A rather lovely short documentary follows organic farmer, Servio Parchard, who cultivates small amounts of the Nacional variety of cocoa bean. It’s under 7 minutes long and worth a watch.
Sergio eschewed the common approach of other farmers to grow high-yield common cocoa with modern production methods for a more natural approach.
Together with a US forest conservationist, Jerry Toth, they sought out the endangered Nacional cocoa bean among an area of old trees Servio knew about.
The Nacional variety produces a low yield however, claims Servio, they have an intense and long-lasting flavour.
Servio is able to sell the beans at double the normal price, which is good for him and the environment.
The cacao are fermented and processed locally. Ultimately being packaged and sold for 310Euro for 50g bar
The video can be seen here: https://www.dw.com/en/ecuador-the-worlds-most-expensive-chocolate/av-43650770