes on the art and craft of chocolate. To our delight, they were much the same as ours. We knew this was the beginning of a fantastic partnership (stay tuned for some collaboration bars with Yair *insert ghost face emoji* we can’t even wait). We knew the flavor profiles here were special, and fit perfectly into our idea of the perfect bar of chocolate. We knew this was the thing.

It feels absolutely right to lead with this origin -to deepen our familiarity with the ancient traditions of cacao in this area, to get to know producers and chocolate makers with such strong cultural connections, and to collaborate and learn alongside them.

This is our first direct partnership, and it’s still developing. We’re excited to purchase from multiple growing regions within Chiapas, each distinct, each serving some of the most delightful flavor profiles we’ve had from any region in the world.

We’re thrilled to be a tiny part of the endless legacy that is Mexican cacao.