By Jecca Berta

Todd and Elaine recently returned from a trip to Papua New Guinea, where they took part in a cocoa trade expo. The island country is working to produce fine cocoa in a way that hasn’t been done there before. Their beans were among the first origins we sourced, from 2012 through 2014. Readers of our Making Chocolate book may recall how much we loved the smokiness of that chocolate, especially in our café S’more.  

Todd and Elaine, what was the reason for your trip? 

Elaine: This was Papua New Guinea’s first ever large-scale, international cocoa trade expo. It was half conference — educating and connecting producers with buyers — and half chocolate olympics. There were three main competitions: 

1. Who grows the best beans. There were 350 entries, and three gold winners. 

2. Who makes the best hot chocolate. All ingredients had to be grown locally, including the cacao. They don’t traditionally eat or drink chocolate in Papua New Guinea, so this was to encourage people to try their own cacao. 

3. Who grafts cacao trees the best. The prize was a live crocodile, which I almost tripped over. 

Bookmarking the crocodile. How did you end up attending the expo? 

Elaine: This was something Oonagh Browne organized with the assistance of the Papua New Guinean government, the Cocoa Board, EU-STREIT, and the Committee of the Greater Sepik Cocoa of Excellence Show and Trade Expo. Oonagh has to be one of the greatest (and most humble) unsung forces happening in fine cocoa throughout the Pacific. She will probably recoil when reading this, but in twenty to thirty years, when we’re looking for examples in cacao history of one single person having enormous behind-the-scenes influence … She’s on the ground, tasting the beans, giving feedback, hopping on canoes, and building relationships.

What happens at a cocoa trade expo? 

Todd: The goal of the expo was to get people excited about high-quality cocoa. Part of the reason we were there was because they were hosting an international delegation.

Elaine: They had previously done some much smaller trade expos, with just a few tents. This time there were two hundred. When you see that kind of change, it’s evident there’s a lot of movement. Cooperatives have formed. There’s tremendous momentum, and you can feel it. 

Todd: This was huge. Those tents were full of farmers from all the different provinces within Papua New Guinea. For the bean competition, the local chocolate factory made chocolate samples with everyone’s beans. 

Elaine: Many of the people there had never tried chocolate before.

Todd: For a lot of them, the only chocolate they had tried is Milo, which is an imported canned chocolate drink. 

Historically, what has cacao farming been like in Papua New Guinea? 

Elaine: Cacao was brought to the area in the 1880s by German explorers and missionaries. The cacao just grows there — it’s happy, it loves the light, the biodiversity. But unlike Central and South American cultures, they don’t have cacao as a part of their culture. 

They’ve historically treated cacao as a cash crop in Papua New Guinea. They harvest it, and it traditionally goes overseas. That’s tricky because, for fine cocoa, you’ll grow a better crop if you are tasting your beans and can assess your own quality. And rather than just being a cash crop, it would be better if they could make their own chocolate and drinks to capture some of that value in their local economy. Now they’re developing more of an appreciation for it.

Why did we stop sourcing Papua New Guinea beans? 

Elaine: The farm where we sourced our beans started growing bananas instead, so we didn’t have any beans available. 

Todd: The beans we got from that farm were very smoky. That’s considered a defect, but we really liked it for our S’more. The smoke flavor was a really fun part of the story. Since then, the whole country has worked for a decade to get rid of that flavor.

What causes the beans’ smoky flavor? 

Todd: The farmers will often dry the beans in the sun, but if it’s rainy, they’ll light a fire. Basically the smoke is contained within a pipe, and that’s what’s heating up the beans. If a pipe were broken or cracked in some way, it would lead to that smoky flavor.

We’d love to bring the Papua New Guinea S’more back and have a smoky chocolate, but we’d like to do it in an intentional way — where it’s smoked with a certain recipe or with coconut shells, where it isn’t random or potentially dangerous. If they could use a pipe with specific holes designed for this purpose, that would be quite cool. 

Elaine: There are multiple types of smoke flavor that one can want, so part of the “fine cocoa” is thinking deliberately about the flavor of the smoke — you just ever-so-slightly want to imbue that, so it doesn’t cover up the quality of the beans. There can be three different smoke flavor types: campfire, hammy, and medicinal / chemical (which you want to avoid). Previously, the smoke conversation had been synonymous with poor quality, but at some point hopefully in the future, it becomes about precision flavor control and a real sense of craft.

Are some farmers still smoking beans in Papua New Guinea? 

Todd: Many farmers have stopped smoking beans and have built small fermentaries and drying beds. 

Elaine: When you have beans that are at risk of mold and the sun just won’t shine during those critical few days, heat (and therefore smoke) seems like a convenient and logical solution. But there are risks to the smoke overpowering the beans, and it’s harder to control the quality and smokiness overall. Traditionally, smoke-dried beans have been associated with poor-quality beans, but it’s more correlation than strict causation, as it is indicative of perhaps less infrastructure and cacao-growing education.

Todd: At the same time, smoke is what they’re known for. It’s a defining flavor personality. Are there ways to control the smoke and make great-quality beans? That’s what we want to find out.

What were some standout moments from your trip? 

Todd: I think a big one was getting people to taste their own chocolate. It’s hard to measure quality if you don’t know the taste. They had a small cocoa lab set up, kind of like what we have on Valencia Street, where people could send in a kilo or two of their beans and have chocolate samples made. There were also chefs demonstrating things like making pancakes with local chocolate. They did a hot chocolate competition as well. 

One of the more interesting presentations was from Yann Gaitan, who does sourcing for Valrhona. He showed photos of other farms and drying processes around the world, and the farmers were just in awe. They were able to see how it is done differently in other parts of the world.

Were you able to sample the beans and chocolate? 

