A Loose Map of Indian Cacao.
(or, how we like to think about terroir)
How Place Shows Up in Chocolate
How Place Shows Up in Chocolate
Cacao fermentation is a messy little beast.
Shifty weather, moody microbes, and the farmer's call on when to pull the heap — it rarely behaves the same way twice.
Which means geography isn't the whole story. But it's not nothing either.
After working with many small lots of Indian cacao, we've started thinking about it in three broad terrains: The Hills, The Plains, and The Coast.
Not as rules. Just a way to notice micro-patterns and work with each lot carefully.
Cacao fermentation is a messy little beast.
Shifty weather, moody microbes, and the farmer's call on when to pull the heap — it rarely behaves the same way twice.
Which means geography isn't the whole story. But it's not nothing either.
After working with many small lots of Indian cacao, we've started thinking about it in three broad terrains: The Hills, The Plains, and The Coast.
Not as rules. Just a way to notice micro-patterns and work with each lot carefully.
hills
HILLS
structured
Slow
deep
Elevation slows things down. Cooler nights, longer fermentation, beans that seem to take their time making up their minds. Whether that translates to more structured tannins and a quieter acidity — or just a longer development curve — we're still working out.
What we can say: the chocolate from up here behaves differently. It opens slowly. We like that about it.
Elevation slows things down. Cooler nights, longer fermentation, beans that seem to take their time making up their minds. Whether that translates to more structured tannins and a quieter acidity — or just a longer development curve — we're still working out.
What we can say: the chocolate from up here behaves differently. It opens slowly. We like that about it.
altitude
altitude
600 – 900 meters above sea-level.
600 – 900 meters above sea-level.
regions
regions
Western Ghats — Idukki Hills in Kerala. Anamalai & Pollachi in Tamil Nadu.
Western Ghats — Idukki Hills in Kerala. Anamalai & Pollachi in Tamil Nadu.
Intercrop
Intercrop
Cardamom, pepper, arecanut, banana, jackfruit. Cacao is often shade-grown under existing mixed spice gardens and in some cases coffee too.
Cardamom, pepper, arecanut, banana, jackfruit. Cacao is often shade-grown under existing mixed spice gardens and in some cases coffee too.
PLAINS
PLAINS
bold
earthy
unpredicatble
Red laterite soil, full sun, dry-season heat. Fermentation here runs faster and, honestly, a bit less predictably. The flavour is bolder — earthy, direct, with a finish that doesn't apologise for itself.
It's the terrain we understand least and enjoy most. Make of that what you will.
Red laterite soil, full sun, dry-season heat. Fermentation here runs faster and, honestly, a bit less predictably. The flavour is bolder — earthy, direct, with a finish that doesn't apologise for itself.
It's the terrain we understand least and enjoy most. Make of that what you will.
altitude
altitude
50 - 200 meters above sea-level.
50 - 200 meters above sea-level.
regions
regions
Deccan Plateau Edge near Mysuru in Karnataka. Eastern Coastal Plains of Andhra Pradesh, notably East & West Godavari deltas.
Deccan Plateau Edge near Mysuru in Karnataka. Eastern Coastal Plains of Andhra Pradesh, notably East & West Godavari deltas.
Intercrop
Intercrop
Coconut, arecanut, banana, mango, nutmeg, turmeric, chilli. Some paddy in lower-lying plots. Cacao here tends to sit in more deliberate monoculture or loose coconut intercrop systems.
Coconut, arecanut, banana, mango, nutmeg, turmeric, chilli. Some paddy in lower-lying plots. Cacao here tends to sit in more deliberate monoculture or loose coconut intercrop systems.
COAST
COAST
bright
mineral
wild edges
Salt air, alluvial soil, humidity you could wring out. The cacao grows alongside coconut and arecanut and seems to know it. There's a brightness in the finish we keep noticing — something mineral, something almost coastal — though we'd stop short of calling it "the sea in the chocolate." That's the kind of thing you say and then have to live with.
Also: this is home. So we're probably biased.
Salt air, alluvial soil, humidity you could wring out. The cacao grows alongside coconut and arecanut and seems to know it. There's a brightness in the finish we keep noticing — something mineral, something almost coastal — though we'd stop short of calling it "the sea in the chocolate." That's the kind of thing you say and then have to live with.
Also: this is home. So we're probably biased.
altitude
altitude
0 - 100 meters above sea-level.
0 - 100 meters above sea-level.
regions
regions
Konkan Coast, Karnataka — Mangalore, Puttur, Vitla and surrounding areas are peppered with small-holder cacao farms and agro-forestry estates.
Konkan Coast, Karnataka — Mangalore, Puttur, Vitla and surrounding areas are peppered with small-holder cacao farms and agro-forestry estates.
Intercrop
Intercrop
Arecanut, coconut, jackfruit, banana, nutmeg, mace, wild rose apple (pink jamun) to name a few.
Arecanut, coconut, jackfruit, banana, nutmeg, mace, wild rose apple (pink jamun) to name a few.
HOW WE ACTUALLY WORK.
HOW WE ACTUALLY WORK.
(and what this means to us)
(and what this means to us)
We don’t think terroir comes with instructions.
Cacao definitely didn’t read them.
So instead of chasing certainty, we chase signals.
We taste every lot.
Take notes we sometimes disagree with later.
Spiral a little.
Then we adjust. Just enough.
Sometimes stepping in.
Sometimes knowing when not to get clever.
Our job isn’t to prove a theory.
It’s to make chocolate that tastes like someone paid attention.
One micro-batch at a time.
We don’t think terroir comes with instructions.
Cacao definitely didn’t read them.
So instead of chasing certainty, we chase signals.
We taste every lot.
Take notes we sometimes disagree with later.
Spiral a little.
Then we adjust. Just enough.
Sometimes stepping in.
Sometimes knowing when not to get clever.
Our job isn’t to prove a theory.
It’s to make chocolate that tastes like someone paid attention.
One micro-batch at a time.
