The following photo essay was written by Dary Goodrich, Chocolate Products Manager. It first appeared in the April/May issue of What’s Brewing.
In September 2008, Equal Exchange launched our first single origin chocolate bar, using cacao beans from Panama. We have received nothing but superb feedback on this new bar, the Organic Panama Extra Dark (80% cacao content), which people are describing as rich, robust, well-balanced, chocolatey, fudge-like and more.
We are excited to have not only a new bar, but more importantly, a new producer partner – the COCABO co-operative in Panama. This winter, I was able to visit COCABO (the Multi-service Cacao Co-operative of Bocatoreña) in Bocas del Toro, Panama, with our Canadian friends and partners, La Siembra. The purpose of our trip was to continue to build the relationship between Equal Exchange and COCABO, learn more about the farmer co-operative, and finally to better understand all of the hard work they carry out to produce the wonderful cacao that goes into making this bar such a hit. Here’s a brief photo journal of some of the sights and people that made this such a wonderful experience. (more…)
Small Farmers. Big Change. 