Tumaco

Colombia

TUMACO

An elegant cacao with whiskey, tobacco, and malt notes -- high impact, crowd-pleasing, sweet and chocolatey.

The predominantly Afro-Colombian population has faced a great deal of prejudice and sustainable local development has been extremely difficult.

When Cacao Hunters first explored the region back in 2011, they found cacao everywhere; drying on any flat surface farmers could find, including the road. The sheer volume of cacao was overwhelming, and the opportunity for quality and systemic improvement was obvious. Cacao Hunters has worked with six community cooperatives to introduce centralized processing and drying. Because of the introduction of centralized processing and Cacao Hunters’ expertise in high-quality flavor development, farmers today earn 70% more income from cacao than they did when selling dried beans to the commodity market supply chain, and have a true sustainable alternative to.

TERROIR

The region of Tumaco rests on the western coast in the southernmost part of Colombia. Cacao is endemic to Colombia, and interesting native varieties can be found in the Tumaco region. The associations in Tumaco have been doing research with the University of Nariño to identify native cacao genetics found in the region. After years of study, they’ve now narrowed down nine genetic varietals that they believe are the native cacaos of that region, and are maintaining a clonal garden to eventually farm seedlings to distribute widely to more farmers in their networks. Many cacao producers in Tumaco have refused to plant new genetics promoted by government and development programs, and as a result the Tumaco cacao offers a distinct and chocolate-forward profile.

Pictured to the left are local genetics at the ASPROCAT clonal garden.

The predominantly Afro-Colombian population has faced a great deal of prejudice and sustainable local development has been extremely difficult.

When Cacao Hunters first explored the region back in 2011, they found cacao everywhere; drying on any flat surface farmers could find, including the road. The sheer volume of cacao was overwhelming, and the opportunity for quality and systemic improvement was obvious. Cacao Hunters has worked with six community cooperatives to introduce centralized processing and drying. Because of the introduction of centralized processing and Cacao Hunters’ expertise in high-quality flavor development, farmers today earn 70% more income from cacao than they did when selling dried beans to the commodity market supply chain, and have a true sustainable alternative to.

TERROIR

The region of Tumaco rests on the western coast in the southernmost part of Colombia. Cacao is endemic to Colombia, and interesting native varieties can be found in the Tumaco region. The associations in Tumaco have been doing research with the University of Nariño to identify native cacao genetics found in the region. After years of study, they’ve now narrowed down nine genetic varietals that they believe are the native cacaos of that region, and are maintaining a clonal garden to eventually farm seedlings to distribute widely to more farmers in their networks. Many cacao producers in Tumaco have refused to plant new genetics promoted by government and development programs, and as a result the Tumaco cacao offers a distinct and chocolate-forward profile.

Pictured to the left are local genetics at the ASPROCAT clonal garden.

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2022 Tumaco Farmgate price

$2.57 USD

This is the actual price paid to the cacao producer for their product (typically on a per kg or per lb basis) when they sell it to the first buyer.

Farmgate price is often paid for "wet" or fresh cacao, recently harvested and scooped out of cracked pods for sale. Wet cacao loses 60-70% of its weight during fermentation and drying, typically reaching 7-8% humidity before it is sold.

Uncommon calculates farmgate price for each cacao supplier based on the specific weight loss conversion percentage provided to us by the supplier, and we report farmgate price on a per kg dried equivalent basis for all cacao beans we source.

Pictured are Bertha Sarmiento Yineth De la Cruz and Edilmer Figueroa from Cacao Hunters.

2022 Tumaco Association price

$2.60 USD

This is the price the exporter pays the association for cacao.

In some cases in our supply chain there is an organized group of producers that aggregate cacao and sell it to an exporter.

2022 Tumaco FOB price

$4.22 USD

This is the price paid by Uncommon to our partners for cacao transported and loaded onto a ship for export.

Uncommon then covers all of the costs of shipping, freight charges, insurance, import, domestic logistics, warehouse ingestion, customs and duties.

Free on board (FOB) is an international shipping term that represents the seller's responsibility for bringing the cacao over the rails of the export ship.

2022 Tumaco Average sales price

$7.39 USD

This is the weighted average price per kg for cacao sold to the premium & ultra premium chocolate makers who purchased it during this year from Uncommon Cacao.