Dom. Republic Öko Caribe Conventional

REGION AND COUNTRY   San Francisco de Macorís, Duarte province, Dominican Republic   THE STORY Social enterprise Öko-Caribe was founded in 2006 by Gualberto Acebey and Adriano Rodríguez. Between them, they have decades of experience working in the improvement and commercialization of organic cocoa as well as working with small holder farmers in the northeast of the island. The cocoa producers represented by Öko Caribe are organized in grassroots associations. This allows Öko Caribe to organize more efficient trainings, plan a timely collection of the wet beans and develop a collection plan that will allow the cocoa to reach the fermentation centre in less than 6 hours. This is crucial to ensure a good fermentation and therefore produce a very good quality cocoa. All cacao cultivated by the producers is grown in agroforestry schemes along with timber species, fruit and other crops. This contributes to maintaining a healthy plant ecosystem free of pests and disease. Some volumes exported by Öko Caribe consist of volumes produced in farms that are not (yet) organic certified.   HARVEST   March – June (main crop) October – December (mid-crop)   GENETICS   Dominican cacao is a mixture of different genetic varieties: Jamaican, Amazon Amelonado, Ecuadorian Nacional, Venezuelan Criollo, Rio Caribe, and Trinitario hybrids. 85% of all plantations in the country use high quality genetic material.   POST HARVESTING PROCESS   Beans are fermented in tiered wooden boxes during 5 to 6 days. Once fermented, the cacao is dried in solar dryers and bagged in 70 kg. polypropylene bags. FLAVOUR PROFILE    Strong chocolate base with notes of coconut milk, caramel, vanilla, crème bruleé, lavender & violets