Sourcing Cacao in Thailand - Episode 90
Jan 19, 2026
We just returned from a sourcing trip to Thailand. This lesser known cacao origin is making its way into the craft chocolate scene with the help of people like Ryan Berk. Thailand has been Ryan’s second home from the time he was 14 years old. From the moment he founded his Southern California based, Parliament Chocolate, he has been using his connections in Thailand to put Thai cacao on the map.
We visited his partner’s cacao farm in the town of Chanthaburi. In this agricultural region of Eastern Thailand, cacao is a drop in the bucket in comparison with durian, mangosteen, and rubber tree cultivation. These well established cash crops make for an ideal agroforestry system that cacao trees thrive in. Without having to clear new terrain, farmers can simply plant cacao amidst the shade of their existing crops.
In order to produce sufficient quantities of cacao for export, this operation buys freshly harvested cacao from many farms in the region and centrally ferments and dries the beans at their facility. We filled our suitcases with a few bags of these beans and will be releasing a single origin Thailand bar later this year.
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