Nostalgia Chocolate has a message for you…”Slow down and savor the moment.” No wonder I love this chocolate so much! It is crafted by people who think the way I do and lovingly place magnificent intentions into their process.
This bar is perfect for the true chocoholic. It’s beautifully balanced, and the creamy texture reveals layers of nutty notes as well as flavors of chocolate buttercream and a hint of strawberry and cherry. Utter yumminess awaits you!
The fine flavor beans from this delicious bar come from the Dominican Republic. Located in the village of Pimentel in San Francisco de Macoris, Öko Caribe purchases freshly harvested wet cacao from small shareholder farmers in Duarte Province.
Öko handles the fermentation and drying, and exports the finished, dried cacao to chocolate makers the world over.
This cacao is known for its classic nutty and lightly fruity flavors that harmonize perfectly to create a chocolate that is complex yet accessible to the palate.
Öko Caribe was founded by Gualberto Acebey Torrejon and Adriano de Jesus Rodriguez in 2006. They gathered a wealth of knowledge and experience working for several decades for another cacao producer.
At Öko Caribe, Gualberto and Adriano harvest only ripe pods.
They ferment them for exactly six days and take care with how many times they aerate the beans during that fermentation period to create a beautiful flavor profile. Finally, they dry the beans in solar drying beds for a week.
The well-compensated farmers who supply Öko with wet beans practice agroforestry: a more sustainable system of agriculture that promotes biodiversity and healthy soil by intercropping fruits such as avocados, oranges and Zapotec with cacao trees. Most of the fine flavor beans harvested are Trinitario and Nacional from Ecuador with Venezuelan Criollo and some hybrids as well.
Tyler and Tiffany Cagwin are the creative minds and makers at Nostalgia Chocolate. They are two yogis who love to travel, lead retreats abroad, sail, eat good food, and surround themselves with amazing, inspiring people.
Love led Tiffany and Tyler to chocolate. On their honeymoon, sailing down the Windward Island chain in the Caribbean, they tasted amazing chocolate from The Grenada Chocolate Company and it changed their lives forever. A beautiful seed was planted in Tyler’s mind and a few years later, it became clear to him that he was meant to be a bean-to-bar chocolate maker.
He began learning how to make chocolate from scratch and has been mentored by one of the finest chocolate makers and teachers I know, Mackenzie Rivers of Map Chocolate.
While devoting himself to his new craft, Tyler was inspired by simpler times when handmade was the rule rather than the exception. The name “Nostalgia” came to life for Tyler and Tiffany and brought with it a vision for the company. Their ethically and sustainably sourced cacao supports farmers while it encourages us, as tasters, to smile, savor the moment, and connect with one another on a deeper level over delicious chocolate.
* Organic