Askinosie Chocolate

“This years’ profit share was one of our biggest ever because it was a great year for sales of chocolate made with their beans. We always couple the profit share with tasting chocolate, which...

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Monica, our lead farmer partner in Zamora, Amazonia, holds the single origin chocolate bar (now featuring a 2019 Good Food Award emblem!!) made with her co-op’s beans.  Shawn spent a very ra...

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This was Shawn’s fourteenth visit with Vitaliano; we’ve been buying outstanding Arriba Nacional cocoa beans to make our Ecuador chocolate bars from his small family farm since 2006!! The mo...

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This year marks our eleventh anniversary of being the first chocolate makers in the world to export cocoa from the Philippines, and of collaboration with our lead farmer partner, Peter Cruz.  T...

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After 60+ hours of travel, the 2018 Chocolate University Class arrived in Tanzania!! The final leg of the trip included a long bus ride to the remote village to meet our farmer partners and over ...

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After meeting with Vitaliano, our lead farmer partner in Ecuador, I made the short trip to see our newest farmer partner group in Zamora, Amazonia. Bringing chocolate for two origin trips is a ch...

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I met with our lead farmer partner, Vitaliano, his son, Moises, and the rest of his family, from whom we purchase all of the Arriba Nacional cacao for our beloved Ecuador chocolate bars. Vitalian...

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Shawn met with lead farmer, Peter Cruz, pictured here alongside farm manager, Johnny. They inspected our next shipment of cocoa beans, taking random samples to perform cut-tests to check fermenta...

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After wrapping up the last week of the 2017 Tanzania origin trip, Shawn took a quick detour to Madagascar before heading home! For now, the details are top-secret. But stay tuned for updates on a...

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Shawn spent most of the week working alongside our farmer partners harvesting cocoa, fermenting and drying beans, and testing moisture content. And of course, we brought lots of chocolate to shar...

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Traveling to Zamora, Amazonia involves a plane, a car, and a boat. Located in southeastern Ecuador, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, Zamora is lush and fertile, if not challenging to navi...

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Cocoa Pods, Conferences, & Chocolate Tastings. Notes from Shawn’s 12th Ecuador Origin Trip In the rainforest. This pod is not perfect. I’m not going to go into all of the details but this ...

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Shawn met with lead farmer partner, Peter Cruz, to inspect our next shipment of cocoa beans.  Peter checking the fermentation box full of our Trinitario cocoa beans. Peter signs our contract...

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Vitaliano, our lead farmer partner (who I’ve been visiting for a decade now!) who is pictured on the front of our Ecuador chocolate bars, takes extreme care on his small farm. The farm, which h...

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“This trip changed my hopes for the future by showing me that even a single man can make a huge difference in a community. I always believed that I wouldn’t be able to help enough people but ...

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2016 Origin Trip #1: Highlights from Shawn’s week spent with our Farmer Partners  One of the most important things I do when visiting cocoa farmers is inspect our beans. I can take nothing f...

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My Ecuador trip last week marks my 10th year of traveling to origin learning about and sourcing cocoa beans from farmers around the equator band of the world. Many things have changed, but many r...

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Shawn: At the beach party we hosted for our farmer partners I received one of the most meaningful gifts ever. I don’t mean from farmers but I mean anyone - ever. This farmer leader - Mr. Living...

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Kellen Visits Kyela :

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You’ve probably heard me say “It’s not about the chocolate. It’s about the chocolate.” I’ve been traveling to cocoa bean origin countries for ten years and most of the time it’s fai...

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