Growing up among “Cacaotales”

I was brought up by my mum. We left our grandfathers farm because, the nearest school was two hours away, and she believed that a good education was important for me, luckily for me, our families small farm was my playground.

Manuel Marcano

A vivid memory from my childhood was to see my grandfather rack cacao beans while they were sun drying on the ‘patio’.

Americo Rojas

My grandmother's idea of good chocolate, is the one she makes from the beans that she herself roasts and grinds them into 100% cacao paste. 

Silvia Teresa

As an adult, I have returned to the small farm a dozens of times, and always had the sensation that I needed to find the way to give back to the small community were my ancestors lived for generations. My passion and love for premium cacao beans and chocolate was a gift from my family and after all my travels, I’m following the journey: coming back to our roots. 

Luis Mancini

Why Cacaotales?

We love to get better in what we love to do: cultivate Cacao

Cacaotales exists to offer the opportunity to connect small cacao farmers to the worlds best chocolatiers.

Cacaotales, provides a direct way to trade our cacao beans while building meaningful relationships between farmers and artisan chocolate makers.

NORANDINO and CACAOTALES….We are the Producers

The agrarian cooperative Norandino unites 30 associations of small coffee, cacao and sugarcane producers in Northern and Northeastern Peru.

Norandinos first steps in organic fair trade date back to 1995. Nowadays, over 7.000 members cultivate first quality crops for our local, national and international customers. Our common work has been honored with various awards.

Norandino’s members grow white native cocoa at a total surface of 430 hectares in coastal, mountain and rain forest regions. We guaranty the traceability of batches directly to the rural communities where they were produced.

Our Beliefs 

At Cacaotales, we’re guided by a set of simple beliefs.

We start by working hard to achieved our goals, we choose to live having done our best, having given everything for our dreams.

One of our most profound influence is the love for our soil. We've committed to doing our part to improve conditions in the small communities were our cacao beans are produced.

While we build direct relationships between small cacao farmers and artisan chocolate makers, it is our desire to do business with those who share similar values:

• we respect human rights and dignity
• we are dedicated to working with others to raise standards of health, education, and economic well-being for smallholder cacao farmers
• we believe in the positive value of diversity and respect the integrity of different cultures
• we believe in preserving and enhancing the physical environment

Our Mission 

To give back to the farmers that live in the small communities where our cacao grows, helping them to rediscover their dignity and pride, by directly providing our precious beans to the world’s best chocolatiers. 

Vision 

We envision a future in which, chocolate makers and chocolate lovers, adequately acknowledge and reward, the hard work of smallholder cacao farmers that produce sustainable, ethically and directly traded cacao.