To all Bean Testers!

I would love to hear from experts in Chocolate who might be interested in testing our beans. We grow cacao beans organically and have improved our drying system. The parent stock of our cacao comes from criollo, trinatario and forastero varieties. Our volume is about 20tons of dried beans 15 tons are processed into traditional cacao liquor for chocolate drink. I could send 5kg of beans for the test and hope to hear an intelligent opinion of our bean quality.

Ernesto

updated by @ernesto-bugarin-pantua-jr: 04/13/15 17:44:23

FYI, everyone, Ernesto is in the Philippines.


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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

Thanks Clay that was helpful.

Most people don't know that there is a very long history of cacao in the Philippines. Until recently, with chocolate made from beans from Davao I don't think many people knew that cacao even grew in the Philippines.

Is there some particular interesting history in the beans you're growing? And what part of the Phillipines are you growing in?

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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

Yes the criollo beans and other varieties of cacao that was originally planted in our farm was sourced from the big Island of Luzon (The cacao of the Philippines actually brought by the Spaniards from Mexico during their 400 years of occupation of our country). We now grow them in our farm in the foot of Mt. Matutum about 500m above sea level 35 km from the City of Gen. Santos, located in the Island of Mindanao about 200 km west of Davao City.

Ernesto - can you elaborate a bit on how you ferment (mass size, box configuration, duration, # of turns, etc), as well as how you dry (what does improved drying mean - how is it done)? Are you doing the post harvest work yourself, or is the fermentation and drying being done by multiple farmers?

HI Ernesto, i would like to test your beans.

i'm based in South Africa, how do i get them here?

Hi Sebastian - We have the crop, harvest, ferment in boxes (200kg per batch) in two tier box, on the first 12 hours we let them drain then put them in a box for 3 days after which they are transfered in another box and leave it for another 2 days on the 6th day we dry them in the sun

Hi Ernesto, I would be interested in giving you feedback on your beans. I have had a lot of experience with different origins and have done some work with Australian farmers on the issue of post harvest processing and its effect on the final chocolate. I have worked with a lot of cacao from the South Pacific too, Vanuatu, Samoa, Fiji and PNG and could give feedback on how your cacao relates.

Let me know. Cheers

Tom

Hi Tom,

I will have my first 5 kg ready by Monday next week. Can you please email me your address. kablon.farm@gmail.com.

Regards,

Ernesto

Sent you today via POST AIR PARCEL 4 kg of Dried Cacao Beans. Looking forward to your receipt of the beans.

Jun

Me too, thanks again!

Hi Ernesto,

what is your "standard of choosing" your tester? my name might sound useless to you but at least say you are not interested in us would have been fine. I did quickly to respond to your request but you didn't even consider my email....

BTW we opened our small factory 3 months ago and we have already moved over 1.5T of chocolate made from beans.....

best of luck!!!