“Kamili” means “Absolutely” in Swahili. In the heart of Tanzania, in the Kilombero Valley west of the Udzungwa Mountains National Reserve, cocoa trees are grown. This important agricultural region is very fertile with a hot and humid climate, and Kamili cocoa has been cultivated here since 2015.
The beans are grown by 4,000 independent farms, each averaging 2 hectares, cultivated in agroforestry, with 1,200 of them being organic certified.
Kamili cocoa beans are composed of Trinitario beans, a hybrid variety resulting from the mix of Criollo and Forastero beans, and Neo-Nacional beans. Kamili cocoa is round and tangy, with notes of red fruits (cherries, berries, and plums) and floral hints reminiscent of violet or rose.
Since 2020, we have used Kamili cocoa for our 76% chocolate, which is particularly suitable for cooking, in our pastries, and for combining with dried fruits in our coated dried fruits and rocks.
We had the opportunity to participate in the September 2022 harvest, during which we met Simran Bindra, the founder, and her entire team.
Once fermented and dried, the beans are packaged in 62-kilo bags before being shipped to Antwerp to our partner Silva Cacao and then delivered to the Manufacture.
Each bag delivered is individually transformed into chocolate following the Bean-to-Bar philosophy, in "micro-batches," 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 temperatures, mixed with unrefined cane sugar, stone-conched for 3 days, and then rested for 3 weeks.
The pure chocolate thus obtained is then melted, molded, and packaged into bars, or used to coat our dried fruits and rocks, or in pastries (fondant, soft cookies, etc.).