Vicente Norero, the owner and general manager of Camino Verde Cacao, continually improves his products through fermentation and processing experimentation. We love the flavor of his beans so much that not only do we make two Camino Verde chocolate bars, an 85% and a 100%, but we also use the chocolate as a base in nearly all of our drinks and many of our pastries in our U.S. cafés.

Focused as he is on optimizing the flavor of beans cultivated in varying environments around Ecuador, Vicente notes that beans from Esmeraldas in the north tend to taste fruity and nutty, while beans from further south are often nutty with a touch of floral aroma. Vicente and his Camino Verde team carefully tailor their production practices to coax well-balanced flavors from every set of beans. Camino Verde Cacao also collaborates with associations of farmers in Esmeraldas and Los Ríos, helping them to improve their crops and their processing operations so they might bring in the best possible prices for their cocoa.

We have worked with Vicente for many years and are deeply impressed by his dedication to the pursuit of flavor, as well as by his advocacy for higher income for Ecuador’s cacao farmers. Dandelion Chocolate has purchased more beans from Camino Verde than from any other single producer.