• TCHO Beta Milk Chocolate
• TCHOPro Baking Drops
• TCHO-A-Day
• Drinking Chocolate
• Chocolate-Drenched Treats
• Nibs
• Citrus
• Nutty
• Fruity
• Chocolatey
• Healthy Chocolate

The Story of “Nutty”

So, Timothy and John were in Peru, sitting (John was standing) in the back of a packed, stuffy, school bus, bouncing over the massive potholes in the back country dirt road on the quest for the perfect bean for TCHO “Nutty”. They never expected the answer to be right under their noses.

The bus was full of cacao producers on their way to visit a model co-op focusing on organic production methods. The chatter back and forth as they followed the Huallaga river was about aspects of their business: organic farming, fair trade, markets, and especially prices. In the back of the bus (where, as you’ll remember, the cool kids sit), John and Timothy struck up a conversation with some farm representatives about how they were on the lookout for young, small- to medium-sized, high quality (though driven to improve), approachable, engaging, dynamic, agile, and focused growers an co-ops. A tall order to be sure.

The farmers pointed John and Timothy in the direction of a Peruvian cooperative growing a genetically isolated bean, different from the vast majority of cacao grown in Peru. The cooperative originally started by producing premium coffee, but had recently decided to expand into cacao as well.

Their extensive experience working with quality and flavor aspects of specialty coffee paved the way for a partnership with TCHO. This co-op’s cacao is not only great tasting, distinct in genetics and terroir, but is Fair Trade and organic certified. It was obvious to both John and Timothy that the co-op put love and care into their beans, every step of the way.

The co-op sent samples of the beans to Timothy back in his San Francisco lab after he returned, where he roasted numerous test batches and came to one conclusion: this cacao was destined to become “Nutty”. Not as much of a temperamental sports car as “Fruity”, but rather elusive—the nuttiness in this cacao can be stealthy.

Timothy spent months pinning it down in the lab. He’s now coaxed the nutty flavor into the spotlight and deemed it ready for beta testing. Finding the first “Nutty” in Peru was a pleasant surprise, as Timothy was expecting to source it from Ecuador. We hope you love our third flavor, TCHO “Nutty”, as much as we do.