Moka Origins Ghana Dark Chocolate Bar

I tasted this 72% Moka Origins Dark Chocolate Ghana bar and fell immediately in love. If I had to describe it in one word, I’d choose Dreamy, and the accompanying visual is angels playing harps in the heavens. The flavor is deep, super rich, utterly satisfying chocolate, and the mouthfeel is voluptuous with a gorgeous melt.

I usually choose a different chocolate each day for my afternoon savoring ritual, but since tasting this bar a week ago, I’ve picked it up and broken off a square every day since. I’ve also skimmed a few off the top of the Barometer Chocolate stash for my own personal stash. I told you I fell in love!

Moka’s motto is “Buy a bar. Change a life” because their mission is to support, employ, feed, and educate farmers, cacao fermenters and locals while restoring the environment. They do more good work by planting one tree for every product sold in order to fight climate change and foster biodiversity.

Jeff and Ishan, business partners and the heart and soul behind Moka Origins, started their chocolate and coffee endeavor back in 2014, with a sustainable farming venture in Cameroon, West Africa. Their farm in Cameroon continues to flourish. Cacao trees are thriving under the shade of plantain, mango, avocado and citrus trees, and one day soon, Jeff and Ishan hope to incorporate more of the Cameroon crops into their products. Here is Ishan surrounded by the beauty and bounty of cacao:

At present, most of the cacao beans in Moka Origins chocolate is procured from other producing partners around the world. The beans for this bar are sourced from Suhum, Ghana, located in the eastern region of South Ghana, West Africa. Historically, Ghana has been stigmatized for its unethical farming practices and bulk commodity cacao beans. 99% of all exported cacao coming from Ghana is uncertified and mostly untraceable, which means it is likely brought to market with practices that none of us would be proud to support, such as child slave labor. ABOCFA is out to change the reputation of cacao from Ghana.

ABOCFA or Aponoapono Biakoye Organic Cocoa Farmers’ Association is an organic and fair trade certified cooperative that maintains complete traceability for its cacao and the farmers who work with it. Farmers at ABOCFA earn 15.5% more at the farm gate per kilogram of cacao sold than non-ABOCFA members. Regular audits also ensure that practices are ethical and that cacao workers are being treated with dignity. ABOCFA also invests in farmer training so that they can produce abundant, yet high quality cacao. 

The cacao beans in this 72% Dark Ghana  bar are a hybrid of Amelonado and Trinitario. The two types of beans are fermented in separate bins for six days and then sun-dried on raised bamboo mats.

I am delighted to carry this exceptional and ethically sourced Ghanaian bar crafted in Honesdale, PA. Go ahead and try this bar in it’s 58% Dark Milk version!

 

• Ingredients: Organic Cocoa Beans, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter
• Net Weight: 68 g./ 2.4 oz.
• Country of Origin: USA