São Tomé

Exactly in the middle of the 10° belt around the equator you can find São Tomé. This excellent location is particularly beneficial to cocoa cultivation, due to the prevailing conditions, such as temperature, rainfall, humidity, natural shade trees and soil characteristics.

The cocoa from São Tomé is a blend of different subvarieties, the most important of which is Amelonado. This is an aromatic forastero with unique genetic and sensory characteristics.

Originally from the deepest Amazon, Amelonado came to the island of São Tomé only in the 19th century.

However, Amelonado was isolated on São Tomé - this brought benefits.
This allowed the variety to escape many epidemics on the island, which had severely decimated crop-yields in other countries, such as the Amelonado's homeland, Brazil.

This fact and the manageable production of only 3,000 tons per year make the cocoa variety São Tomé so rare and exclusive. Our São Tomé -cocoa is a hybrid consisting of the Amelonado and Catongo subvarieties. Together they add up to a Grade 1 cocoa, which takes on a dark cocoa flavor with light notes of tobacco due to the fermentation period of at least six days.