Bean to bar chocolate making in India is at a nascent stage and numerous startups require handholding to save time as they acknowledge that early mistakes can be expensive to make and they also realise the time value of money. With extensive experience in assisting several bean to bar chocolate brands in India for the last 7 years, Cocoashala understands the need for mentoring early stage startup bean to bar brands and offers tailored Incubation and Business acceleration services/solutions. Cocoashala’s Bean to Bar Business Incubator & Accelerator program is one such initiative and it supports early-stage and start-up bean to bar businesses through investments in training and short-term mentoring. Our Business Accelerator’s long-term goals are to:
Help the businesses it supports to grow and become profitable quickly
“I took a certified course of Bean to Bar Chocolate Making with Cocoashala to understand all the ins and outs of the process” – Sonali, Founder, Cacaoly (https://www.cacaoly.in/story)
Get in touch with Cocoashala @ nitin@cocoatrait.com or +919600064846 for details.
Indian cacao might not have made its mark yet globally but it would be fair and safe to say Indian Bean to bar chocolate makers have arrived! With 10+ winners at the recently concluded Asia Pacific Edition of the International Chocolate Awards (ICA) hosted in Hongkong, L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st certified Chocolate taster picks the award winning chocolates, experiences them and shares his observations to help you understand the significance of the awards.
Nitin experiencing the Sensory magic that he enjoys being India’s 1st certified chocolate taster!
Disclaimer: Upon request, we were privledged to be sent a few Indian Bean to Bar chocolates of each of the International Chocolate Awards (ICA) Asia Pacific 2023 winners. Please note that this is not a generic product review and most of these bars were not paid for by us. We have looked beyond the the packaging, snap/condition and temper of the chocolate. We review what matters the most to us, which is, flavour! This reviews only the work/effort of the chocolate craftsman / maker and the flavour delivery of the product. This review is about what I like about the bars and NOT a critical/product improvement review exercise with an aim to help consumers understand why a bar won an award and which bar to choose to experience. The reviews are in the order of the bars received by us upon request to the chocolate makers. Some bars were not available to us to review.
Chitra’m White Chocolate Masala Chaas (ICA Asia Pacific 2023: Silver)
A down right innovative approach which is bound to make heads turn! Chitra’m has kept up to its reputation of innovation in approach towards product development and product delivery after their Moringa & Lemon White Chocolate won an ICA a few years ago. Chitram has the most awards in the white chocolate category in India. They almost own the white chocolate category in India! No surprise that this bar got the attention of the judges and won a silver. A well balanced white chocolate without sugar, with all the elements of chaas (buttermilk) as we know it and a visual treat. Yes! a chocolate without sugar! What deserves mention is that it is not overly buttery, none of the flavours over power each other, deliver on the palate fairly easily with all ingredients fighting to delicately show up during the melt leaving no off taste and a medium post melt length. We could carve a new category for this! We would not call it sugar free but sugar less savoury chocolate! What worked in this chocolate bar for L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st Certified Chocolate taster: A sugarless creation with authencity of flavours packed in an innovative bar.
Savorworks 72% Dark Gin & Tonic (ICA Asia Pacific 2023: Silver)
A worthy new silver award winner from a relatively new entrant at the ICA from India! The chocolate makers roasting ability and chocolate making skills have been a differentiator and demonstrates itself clearly (or shall we say “cleanly”) in the chocolate experience. Having tasted this last year and living up to its name, this 72% dark chocolate bar is the closest it gets to experiencing Gin & Tonic in a bar. This bar wins because the subtle flavour oils (Juniper, Lime and Lemon) blended well and show up almost immediately. They pair well with the cacao notes which are highlighted due to a near perfect roast. A hint of astringency plays well and while the mouthfeel is a bit buttery (give it to the lecithin), it melts rather slowly. Clearly the best roast I have experienced in Indian craft chocolate yet! Overall, well roasted cacao turned into a chocolate bar experience leaving a desirable medium long post melt length. Great new entrant and a warm welcome to the Indian Bean to bar chocolate industry! What worked in this chocolate bar for L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st Certified Chocolate taster: The roast profile of the cacao, the texture and the flavour balance.
