Various types of cocoa beans are needed to meet the demands of the complex chocolate and cocoa-derived product market. Food safety, efficiency and cost effectiveness are key factors alongside consumer demands for taste and quality.
Today, three different types of trees are used in chocolate production:
Around 80% of the world’s cocoa originates from the Forastero bean, 15% from Trinitario and the remaining 5% from Criollo.
The world cocoa market distinguishes between two broad cocoa bean categories:
As a generalisation, fine or flavour cocoa beans are produced from Criollo or Trinitario cocoa tree varieties, while bulk cocoa beans come from Forastero trees. Exception to this generalisation: Nacional cocoa trees in Ecuador, which are considered to be Forastero type trees and produce fine or flavour cocoa beans
At Puratos, we believe that controlling the harvest and post-harvest process are also important to producing high quality cocoa beans. However, it also depends on the type of chocolate we are looking for.