Millésime Ecuador 100%

Nacional and CCN-51
Ecuador is one of the largest cocoa producers, after Ivory Coast and Ghana. And certainly the largest when it comes to fine flavour cocoa, the variety that is officially called Nacional a.k.a. Arriba. The golden pearl of Ecuador. It grows slowly, but everything of quality takes time.

Since around 2005, more and more cocoa farmers have been switching to CCN-51, a fifty-first cross-breed made by Mr Castro from Naranjal (the first C stands for Colección). After all, Big Chocolate wants lots of beans at the lowest price. Taste and quality do not matter; the consumer swallows everything as long as it is cheap. So the Nacional is losing ground or has lost.

In the middle of the hills of the Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas province lies the family farm Finca Garyth of Cedeño Aguilar. The company is known for its high-quality organic Arriba/Nacional cocoa. The plantation is also a pioneer in technological solutions. Everything to offer an exceptional cocoa. The company is featured in a promotional film by the government of Ecuador. We start at 9:50 minutes.