Todd: We did try a lot of beans, but it’s hard to taste without roasting. We tried many chocolate samples, which were made by Queen Emma Chocolate using the farmers’ beans. We also tried some of the hot chocolates. Before the expo began, Oonagh organized a collection of chocolate tasters to judge — people from Cacao Latitudes, European small-batch chocolate makers, Valrhona, and others. They tried and rated all two hundred samples, then narrowed it down and down. We got to taste that smaller lot, which was fun. It was really helpful for the farmers to get very specific feedback. 

Tell us more about the bean competition.

Elaine: They had three hundred and fifty entries from all over Papua New Guinea and ended up with three gold winners, and multiple silver and bronze. The gold winners received a significant amount of money. They can invest in drying equipment and infrastructure. When you see a prize like that being given, it’s about more than the money — it’s also giving honor to that hard work. 

Todd: The gold winners also got a contract with Cacao Latitudes and a trip to the Netherlands to build their own relationships at the upcoming Chocoa conference. 

Elaine: From a local perspective, the bulk market has been kind of a game changer for these producers, though focus has been on quantity over quality. But from that you see people buying iPhones, investing in their infrastructure, and even paying to repair their own roads. And now that bulk / commodity market has shifted. 

Todd: The bulk bean prices were $3,000 a tonne for a long time, then spiked to $12,000 or $14,000. A lot of people made a lot of money, but bean prices are now back down. If they can produce higher-quality cocoa and sell it to more premium makers, that can be a viable part of their economy.

Elaine: It’s a real opportunity to put Papua New Guinea on the cocoa map. People are already growing the cacao, and with a little more work they can grow fine cacao. And if they can export some of it, the export economy also shields them from some of their local market ups and downs. 

Do they have direct trade relationships? 

Todd: In a lot of countries, you have to go through a cocoa board, which can make it difficult to have  a direct relationship. Papua New Guinea just started doing micro-lot licenses. So if one farm is really amazing and has the best beans, then chocolate makers can buy from them directly.

Elaine: That’s the first time this has happened in Papua New Guinea — those direct relationships.

There are some parallels to your 2024 Solomon Islands trip, which Oonagh helped orchestrate as well. Tell us more about her.  

Todd: She’s worked for a number of aid organizations trying to help out local farmers, get them more money for their cacao, and help with quality. She has a company called Weave Cacao, which works with local makers in the Pacific Islands and makes chocolate that she sells in New Zealand. It directly benefits farmers from the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. She also runs trips to Papua New Guinea to take people to the farms and villages.

Elaine: The interesting thing about Weave Cacao is Oonagh wanted to have an English word that would translate internationally. It’s also kind of a nod to the women in Papua New Guinean culture. In their free time, they sit and weave bilums — traditional bags with woven patterns. Women run so much behind the scenes work there. When you are greeted, you receive a bilum bag around your neck.

Should we return to the crocodile?

Todd: The crocodile was the prize for the cacao tree grafting competition. Farmers lined up and had ninety seconds to graft a limb onto a cacao tree. 

Elaine: The tree grafting was done on a forty-point scale. You get up to five points each for doing things like washing your hands properly, cleaning the rootstock stem, and taping the bud patch to the rootstock the right way. It was interesting to see it being broken down and quantifiable, because the farmers know they need to be able to grow and plant cacao quickly to realize their hopeful expectations. The winner was awarded a crocodile. 

What is the significance of that? 

Elaine: When you’re in a different culture, it all makes sense. There, crocodiles are symbolic. To receive one is not just about potential food, it’s about honor. 

I was taking photos, with my iPhone close to my face, and someone said, “Hey Elaine, make sure you watch out for the crocodile.” And, yeah, there it was, a not-super-tiny crocodile bound and wriggling below the table. No one else seemed phased by this. As someone who dropped into a culture for five or six days, I know I am missing a lot of context and nuance. But what I gathered is that you can eat crocodiles, so it is a protein source. But also, culturally, the crocodile is a really big deal in the Wewak river culture. It is seen as a symbol of power, and once you become an adult, you are given crocodile attributes through tattoos, scale-like skin markings, and so on. To receive a crocodile is both practical and a symbol of greatness.

Beyond the expo, what will you remember about your trip? 

Elaine: Parts of Papua New Guinean culture have existed since before Egyptian culture. Just to be adjacent to that is so special. And the biodiversity. When you see the landscape, and all the greenery together just compressed, and pristine, it was just incredible. 

There is this real palpable drive in Papua New Guinea. You can really feel that they want the knowledge, want to be able to assess their beans, they want to know that they’re excellent. When you say something like, “Let’s go PNG!” everyone immediately echoes that rallying cry.

When considering the future of cacao farming in Papua New Guinea, what are you excited about? 

Todd: I think it’s a very exciting time for cocoa in Papua New Guinea, with the fact that the government and cocoa board are putting so much support behind elevating farmers, and getting better beans. 

If we could have a smoky Papua New Guinea bean again in a S’more, that would be a return to the beginning. It’s something we miss in our lineup, so we’re very excited about that as well. 

Elaine: I would love to say that we’ll have Papua New Guinea beans again soon, but change takes time. I don’t think we’ll need to wait another fifteen years. Hopefully two or three years, maybe even sooner.

All in all, we’re just very thankful to have been invited to the expo. To see change happening at this scale requires a lot of people to be motivated and aligned. We know Papua New Guinea cocoa has a bright future ahead, and we’re excited to be partners however the story unfolds.

Thank you, Todd and Elaine.

Reader, if you’d like to learn more about Oonagh Browne’s efforts in high-quality Pacific cocoa, visit Weave Cacao or the Cacao Ambassador, or check out her Cacao Adventures.