From everyone at Cacao Bahia, we would like to wish you a happy start to 2018! As we begin the new year, we wanted to provide you with a quick 2017 annual summary. Additionally, we would like to recognize several makers who have launched bars made with our beans over the past year, mention awards our customers won in 2017, and give an update on bean availability.
2017 Annual Summary:
2017 was another challenging year at Fazenda Camboa. The lingering effects of the 2016 drought (the worst drought in 50+ years in Bahia), continued to severely impact cacao production. Total production in 2017 was 46 MT. This was up slightly from 2016, when production was 43 MT, but still a very bad year, especially compared to 2015 (73 MT of production) and 2014 (95 MT of production).
Things are looking up as we begin 2018. Rain for the past few months has been normal and we are expecting to have a strong mid-year harvest beginning in May.
Also, in the past few months we have started a large tree planting project through which we will plant 8,000 new trees per year for the next three years (24,00 trees total). While it will take a few years for these trees to start producing fruit, long term this should bolster our production.
Due to the low 2017 production, availability of our cacao in the US was very limited for most of the year. We landed a container shipment in the US right before the New Year holiday and we have additional shipments planned in the near future, so we expect bean availability to significantly improve in 2018 (see more details below).
Lastly, we were very excited to see several chocolate makers release bars made with our beans in 2017! Also, during the year, many bars made with our beans won chocolate awards! More info on both of these items is below.
Bars Released in 2017 Made with our Beans:
Dick Taylor: 75% Brazil, 100% Brazil, Northerner Blend, Brown Butter with Nibs & Sea Salt, Caramelized Almond, and Fleur de Sel (https://dicktaylorchocolate.com)
Dick Taylor's 75% Brazil Bar: Silver winner at Academy of Chocolate Awards, Silver winner at International Chocolate Awards (Americas), Bronze Winner at NW Chocolate Festival Awards
Dick Taylor's Northerner Blend Bar: Bronze winner at Academy of Chocolate Awards
Dick Taylor's Brown Butter with Nibs & Sea Salt Bar: Silver winner at NW Chocolate Festival Awards
French Broad's 53% Dark Milk Bar: Bronze winner at NW Chocolate Festival Awards
Tadzio's 73% Brazil Bar: Bronze winner at Academy of Chocolate Awards
USA Bean Availability:
We currently have bags of Trinitario beans from the 2017 harvest available in the US
Beginning in March, we expect to have additional bags of Trinitario beans available along with bags of Forastero beans
For any questions, sample requests, or price quotes, please contact Galen Berkowitz: galen@cacaobahia.com
Galen Berkowitz
Author