The Nib

ORIGIN TRIP #35: MABABU, TANZANIA- 2017

Shawn spent most of the week working alongside our farmer partners harvesting cocoa, fermenting and drying beans, and testing moisture content. And of course, we brought lots of chocolate to share ...

ORIGIN TRIP #34: ZAMORA, AMAZONIA- 2017

Located in southeastern Ecuador, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, Zamora is lush and fertile, if not challenging to navigate–the tiny village is perched on cliffs, “in the clouds.” The topogra...

ORIGIN TRIP #33: DEL TAMBO, ECUADOR- 2017

Cocoa Pods, Conferences, & Chocolate Tastings. Notes from Shawn’s 12th Ecuador Origin Trip

ORIGIN TRIP #32: DAVAO, PHILIPPINES- 2017

Update from Davao, Philippines: Shawn inspected our next shipment of cocoa beans to ensure they meet our contract specifications. This includes spending time on the farms, performing cut tests to c...

ORIGIN TRIP #31: DEL TAMBO, ECUADOR- 2016

Vitaliano, our lead farmer partner (who I’ve been visiting for a decade now!) who is pictured on the front of our Ecuador chocolate bars, takes extreme care on his small farm. The farm, which has b...

ORIGIN TRIP #30: MABABU, TANZANIA- 2016

Shawn traveled to Mababu, Tanzania for his annual origin trip to meet with our farmer partners– this time with 14 high school outstanding students from our Chocolate University program. They spent ...

ORIGIN TRIP #29: DAVAO, PHILIPPINES- 2016

One of the most important things I do when visiting cocoa farmers is inspect our beans. I can take nothing for granted! Even though we’ve been working with these fine farmers in Davao for 8 years, ...

ORIGIN TRIP #28: DEL TAMBO, ECUADOR- 2015

My Ecuador trip last week marks my 10th year of traveling to origin learning about and sourcing cocoa beans from farmers around the equator band of the world. Many things have changed, but many rem...

ORIGIN TRIP #27: MABABU, TANZANIA- 2015

At the beach party we hosted for our farmer partners I received one of the most meaningful gifts ever. I don’t mean from farmers but I mean anyone - ever. This farmer leader - Mr. Livingston - and ...

ORIGIN TRIP #25: CORTÉS, HONDURAS- 2015

You’ve probably heard me say “It’s not about the chocolate. It’s about the chocolate.” I’ve been traveling to cocoa bean origin countries for ten years and most of the time it’s fairly stressful; I...