Process
From plantation to storage, in six stages. We pick at full maturity, cure slowly and test every lot, and at each stage we tell you what we measure, so you know what stands behind a lot before it reaches your incoming inspection.
6 stagesplantation to storage
15 to 20 °Ccontrolled humidity at every stage
Every lottested before export
Our vanilla vines and cocoa trees grow on our plantation and with partner farmer groups at an origin that harvests and cures all year, unlike the single-harvest origins most buyers depend on. Supply never waits on a single season.
Every lot is traceable to the farmer group that grew it, the traceability large buyers now write into their sourcing policy.
We hand-pick vanilla beans only at full maturity. Immature, early-picked beans are the best-known quality problem in vanilla from our origin and a main reason buyers moved away from it, so we never pick or buy them.
Cocoa pods are cut by hand when ripe, then opened for fermentation.
We cure vanilla slowly, over weeks, to its target moisture: 25 to 33 percent for gourmet grades, 18 to 25 percent for extraction grade. Uneven curing and high moisture are where mould starts, so we measure curing rather than judge it by eye.
Cocoa is fermented, then sun-dried in covered drying houses that keep rain off the beans.
We grade beans by hand, by length and appearance, to our published standard. Then we sample each lot and send it to an accredited laboratory, for example Saraswanti, SIG, SGS or Eurofins, for a certificate of analysis.
A lot that fails is sold as extraction grade or rejected to the supplier. It never ships as Grade A. Our full-time QC manager at origin oversees grading and testing.
Passes: ships as graded, with its certificate of analysis.
Fails: sold as extraction grade or rejected, never shipped as Grade A.
We re-grade approved lots and vacuum-pack them in 1 kg and 5 kg food-grade pouches inside lined cartons. Every pack carries its origin, harvest window and lot number.
Retail packs: 2, 5 or 10 beans in glass tubes or pouches, and 250 g and 1 kg bags.
We hold beans at 15 to 20 °C and controlled humidity at every stage, from the curing house until the day they are loaded for export.
Cartons are stored and rotated by lot number, so the oldest lot ships first and every carton still matches its certificate.
Export
We export worldwide, by sea or air. Choose the delivery term that suits your import set-up, and we quote it per lot.
Export documents with every shipment
