What are fine/flavour cacao beans?
There are three types of cacao beans: forastero, trinitario, and criollo. Bulk cacao beans are of the forastero type and are used in most massed produced chocolate – about 90% of the world’s cacao is forastero. Forastero trees are hardy and produce a lot of cacao, but with a lower quality. There is one variety of forastero that is considered a flavour cacao, which is the Nacional or Arriba cacao grown in Ecuador. Trinitario or criollo varieties are considered fine or flavour cacao. Less than 10% of the world’s cacao is flavour cacao. Criollo trees are very susceptible to disease and have low yields, so they are expensive and difficult to grow. However, criollo cacao is of the highest quality and produces excellent chocolate. Trinitario is a hybrid variety that combines the best of forastero and criollo – hardy trees with good yields and high quality, flavourful cacao. Most of the chocolate sold by A Taste For Chocolate is made with either trinitario or criollo cacao or a combination of
