Luisa Abram Rio Cassipore Chocolate Bar 81% (Chocolate Maker)

This chocolate is made with native and wild cocoa originating on the banks of the Cassiporé River, which is located in the Cape Orange National Park, almost on the border with French Guiana, in Amapá. A small stretch of the Amazon Forest separates it from the Atlantic Ocean. In this place, they find many cacao trees and there are reports of Jesuit settlements in the area from the end of the 16th century. Cocoa was a way to get income to support themselves. By that time, Europe was already consuming cocoa as a beverage, and cocoa butter was used as an ointment on wounds. The genetic analysis of some seeds of this cacao reveals that they belong to the Amelonados family, but they are the most genetically homogeneous that they have ever seen! A big surprise for them: Could the Cassiporé River valley be the birthplace of the Amelonados family? The Cacau do Cassiporé Cooperative is benefiting from this very special cocoa.

Size: 80 grams

Luisa Abram is a chocolate maker that dedicates itself to sourcing micro-lot, wildly grown cacao from the Amazon Rainforest. The chocolate is made small-scale in São Paulo, Brazil by the Abram-Banks family: Luisa, Andre, Mirian and Andrea. The family take a very hands-on approach to chocolate-making, controlling and overlooking every stage of the process, from the harvesting of the cacao to the finished bar and logistics. This explains why the chocolate tastes so good and so personal at the same time – quality is very important to Luisa Abram.

Luisa, the eponymous woman of the chocolate, values a commitment to quality in every stage of making a differentiated product.

During fermentation, Luisa will often remove a handful of cocoa beans and cut them in half to see the progress of the fermentation. This is not so much a test that is strictly followed, but Luisa Abram likes to observe this amongst other tests – such as temperature of the mass and its aromas – all to aid the decision of when to stop the fermentation. Tests like this also allow Luisa to check the quality of the cacao.

Cacao had once made Brazil the largest exporter of the commodity in the world; however, once plant-diseases such as ‘Witches Broom’ and ‘Black Pod’ attacked cacao, the production reduced significantly. The answer to overcome this was for farmers to grow hardier beans, typically of the ‘Forastero’ variety. This meant forgoing the growing and harvesting of diverse fine cacao varieties for instead rather mono-varietal, disease-resistant bulk cacao.

However, today, Luisa Abram’s vision is to restore Brazil’s fine-cacao industry.