“Kamili” means “absolutely” in Swahili.
It is in the heart of Tanzania, in the Kilombero Valley west of the Udzungwa Mountains National Park, that the cocoa trees are grown. This important agricultural region, highly fertile and with a hot, humid climate, has been home to Kamili cocoa cultivation since 2015.
The beans are grown by 4,000 independent farms of around 2 hectares on average, cultivated using agroforestry methods, of which 1,200 are certified organic.
Kamili cocoa beans are composed of Trinitario beans, a hybrid variety resulting from the crossing of Criollo and Forastero beans, as well as Neo-Nacional beans. Kamili is a rounded, slightly tangy cocoa with notes of red fruits (cherries, berries and plums) and floral hints reminiscent of violet or rose.
Used since 2020 to produce our Kamili 76% chocolate, it is particularly well suited for baking, pastry making, and pairing with dried fruits in our coated nuts and chocolate clusters.
We had the opportunity to take part in the September 2022 harvest, during which we met Simrane Bindra, the founder, and his entire team.
Once fermented and dried, the beans are packed into 62 kg bags before being shipped to Antwerp to our partner Silva Cacao and then delivered to the Manufacture.
Each delivered bag is transformed individually into chocolate following a bean-to-bar philosophy, in micro-batches, in order to stay as close as possible to the aromatic specificities that can vary from one batch to another.
The beans are tasted, sorted, roasted at low temperature, mixed with unrefined cane sugar, stone-ground for three days, then rested for three weeks.
The resulting pure chocolate is then melted to be moulded and packaged into bars, or used to coat our dried fruits and chocolate clusters, or in pastry applications (fondant, soft cakes, cookies, etc.).