Paul And Mike 57% Vegan Dark Milk Masala Chai (ICA Asia Pacific 2023: Gold)
This gold winner deserves the recognition because of the quality of ingredients used, the balance of the spices with the sweetness and chocolate and the post melt delivery of flavours. The highlight is the use of rice milk to add a subtle creaminess to the chocolate. The lack of good quality milk powder in India gets compensated by the use of Rice milk as it helps the lactose intolerant and also does a favour to people who have an intolerance towards the taste of milk from dairy source. We believe that this could have been a good bar even if a bit darker in cacao % but we are sure that, as is, this would be a mass appeal chocolate bar. The texture is smooth and the finish is worth mentioning! What worked in this chocolate bar for L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st Certified Chocolate taster: A really good mix of spices in the most perfect balance of creaminess and sweetness followed by a lingering aftertaste of spices to start with and ends with sweetness! I would give it a gold simply because is achieved this without the addition of flavour oils!
Paul And Mike64% Dark Rum & Rummy Raisins Chocolate (ICA Asia Pacific 2023: Bronze)
This is one of the 1st bars we have tasted with an inclusion from the ICA AP 2023 edition winners. First up, the aroma of the Jamaican rum captivated us. On going beyond and not surprisingly, Paul and Mike leans on the legacy and expertise of their flavours division and delivers a winner with this bar! Using the Jamaican rum flavour, a very interesting balance of tropical fruits (pineapple, a bit of citrus) is paired with raisins and a really good balance of sweetness and chocolate delivers a satisfactory experience for us. This bar saves me a pairing and I could enjoy this bar anytime of the day (or night)! What worked in this chocolate bar for L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st Certified Chocolate taster: The aroma, the quality of the flavour oil and the balance of sweetness.
Paul And Mike 64% Dark Beer Chocolate (ICA Asia Pacific 2023: Bronze)
Let us give it to this bar! Hands Down! In my opinion this could have easily been a silver winner had there been lesser competition in the category at the ICA. With a smooth texture, this chocolate is a mind blowing application and execution of a flavour concept which panoramically captures the flavours of hops, beer, pineapple with a perfect balance of sweetness and chocolate. With a medium melt, this bar finishes with a flavourful freeze dried mango piece left to be savoured. The good quality of the flavour oils stands out once agin for Paul & Mike! What worked in this chocolate bar for L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st Certified Chocolate taster: A genuine effort at conceptualising and executing a concept with a progressive collaboration!
Paul And Mike 87% Dark Chocolate (ICA Asia Pacific 2023: Bronze)
A truly fine flavoured plain chocolate bar with really enjoyable smooth texture, controlled acidity and lingering with citrus and red fresh fruits. The muscovado sugar lends a light caramel note to the already enjoyable experience. This bar could so easily win a gold within an Indian competition. This bar should be dedicated to the cacao bean and the roasting capability of the chocolate maker. A slightly fatty bar, the refining/texture is smooth and the astringency has been eliminated to keep the experience really enjoyable, with a clean finish and must say a memorable experience and a good length. This must be considered as an example of what Indian bean to bar chocolate makers are capable of and a benchmark of sorts. What worked in this chocolate bar for L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st Certified Chocolate taster: The roast which retains and brings out the best character of the bean and the texture.
Paul And Mike 64% Gin & Ginger Dark Chocolate (ICA Asia Pacific 2023: Silver)
The best and a silver award worthy creation of the popular beverage combination! This would be my 1st initial reaction. With perfect pieces of good quality candied ginger aided by juniper oil (smaller ginger pieces embedded in the chocolate compared to the picture), this is certainly a bar I could go back to at any point of the day (or night). The start is a mesmerising (can we say satisfying too?) aroma of Juniper and the balance of sweetness and the ingredients with a perfect dosage of the oil helps the ginger (and the spice flavour it brings along) to play a role of the hero in the overall experience as it unfolds. The quality of the flavour oils are noteworthy and the bar is blessed with a long length! What worked in this chocolate bar for L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st Certified Chocolate taster: The high quality flavour oils used, the delicate balance of the ingredients and the spicy experience on the throat that I am left with! This is a bar I would certainly gift!
