Our March 2025 theme was curated around our speaker, Dr. Kristy Leissle, an expert on the cocoa markets in Africa.
I first met Kristy in 2007 when Seattle-based Theo Chocolate hosted “Chocolate University”, a 2-day intensive course on the science and social issues related to cacao and chocolate. Kristy had recently finished her dissertation analyzing the economic, political, social, and cultural valuations of chocolate in the trade between Ghana and Britain. She shared her on-the-ground experiences in Ghana and treated us to fufu, a traditional Ghanaian dish made from cassava. I was enthralled. I reached out to her about sharing her expertise with customers at Chocolopolis and she willingly accepted.
The rest is history. Kristy and I became fast friends and spent hours talking about cacao and chocolate, covering topics from geopolitics to cocoa genetics to sensory evaluation to potential book topics. In 2019 I had the pleasure of visiting her in Ghana, an experience that allowed me to meet cocoa farmers and bring their stories back to American consumers to help illustrate the realities of cocoa farming in West Africa.
Kristy has a long resume of accomplishments as a researcher, author, consultant, educator, and marketer in the cocoa and chocolate industries. She is the author of the book Cocoa*, written as part of Polity Press’s “Resources Series”, where experts explore the geopolitical battles to access and control many of the world’s assets (a must-read). Most recently, Kristy is the Founder and CEO of African Cocoa Marketplace, a trustworthy platform for sourcing certified chocolate ingredients from Africa with transparent supply chains. She currently resides in Johannesburg.
Our selection of chocolate includes cocoa from five countries in Africa – Uganda, Madagascar, Cameroon, Tanzania and Ghana – made by four US-based chocolate makers. These origins represent the diversity of Africa’s cocoa flavors.
The cacao for this chocolate is purchased from Latitude Trade Company (LTC), a company that controls post-harvest processing (i.e., fermentation & drying). By purchasing “wet cacao” directly from smallholder farmers and controlling the fermentation and drying processes, LTC ensures the high-quality cacao it sells commands a higher price. This is a win-win for the farmers, who earn more, and for the chocolate makers, who receive more flavorful cacao. I taste gamey notes, followed by hints of mango, malt and chocolate.
This bar is an excellent example of Madagascar cacao’s red fruit notes. The melt begins with hints of molasses and bing cherries, followed by an explosion of raspberry notes. The “Medium Roast, Medium Conche” is Fresco’s way of telling us how much they processed the cacao to get this flavor. They also make a “Light Roast” that has more acidic, grapefruit notes.
I was in Denver last summer for a family reunion and came across Bibamba Chocolate, a small-batch maker founded by Patrick and Mara Tcheunou. The cacao and plantains come from Patrick’s farm in Cameroon, his home country. I was surprised by the fruity notes of this chocolate. I taste hints of banana and cherry surrounding the crunchy, salty goodness of plantain crisps.
Tanzania is another Africa origin that has become popular thanks to Kokoa Kamili, a company similar to Latitude Trade Company, that centralizes post-harvest processing to improve quality and flavor. The chocolate maker, Moka Origins, is a purpose-driven company working to make both cacao and coffee sustainable. The chocolaty flavors of this bar go well with the plump cherries on the back. I recommend reading the inside of the box.
This is an interesting mash-up of cacao’s cultural touchstones. It marries spices from Mexico, one of cacao’s ancestral homes, to cocoa from one of the world’s largest cocoa producers, Ghana. Beneath the peppy spices from Mexico I taste classic chocolate and coconut notes that characterize cacao from Ghana. It takes a bold chocolate to stand up to this hot spice mixture, and the cacao from Three Mountains Cocoa in Ghana pulls it off with aplomb!
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