Ecuadorian Cacao

Ecuador grows a variety of cacao found nowhere else in the same form, Arriba Nacional, prized for a floral, aromatic quality quite unlike the flat bitterness of bulk cacao, and the country supplies a large share of the world's fine flavour beans, the small fraction of the global crop that serious chocolate makers actually want. Plantation visits in the coastal lowlands take you through the whole business: the pods growing straight out of the trunk in colours from green to deep crimson, the wet white pulp scooped into wooden boxes to ferment for days, the beans raked out on drying platforms under the sun, and the roasting, winnowing and grinding that follow, ending in a tasting where the difference between a bulk bar and a single-origin one becomes obvious. Some haciendas are grand old estates from the cacao boom of the nineteenth century.

What you actually see

• The pods on the trunk - cacao growing directly from the trunk and main branches.
• Fermentation and drying - wooden boxes and sun platforms where flavour is made.
• A tasting - single-origin bars compared against bulk chocolate.
• The old haciendas - estates from the cacao boom, some open for stays.

When to go

Tours run year-round, but the main harvest around March to June means the most activity in the fermentation boxes and drying yards, which is what makes a visit interesting. The coastal lowlands are hot and humid throughout, so mornings are best.

Honest expectations

Some tours are polished set-pieces on estates that buy in beans rather than working farms, so ask whether you will see actual fermentation and drying or a demonstration. The lowlands are hot, humid and buggy. Chocolate sold to tourists in Quito is often no better than what you can buy at home, whereas good Ecuadorian single-origin bars are worth carrying back.

Nearby

Guayaquil is the usual base; the coastal road and Montañita lie west.