Kocoatrait 64% Masala Chai Dark Chocolate (ICA Asia Pacific 2023: Silver)
This is not the only chai chocolate winning at the ICA 2023 (Asia Pacific). While India has kept to its reputation of innovative uses of spices in various foods and beverages, this bar is further proof that the traditional masala chai (which was a beverage believed to be traditionally used to keep alert) remains the rightful property of Indian bean to bar chocolate makers! What makes this chocolate memorable to me is the delicate balance and delivery of flavours of the spices used (Ginger, Cardamom & Black Pepper), in a not very complex (collectively) but very well balanced 64% dark chocolate with low to medium acidity, controlled astringency and medium bitterness matching the experience of our beloved Indian masala chai! The spices present themselves one after the other in the melting experience and I would refer to this as an “engineered” chocolate. It has a persisting length of melt and provides a lingering aftertaste. What worked in this chocolate bar for L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st Certified Chocolate taster: The flavour starts with cardamom followed by ginger and ending with a slight burn due to black pepper on the throat. This chocolate bar keeps me intrigued, entertained and engaged through out the experience.
La Folie 65% Kelagur Coffee Bar (ICA Asia Pacific 2023: Bronze)
What can you do to make an already good chocolate better?? Add great coffee beans to it! I was not too impressed with the aroma initially but as the chocolate started to melt, it became evident that it was a marriage of good cacao and good coffee. Dark fruit notes (raisins, berry) complimented the coffee used and it makes this a very interesting bar. It has accentuated caramel notes from the muscovado sugar and from the coffee beans. A good selection of cacao % without too much overall bitterness and coffee flavour means that it is a coffee lovers bar to look out for! What worked in this chocolate bar for L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st Certified Chocolate taster: Good balance with the coffee and accentuated flavour notes (fruity & caramel).
La Folie 70% Silk Route Dark Chocolate (ICA Asia Pacific 2023: Silver)
The aroma of cardamom and a beautiful looking bar. This is my 1st impression about this creation from La Folie. I took a bite of the chocolate sans the pistachio and rose petals to get a feel of the base creation. The sweetness of the cardamom and sweet spiciness of the nutmeg both ensure that the bar does not come across as a 70% dark bar. It appeared much lower in %. The melt as desirable (slow) and the advantage of using the real spices as flavours was playing out clearly and was at the core of the experience. The magic started when i chewed on the pistachios and the rose petals along with the chocolate (inspite of me always resisting the bite while evaluating chocolates. It was followed by a good length. Pro Tip: Defects are easier to notice when you melt the chocolate). This is certainly a silver award winner for the handling (can i say balance, one more time?) of the various ingredients. What worked in this chocolate bar for L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st Certified Chocolate taster: The way the ingredients hid 70% darkness away behind the melody of flavours in the chocolate experience.
“When you have good grapes in hand, you decide to make grape juice with it or fine wine! Cacao is no different.“
– L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st certified chocolate taster
L Nitin Chordia inspecting Indian Cacao
In India Dark chocolates are increasingly being considered a healthier option to snack on and is backed by an increasing demand. Dark chocolates can range from 60% dark all the way upto 100% dark. A fine flavoured dark chocolate must contain more than 73% cacao to be considered suitable to deliver the health benefits. This means 73% of the contents of the chocolate is derived directly from cocoa. (Read: which dark chocolate is good for you). The more the % of the dark chocolate the more cocoa is used. An average mass produced dark chocolate available to an Indian consumer contains more sugar than a traditional Indian sweet and contains way lesser cacao as an ingredient than a typical dark chocolate should contain!
Most of the dark chocolates available in India are in the range of 50-55%. The reason for this is rather straightforward. The mass market dark chocolate is made from cocoa beans which are not capable of delivering fine flavor, are usually bitter, highly acidic, highly astringent, certainly have primary processing defects and are paid very less for! This is primarily due to bad harvesting and post harvesting processes/protocols. Have you noticed how most mass manufactured chocolate taste predominantly of vanilla? To hide the above defects and inheritances from cacao, mass producers add sugar, vanilla flavouring and milk powders while processing to make their chocolate palatable. Let us call these as masking agents. The key is to have good quality base raw material to start with (cacao in this case) if our aim is to make good high % dark chocolate.
“Garbage in, garbage out”.
– L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st certified chocolate taster
Cocoa content in dark chocolate is always more than the cocoa content in a milk chocolate. White chocolate on the other hand may use little or no cocoa and milk chocolates contain less than 20% cocoa and the other ingredients include processed milk powder, sugar and emulsifiers. In compounds, which are the most produced category in India, processed cacao powder, hydrogenated vegetable oil and sugar make up most of the ingredients. Vanilla flavouring and sugar are again the most common masking agents used!
