Cocoa. Our unique know-how.

Cocoa is one of the ingredients that we use in some of our most loved products for its remarkable combination of flavor and aroma, this is why we carefully select it and process it.

Harvested from tropical climes.

Our cocoa comes mainly from West Africa and South America, where the hot and humid temperature is just perfect for its cultivation. We buy the cocoa beans raw and whole. The quality of the cocoa varies during the harvest season, so we primarily buy the beans that come from the main harvest, to guarantee the highest quality.

Experts at cocoa processing.

After decades of experience, we have developed a deep expertise in processing the cocoa beans so as to create those special aromas and tastes of our recipes.

Once the cocoa beans have been removed from the ripe fruit, we leave them to ferment for a week, usually under banana leaves. This allows the natural flavors and smells to develop. The fermented beans are then shipped to our factories, where they undergo our rigorous quality controls: organoleptic, physical, chemical, microbiological checks. After that, we dry the beans and put them into a large mill that separates the edible part (ground nibs) from the husk. The ground nibs are roasted to bring out their aroma and colour. Then we grind them into the cocoa mass that is subsequently pressed to separate the cocoa butter from the cocoa "cake". We break the cocoa cake to get the cocoa powder that we use in our recipes. As we roast most of the beans ourselves, we can constantly monitor their fragrance, quality and freshness.

Ethically sourced

Cocoa crops are mainly grown in developing countries, where, due to increased demand, farmers face various social, economic and environmental issues. We have a responsibility to give back and help improve the livelihoods of the cocoa-farming families. In fact, we are a proud member of World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), who promote a sustainable cocoa economy through economic and social development, along with offering environmental supervision to these communities. We also work closely with certification standards, such as Fairtrade, UTZ and Rainforest Alliance to help us reach 100% certified sustainable cocoa by 2020. We used approximately 70% sustainable sourced beans for the year 16/17.

All our ingredients

Milk

Cocoa

Hazelnuts

Fats and oils

Sugar