Bahia is one of the largest states of Brazil, located in the east, along the Atlantic coast. Once a monarchial stronghold dominated by slave-centric agriculture and ranching, Bahia is now a domestic manufacturing center and the focal point of Brazil’s re-entry into the fine cacao market. The region was once the largest cacao producer in the country, so reputed that a portion of southern Bahia was nicknamed “Cacao Coast.” Unfortunately, bioterrorism in the 1980’s devastated the country’s crop over the course of just a decade. In the early 2010’s, a number of family farms took it upon themselves to revitalize the local fine flavor cacao industry, which continues to grow annually.

Fazenda Camboa is one of the largest producers of organic cacao beans all of Brazil, and is the biggest in the southern state of Bahia. Fazenda is Portuguese for “estate,” and the Carvalho family began taking over cacao estates such as Fazenda Camboa back in 1942. Since then, they’ve dealt with the devastation of witch’s broom fungus destroying almost all of Brazil’s cocoa crop back in the 90’s, and completely reinvented their approach to farming. Camboa now includes several thriving species of cacao, including some native Amazonian varietals, all grown in organic and natural conditions.