The cocoa powder used in large quantity in compound is almost always imported and oils are farmed and processed in quite an un-sustainable fashion. If carbon impact is anything to go by, compounds would top the contribution list. Compounds contribute negatively to our import/export balance and robs from the Indian cacao farmer a chance for their cacao to be used! Most often, the excuse is that Indian cacao beans do not meet the requirements and the standards set by the large buyer and at some point it is cheaper to import cacao then buy locally. Mass market chocolate makers can also be discredited to offer Indian consumers, products which would simply not stand a chance to sell in most other developed countries!
With the bean to bar revolution taking place now globally and in India, chocolate makers are looking at sourcing beans that can deliver better and interesting flavours, are defect free and which help them make higher % dark chocolate without adding masking agents. However, the current Indian cacao does not lend itself to producing fine flavoured chocolate due to lack of post harvesting facilities and know-how at the farmer level.
India would be the winner!
– L Nitin Chordia
With improved flavour profile of Indian cacao, producers will be able to make higher % dark chocolate, our reliance on imported raw materials would reduce thus reducing imports and also carbon emissions. As a result, cacao farmers would certainly be paid a higher price for their efforts! A winning situation for India!
“Training and consultation from Nitin at Cocoashala was instrumental in kickstarting Paul And Mike in quick time. In addition to chocolate making, his insights about the Indian consumer were critical to create the right product portfolio”
L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st certified chocolate taster, shares his incredible, inspiring & imprinting cacao/chocolate journey. In 2004, Nitin was awarded an M.Sc degree in Retail Business Management from the University of Surrey, UK. Among several retail business projects, his initial career’s highlight was his contribution towards setting up the Godrej Natures basket chain of gourmet grocery stores (recently purchased by Spencer’s Retail). During that project, Nitin gained valuable exposure towards fine flavoured bean to bar chocolates as he tasted/tested chocolates from 50+ global brands. During his management consulting days Nitin as part of many successful and failed projects and attributed most project failures to expectation mismatch. Fast forward to 2013, after having spent a good 4 years in the USA advising retail clients in various functions, Nitin decided to return to India to pursue his entrepreneurial dream but most importantly, with an aim of nation building and to try and make a real difference to what ever he chooses to do. As part of opportunity exploring, among his 1st investments was a chocolate backpacking trip to Belgium and a chocolate tasters certification course from IICCT, UK as he decided to learn about chocolates in depth with a top down approach. After the chocolate tasting course and a few lectures about his chocolate backpacking trip, Nitin decided to focus on chocolate education as an opportunity in India and to help make a difference to the Indian cacao industry and decided to set up Cocoashala in early 2014 in collaboration with his wife Poonam.
Cacao is the basic raw material needed to make chocolate. Nitin decided to research, explore and map the entire cacao value chain in-depth from the cacao farm to the chocolate bar. Nitin recognized a few gaps in the cacao value chain specifically and started to engage with cacao farmers and equipment makers. The gaps were clearly the availability of good quality cacao beans and small/medium scale processing equipment. He decided to invest considerable time over the next few years in developing and improving existing small scale equipments for processing cacao into chocolate and finally decided to work on and build an energy efficient cocoa cracker winnower himself! Cocoashala now offers a range of equipments to their students, program participants and startups regularly.
Nitin with cacao farmers
As next steps, starting early 2015, Nitin started visiting cacao farms across south india and realised that farmers had no incentive to treat their cacao post harvesting and hence the quality remained compromised. Nitin started working with farmers closely on controlling fermentations based on various factors across the seasons and has now helped in setting up 4 cacao fermentary’s in India which together are capable of processing over 100 tonnes of fine flavour cacao annually! These were great starts and in the right direction and ensures constant supply of cacao beans to the chocolate makers. Nitin is currently pursuing several more post harvest projects.
Kumar and Palanisamy of Soklet took samples to Chennai-based L Nitin Chordia, India’s first certified chocolate taster, and asked him to give them a try. “If he wasn’t going to like them, both the idea and the chocolate were going to be binned,” said Palanisamy. But Chordia liked what they’d done and that led to birth of bean-to-bar brand Soklet.
With most pieces of the puzzle solved, and to tie up the loose ends, Nitin designed a signature 3-day chocolate making engagement program to help get chocolate entrepreuners, enthusiasts and future clients on the same page and level of understanding about the chocolate business and set expectations for both our clients and the industry. During this program, Nitin takes a deep dive into the cacao value chain, uncovers opportunities for clients, and even makes a few batches of delicious chocolate hands-on! This format has been incredibly successful for Cocoashala, and their most profitable and loyal clients have been recruited via this platform. Nitin believes in being transparent and upfront with his clients, and hence refuses to engage in projects unless the client spends 3 days with us and pays for this service.
