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Our growers and their plantations
The Maison maintains close relationships with each plantation to ensure the longevity of their partnership and guarantee beans of an unrivalled quality.
The four principal cocoa bean varieties
Criollo: Native to Venezuela, these were the first cocoa beans to be discovered by the ancient Olmec civilisation and were later introduced to Mexico and Guatemala. The rarest and most precious variety, the Criollo represents less than 3% of global cocoa production.
Forastero: Native to Brasil, the home of cocoa. Colonists named this variety “foreigner” in Spanish.
Trinitario: Originating in Trinidad and the result of human intervention. In the 17th century, the Forastero variety was introduced into the area and formed a hybrid with the indigenous Criollo.
Nacional: Unique to Ecuador.
Our growers
Christophe Artado, Cameroon
Plantation: Dark Mungo
Variety: Forastero
On this French estate, Christophe Artado has set up a model plantation where the workers are fully integrated with their workspace and benefit from schools and healthcare.
Urbano Rodriguez, Cuba
Plantation: Terruno de Barracoa
Variety: Traditional Caribbean Trinitario
Pierre Marcolini was one of the first chocolatiers to source his beans from Cuba.
The Barracoa variety is very old and grows only in a remote region.
Thomas Wenish, Madagascar
Plantation: Plantation Mava
Variety: Trinitario
Thomas Wenish, agronomist engineer, has for several years been in charge of this 1700 hectare plantation located in the Sambirano basin.
In a process unique to this plantation, the beans are washed before being dried.
This removes some of their acidity.
Pedro Martinetti, Ecuador
Plantation: Hacienda Puerto Romero
Variety: Nacional Ecuador Arriba
Pedro Martinetti grows a rare variety of bean that accounts for less than 1% of global cocoa production.
He sets aside 60 hectares of cocoa trees exclusively for the Pierre Marcolini Maison.
Jhoana Verhook, Venezuela
Plantation: Hacienda Chuao
Variety: Criollo Primitif Chuao
The Criollo Chuao is the rarest cocoa variety in the world! The Hacienda Chuao plantation is unique and can only be accessed by the sea.
Work is carried out using methods that are over 400 years old.
Our Creations
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