How our chocolate began

Back in 2006, I took a break from corporate viticulture in Australia to volunteer a year in the Solomon Islands; teaching english and agriculture at a college on the island of Malaita. It was a fork in the road, slower simpler pace, wonderful people, fascinating culture, tropical climate, agriculture... and cocoa.

A few years later an opportunity to live and work in a Pacific Island culture came as part of a contract managing a large comercial cocoa plantation in Vanuatu. It was absolutely my cup-of-tea, so I said goodbye to my lovely partner once again for a life-changing 2 years, living and working on the island of Malekula.

After returning to Australia in 2012 the dream had well and truly sparked; making our own chocolate from this extroadinary tree crop was something we had to do.

Piecing together small scale chocolate making equipment, some self-engineered, we started small... with Spencer Cocoa officially turning out it's first Vanuatu origin bars in 2013.

GROWERS WE BUY FROM

Today we buy directly from the same families we started with, some new growers have come on board, some have drifted off. The chocolate we make remains the same origin - made bean to bar from cocoa grown in a little pocket on the west coast of Malekula. And we buy directly - there are no 'middle-men'.

The families we buy from grow, harvest, ferment and dry the beans from their cocoa plantations and prepare our cocoa ready for shipping to Australia. It's been a journey together as we have honed our chocolate making process, and, working closely with the growers, to lift quality in their cocoa. You can't make great chocolate without excellent cocoa.

Great knowledge and skill is required to grow, ferment and produce quality cocoa. Since day one, we have maintained a strong connection to support and work with our growers to ensure the cocoa is processed to maximise quality and eliminate faults that can arise during fermentation and drying.

Over my time living and working in the Solomons and in Vanuatu, I've grown to treasure the Islander culture and have developed close relationships with the families we buy from. Each time I arrive in Vanuatu and take a deep breath of the warm, humid, smoke-tainted air, I feel a sense of 'home'.

We are proud of our chocolate – of its direct trade origins and simple ingredients that allow the quality and distinctiveness of the cocoa to shine through.

Luke Spencer - chocolate maker, agronomist