Our Cocoa Story
How a small UAE-based atelier sources single-origin cocoa from family farms in Ghana, Ecuador, and Madagascar.
Every Coco Jalila chocolate begins thousands of kilometres from our kitchen — on small family farms in Ghana, Ecuador, and Madagascar, where cocoa beans are still harvested by hand and fermented in the open air.
We work directly with two co-operatives whose names appear on every bean we receive. No middlemen, no commodity grades. We pay above Fairtrade premiums for the lots we want, because the cocoa is the chocolate.
Back in the UAE, the beans are slow-roasted in small batches — never more than eight kilos at a time — to coax out their distinct origin character. A Ghanaian Akwapim hits notes of fudge and red berry; a Madagascan Sambirano leans citrus-bright. We design the rest of the recipe around the bean, never the other way around.
It is more work. It is also the only way we know how to do this.