Supply Information: Guatemala

 

The Finca Chimelb farm grows, ferments and dries cacao onsite and exports via Uncommon Cacao 

We pay $9511.83 per metric ton of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala cacao  

Finca Chimelb in the Alta Verapaz region of Guatemala is a truly amazing estate.  Spanning an astounding 4,500 hectares it hosts a wide variety of crops as well as massive amounts of preserved native rainforest.  Not only does the farm have over 70 hectares of cacao, but also produces rubber, pine and even coffee in its higher elevations.  The farm even has its own lake.

Our relationship with Chmelb represents a great opportunity to work with a fairly new origin and we see huge potential there.  While the estate has been owned by Carlos and Silvia Torrebiarte for a long time, they have only been growing cacao for a short time.  Most of the trees are less than 4 years old and are just now starting to produce well.  While some farms tend to suffer from inexperience, Chimelb is very different.  Not only do they boast a very technical approach to planting, harvest, and post-harvest processing, they also have their own clonal garden, where they catalog a wide variety of cacao genetic diversity. Its because of these factors that we are especially excited about the opportunity to grow with them and help facilitate quality improvements as we can. We work with the farm closely on new fermentation protocols evaluating samples and providing meaningful feedback to help them constantly improve.  Its this hand in hand partnership that is the foundation of a long lasting relationship. 

 
This relationship would not be possible without the hard work of Uncommon Cacao who works hard in country to facilitate sourcing this cacao.  Uncommon acts as a sourcing partner and a quality control entity in country.  They contract to buy the beans fully fermented and dried at farm gate as long as they adhere to certain standards of quality.  They also provide in country feedback and training directly to the farm to help keep quality high. After purchasing the cacao, Uncommon also operated as an exporter and provides the necessary services to get the cacao to us.  We rely heavily on their efforts, and value the supply chain transparency they maintain.