Tanzania Kokoa Kamili

Kokoa Kamili Fermentery was founded by Brian LoBue and Simran Bindra,. Prior to Kokoa Kamili, a single buyer dominated the area – the local arm of one of the world’s largest soft commodity trading houses. This buyer set the price for cocoa, and farmers had little alternatives. Historically, farmers in the Kilombero Valley received some of the lowest prices for cocoa in the country. In Kokoa Kamili’s first year alone Kilombero farmers received the highest prices in Tanzania for their cocoa. Today, Kokoa Kamili works with nearly 3000 smallholder farmers, most of whom farm between 0.5-2 acres of cocoa. Kokoa Kamili pays a premium--well above the market rate--to farmers for their ‘wet’ cocoa, and conducts its own fermentation and drying and take our word for it they are experts at cacao fermentation. Many craft chocolate makers work with Kokoa Kamili due to the fact that since it is fermented so well it can be extremely versatile to work with. A lite roast, dark roast, gentle and long roast will all create a very different flavor profile for Koakoa Kamili. We personally like to bring out the orange flavor with a bit of the pipe tobacco complexity, and we hope you like it as much as we do.