The Hindu Business Line Coverage of Cocoashala
We’ve seen great results from this approach. In fact, we’ve had 4 clients/students who decided not to pursue opportunities in the cacao value chain after understanding the challenges. They thanked us for helping them save money that they might have lost had they made uninformed decisions. We like to think of this 3-day engagement as a small insurance premium that assures informed decision-making. Cocoashala has trained 127 participants till date.
“In the first workshop on chocolate making, I learnt about the process followed by chocolatiers. The second workshop was a step forward to getting the fermentation right, identifying the right flavours in the cacao, etc.,”
Cocoashala has incubated 4 bean to bar chocolate brands till date to improve their current offerings, develop innovative products, expand their businesses, and create new job opportunities and offers IASS (Infrastructure As A Service) to bridge the gap for budding entrepreuners as they wait for the equipments that they have ordered with us to be delivered to them and we assist them build a product portfolio based on our proprietary CFEM (Cocoashala Flavour Evolution Model) and save on valuable go-to-market time. The missing piece however was the last mile education as far as chocolate appreciation and understanding is concerned and Nitin invested considerable time, effort and money into hosting the IICCT chocolate tasting courses in India from 2018. Nitin started as the 1st ever external faculty at the IICCT, UK delivering classes in London, Germany and Amsterdam from 2017. Cocoashala hosted level 1&2 of the chocolate tasters certification courses in 2018 & 2019 pre pandemic and the Level 3 for the 1st time in Asia in India in Feb 2023 post the pandemic! Nitin has also been a judge at the International Chocolate Awards (ICA), London since 2014!
Nitin enjoying setting up the chocolate unit @ Paul & Mike, Kerala, India !
On the whole, Cocoashala as India’s only Cacao incubation center aims to foster a vibrant cocoa and chocolate industry in India by providing entrepreneurs with access to Knowledge Transfer, Technical Expertise, Training, Consulting, Sparring Partner, end to end Implementation services funding and access to state-of-the-art Incubation center. Cocoashala has also played a crucial role in promoting sustainable cocoa production practices to help enhance the quality of Indian cocoa beans and placing India in the world chocolate map!
Nitin appreciating chocolate
“We are delighted to celebrate our 4th anniversary and the success of our incubation programs. We look forward to continuing our efforts to promote the cocoa and chocolate industry in India and helping entrepreneurs achieve their dreams” said L Nitin Chordia, Co-Founder of Cocoashala. “Our mission is to build a strong and sustainable cocoa and chocolate industry in India, and we are proud of the role we have played in achieving this goal.” adds Nitin. Below are some of our client mentions about our programs at Cocoashala:
“Training and consultation from Nitin at Cocoashala was instrumental in kickstarting Paul And Mike in quick time. In addition to chocolate making, his insights about the Indian consumer were critical to create the right product portfolio” – Vikas Temani, Business Head, Paul & Mike Craft Chocolates, India.
Kumar and Palanisamy of Soklet took samples to Chennai-based L Nitin Chordia, India’s first certified chocolate taster, and asked him to give them a try. “If he wasn’t going to like them, both the idea and the chocolate were going to be binned,” said Palanisamy. But Chordia liked what they’d done and that led to birth of bean-to-bar brand Soklet. – Palanisamy, Co-Founder, Soklet Tree to Bar Chocolate, India.
“In the first workshop on chocolate making, I learnt about the process followed by chocolatiers. The second workshop was a step forward to getting the fermentation right, identifying the right flavours in the cacao, etc.,” – Akhil Grandhi, Founder, Bon Fiction Bean to Bar Chocolates, India.
Nitin also operates Kocoatrait, World’s most sustainable chocolate brand with Poonam and has helped save 300+ kgs of plastics from entering the landfills! Kocoatrait completes their contribution to the Indian cacao value chain.
About Cocoashala, Poonam Chordia & L Nitin Chordia
Cocoashala, Chennai is the world’s 1st and only bean to bar incubation center and training institute focusing on placing India on the world cacao map. Cocoashala has trained top bean to bar makers in India and helped them grow in this highly profitable and exciting Bean to Bar chocolate making industry. Cocoashala is founded by Poonam Chordia & L Nitin Chordia, both based in Chennai and are India’s 1st Certified Chocolate Tasters (Male & Female). Nitin has been a judge at the International Chocolate Awards, London. Nitin is the 1st external faculty at the Institute of fine chocolate tasting, London and has been hosting India’s 1st Chocolate tasting certification in Chennai since June 2018. Cocoatrait represents India in international cocoa conferences/events and represents Indian cacao. Poonam & Nitin also operate the world’s 1st and most sustainable chocolate brand called Kocoatrait.
