Bean to Bar: THe joy of curiosity

Bean-to-bar. A term used frequently in the chocolatey community. What does it mean, though?

While I’m sure there’s an official definition out there somewhere, I’ll share my unsolicited two cents… It’s taking raw, fermented cacao beans, roasting, cracking, winnowing and grinding with sugar to make a chocolate bar. That’s the short of it. But, there’s got to be more, right? 

More important than taking a bean and transforming it into a bar is where that bean comes from. Who grew the cacao tree that produced the beans? What is the farmer’s name? What is their story? Were they compensated for their work as I expect to be for mine? It’s these questions that lead me to what I truly want bean-to-bar to mean: transparency and equity. I want it to mean knowing where this bar came from and who else was part of bringing it into this world. It didn’t start with me. (Though it often ends with me... eating an entire bar in one sitting.) 

It’s important to be aware of the bigger picture, to think beyond what’s right in front of us. It’s okay to enjoy chocolate! We should enjoy it. Why not enjoy it with a little curiosity?

That’s why every bar of Echea Chocolate has the country of origin listed, and every bar corresponds to a blog post with more of the origin story. Not because I have all of the answers, far from it! Rather, because I want to share information with fellow chocolate fanatics, to pique curiosity, and to start a conversation.