Olam International - Twenty Degrees launch brings specialty cacao to craft chocolate makers
News Release
Twenty Degrees launch brings specialty cacao to craft chocolate makers
London, January 19, 2021
Today marks the launch of Twenty Degrees, a new specialty cacao business sourcing premium quality cacao beans from around the world. The new venture is backed by Olam Cocoa, one of the world’s leading suppliers of cocoa beans and cocoa ingredients.
The premium chocolate market has seen significant growth in recent years as consumers become more interested in the provenance of their food and increasingly seek out high quality, artisanal products with a unique flavour and story. Twenty Degrees – named for the cacao belt which ranges twenty degrees north and south of the equator – is responding by sourcing premium quality cacao beans from ten unique regions, each hand-picked for their distinctive flavour and sensory profile.
The business will unlock opportunities for farmers by bringing single origin cacao beans to market that are either too specialist or too remote to be sold to mainstream manufacturers. From cacao grown in the highland Simbu region of Papua New Guinea, to beans farmed by the indigenous Eperara community in Ecuador’s coastal rainforest, a community only accessible by boat. A team of agronomists will work with each community to make sure the quality and flavour of its cacao meets the highest standards.
The Twenty Degrees business model is built on positive partnerships with farmers and customers. It is helping farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices and investing in the growth and security of the communities it works with. This also allows it to provide customers with new levels of transparency and traceability right back to the farm gate, so chocolate makers can know everything about the cacao beans they buy, from the farmers who grew them to the carbon footprint of the crop.
For further information, please contact:
Emma Blinkhorn, Communications Manager, Emma.blinkhorn@olamnet.com
Katie Graham, Teneo, +447899 908483 / olam@teneo.com