Contact: L Nitin Chordia: nitin@cocoatrait.com; +919600064846.
Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a religious post and we are not Jain monks who, ofcourse, have far greater understanding of these issues discussed. We both have been born in Jain families and aim to practise the rules set out by Jainism as accurately as possible. Also, we are not an externally funded business/brand. Last but not the least, I hope this does not turn into a religious post. I am an all-welcoming democratic citizen of India and an aspiring Jain. Though I have the privilege of having been born into a Jain family, I do not yet follow strictly all the guidelines/rules and hence am choosing to use the word “aspiring jain”. But Jainism is embraced by families like ours and we choose to aim and adhere to its guidelines because it does not enforce the rules onto its followers.
We, Poonam Chordia & L Nitin Chordia are India’s 1st certified chocolate tasters and Co-founders of Kocoatrait chocolates. We feel that we have come a long way in our chocolate journey and should take a moment to summarise the inspiration behind what has helped us tide through Covid with very high empathy, compassion, self-belief and optimism to make a difference to the planet we live in and the people we live around.
Kocoatrait Range
As we welcome the year 2023 with measured optimism and with a belief that this year is going to be pivotal for the cacao and bean to bar chocolate industry in India, let us start with seeking forgiveness with folded hands for the unintentional wrongs that we might have done and hurt anyone while making progress in the past year. Micchami Dukkadam. Ofcourse, you might have guessed by now that this is related to us being Jains!
We discuss how the values, principles and practises of Jainism that we have been surrounded by during our formative years have guided us into building our business verticals namely, Cocoashala as Asia’s 1st and only bean to bar incubation centre and training institute, Kocoatrait as India’s 1st and only Zero Waste, planet friendly, Inclusive and sustainable chocolate brand and Cocoatrait as India’s 1st and only cocoa post-harvest solution and service provider and have helped us in the choices we have made in our chocolate business.
For starters, Jains have for thousands of years believed in respect for all living beings including plants and animals. The central philosophy of Jainism – one of the world’s oldest religions – is Ahimsa and is based on non-violence in thought, word and deed/actions. Jainism is a life style of values, which is alternative to the ideology of consumer society or consumerism. It is characterised by the virtues of non-violence, non-possession, non-absolutism and equality of each soul, which balances the internal happiness along with socio-eco harmony. Its philosophy educates, trains and motivates a human being to limit the strive for power and desires within the circumscribe of availability. Jains are inspired to work with what is available within nature and limits of money and to practise a compassionate form of capitalism. Sustainable Development (SD) for Jains is based on the following major factors:
Economic Development
A lot of today’s world problems arises due to the need or greed to amass more wealth than others resulting in increasing consumerism. Jain philosophy considers all earth-bodied, water-bodied, air-bodied, fire-bodied, plant-bodied and the moveable creatures as a living being and any harm to these is considered as violence. Apart from Non-Violence, Jainism also preaches and requests followers to practise non-possession or what the modern world today refers to and is knows as Minimalism. Excess utilization of water, food, clothes and other resources is considered as causing or indulging in violence. It can also be termed as principal of economic humanity as it teaches disassociation of attachment with the available resources and to act like a custodian for the same. This principal includes avoiding hoarding of things more than what is required.
How Cocoatrait, Kocoatrait & Cocoashala has benefitted from the above principles: At Kocoatrait we have based our offering on less is more! We have designed our chocolate products and experiences to ensure we help consumers keep a tap on over consumption. We do not cut a single tree to operate our business. Cacao fruits are cut with specific care and we train farmers to ensure that the location from where the fruits are picked are not damaged and the tree produces fruit again next season at that location. Further, minimalism is stitched into the Jain philosophy and we are big on minimalism. Starting from our minimal graphic design, the optimised size of our bars and the minimal amount of packaging material we use on our bars, our focus on minimalism all the way! We design our chocolates by making most use of resources to ensure that the least quantity of consumption results in a more than usual amount of satisfaction (of flavour) thus encouraging lesser consumption and discouraging consumerism. We include a chocolate tasting guide to help reduce consumption.
