:: Chocolate Information Center ::



Cocoa beans are cultivated all around the world under widely ranging conditions, which gives regional cocoas distinctive characters and flavors. For example, chocolate made with Sumatran cocoa will taste very different from a Caribbean blend.

Most chocolate manufacturers blend four or five varieties of cocoa beans from different parts of the world. Following a precise flavor profile, beans are blended to match the desired flavor. The flavor profile is unique to a specific chocolate, and is considered to be the proprietary, secret recipe for the chocolate manufacturer. A number of different chocolates are also used to coat or enrobe, in order to make each product a unique taste experience.

Some smaller chocolate makers have started to produce a single-source chocolate using beans from just one country, region, or even one farm. Borrowing terms from the winemaking industry, these unblended chocolates are referred to as "terroir," French for soil, or "Grand Cru," a designation granted to the very top vineyards.

However, many chocolate connoisseurs, however, prefer balanced blends, because blending results in the most pleasing chocolate flavor.

1) Types of Cacao Trees

2) Where do cocoa beans come from

3) What affect the cocoa bean's flavor
	Many factors play a part in the flavor of the cocoa bean:
	- The variety
	- The age of the tree
	- Soil content and quality
	- Altitude
	- Weather

	Growing conditions can make cocoa taste earthy, fruity, bitter, sweet or acidic. Cultivation and processing methods like how the beans are stored, dried and fermented, also impact the final flavor.

	Some Brazilian farms, for example, dry beans over large fires, giving the cocoa a smoky flavor.

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