The Garçoa team is made up of four women from Zurich. Each of them has a unique profile, which makes for the diversity of the company. But they all have one thing in common: a passion for chocolate.
Garçoa's philosophy is quite simple: Bean-to-Bar, Single Origin-BIO, fair-trade and transparent chocolate. As a result, they are able to work the beans and create chocolates with character that bring cocoa, variety and terroir to life.
All the ingredients used come from organic farming. What's more, they know the cocoa farmers personally, as well as their history and environment. This close relationship with the producers allows Garçoa to control the quality of the cocoa beans and guarantee that the work carried out is remunerated at its fair value.
Garçoa chocolates are made using only cocoa beans and raw cane sugar, with no additives or other ingredients added. Nor do they use any additional cocoa butter. Firstly, because they want the chocolate they produce to retain only its natural fat content. Secondly, because they don't want to alter the taste of their Single Origin chocolates with cocoa butter from a different region. This gives Garçoa chocolates a unique melt-in-the-mouth consistency. The ultimate aim is to bring out the flavour of every cocoa in every bar.
Garçoa also places great emphasis on the design of its bars. Taste is not just an aroma, but also a surface and a shape. The texture thus becomes a new dimension of the taste experience and acts on the deployment of the aromas.
What's more, they also want to reflect the flamboyant colours of the cocoa pods. And it's these that have inspired the packaging for their chocolates: the minimalist way in which the beans are processed, combined with the diverse and fertile environment of the jungle. A real pleasure for your eyes and your palate...
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Forest of Rwenzori
The beans come from the Rwenzururu region, perched between 800 and 1000 meters above sea level, close to the border with Congo and the Rwenzori mountains in Uganda. Nestled in the foothills of the mountain range are around 1,000 cocoa farms growing 1 to 3 hectares of cocoa, sheltered from the cool Uganda climate. The cocoa trees are a mix of Trinitario and Amelonado, inherited from Ghana where the genetic source of cocoa comes from. Rwenzururu saw a resurgence in cocoa production in the 1960s and is renowned for producing organic and Fairtrade certified cocoa that does not use any form of illegal child or adult labor.
