Spencer Cocoa Australian-made single origin chocolate

Spencer Cocoa is Australian made, bean-to-bar chocolate produced by Luke & Thea Spencer and a small team dedicated to quality and integrity.

“Our chocolate is made from cocoa beans grown by a small group of farming families on the island of Malekula, Vanuatu. We have worked with these growers for over 10 years now and their cocoa is excellent! Here in Mudgee, we roast, grind, conch and temper the cocoa into lively and beautiful chocolate.”

Enjoy.

Luke Spencer - chocolate maker

In the spirit of reconciliation Spencer Cocoa acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community.

We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

2014 vintage chocolate.. harvest underway

March 24, 2014  /  Luke Spencer

The beans we will use for making chocolate over the coming months are ripening on the trees on Malekula, Vanuatu - with a ‘scout’ harvest currently scouring the blocks for early ripening pods.

We actually get two bites of the cherry (or cocoa pod as it were)... because cocoa trees actually produce two crops per year. The first (bigger) crop is picked over March, April, May followed by a secondary crop which is picked October, November.

Here’s a snap-shot of growers breaking open the ripened yellow pods out in the field – the sappy, fragrant beans are scooped into sacks and transported by tractor to the fermentery.

It is here the magic happens.. thanks to naturally occurring microorganisms, the beans undergo a ‘wild ferment’ in large wooden bins...

Once spread out onto wood-fired drying beds, the incredible, heady aroma of Malekula chocolate begins to waft through the fermentary.

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tags / cocoa pods, harvest, cocoa beans, ferment, plantation, growers, cocoa crop