Ecological Balance
Jain philosophy, based on non-violence, is a vigilant security guard of ecological balance. Don’t kill any living beings, don’t try to rule them is the core preaching and practice of Lord Mahavira. Jains have been under pledge not to causes harm to any birds, animals, flora and fauna and allows them to grow in a fearless environment. Jains are prohibited to cut green trees and kill even tiny living beings. A Jain should be a strict vegetarian, consume food before sunset and fast regularly. This life style leads to automatic conservation of nature, limits consumption and increases understanding of and accepts the respectful survival of every living creature. Jain monk’s travel barefoot throughout their life thus also reducing vehicular pollution and reducing chances of killing insects by stamping them.
How Cocoatrait, Kocoatrait & Cocoashala has benefitted from the above principles: The beans are fermented and sun dried at the farm level to ensure that the transportation and pollution is limited. The fruit leftovers go back to the soil at the farm. Our office operation uses paper made from agro waste to ensure no tree is cut to make paper. We do not use fire to roast our beans. We procure our main raw material (cocoa beans) from within 550 kms of our unit and use innovative low energy equipment to process our chocolate. Our chocolate wrapping material is up-cylced from leftover cotton from garment factories and the cocoa husks which are left over while air roasting at our manufacturing unit. We operate in the circular economy and promote the reuse of the outer shipping box by giving the consumer various ways to repurpose them. We operate an EPR program wherein consumers can return the wrappers to us for recycling. We use water based ink to print on our wrappers and prioritise manual screen printing to reduce energy consumption.
Equality feeling
Jainism is a religion of socio-religious equality where all souls are considered and to be treated equal and does not differentiate between people of different religious faiths. Soul of ant is equally powerful as of elephant. Jainism gives equal right to women for religious practices. Jainism believes that one, who cultivates an attitude of equality towards all living beings, can attain equanimity. For many Jains, as well as those from other dharmic religions such as Sikhs and Hindus, philanthropy is “a duty not a choice” and it is a priority not an afterthought or a forced action. Philanthropy is practised as one of the ways and with an aim to elevate everyone around you to become equals.
How Cocoatrait, Kocoatrait & Cocoashala has benefitted from the above principles: We operate our business with an inclusive first mindset. We employ non jains from the local community in our business. Most of our employees are women and we are highly flexible towards their personal needs. We pay keen attention on inclusivity, thus, philanthropy, for us, is not an afterthought. The 1st choice printers for our wrappers are V-excel educational trust who train differently abled citizens on screen printing. This is to ensure that we have contributed as we start and every day and not accumulate (hoard) wealth before distributing it. We aim of giving equal opportunities to all. Our palm leaf boxes are made by financially disadvantaged rural women in tamilnadu. We engage differently abled artists, encourage them to be creative and create an art piece for us and we then print their work inside the wrapper by giving due credits. We always look for a chance to be inclusive and demonstrate equality while operating our business.
Emotional Maturity
Emotional Maturity implies controlling emotions willingly, Flexibility in attitude and to understand the sense of responsibility. Uncontrolled emotions are often responsible for conflicts at personal & social level. Jain philosophy is based on the nature of reality hence accepted the existence of opposites. Its core code of conduct includes non-absolutism, which nurtures the flexible approach to accept the different thoughts with compassion.
How Cocoatrait, Kocoatrait & Cocoashala has benefitted from the above principles:
At the farm level, our post-harvest practises/protocols have always approached treating the cacao plants and soil with care, emotionally, with great compassion, calmness and flexibility as if they were another human being and accepting that there will be batches of cacao fermentation and or chocolate making that might go wrong. Across the value chain, starting from working with farms that organically grow cacao, ensuring best practises so that all the flowers convert to fruit, keeping a check on temperatures during fermentation at every stage, to reducing wastage at every step of the post harvesting process, ensuring there is minimal fruit wastage by defining the harvest protocols, optimising batch sizes, using natural methods (sun light) to achieve correct beans drying and using shade optimally, low roasting our cacao beans, using gentle cracking and air flow to winnow the husks of our beans, keeping refining/grinding temperatures under check, our progress has been purely and surely because we treat cacao beans delicately and respectfully as a living being across the process. We accept each bean is different and adjust/adapt our process accordingly. We have gone to an extent to be vaastu compliant in the positioning of our equipment’s and processes to ensure that no negative energies are captured in our cacao beans or chocolates. Last but not the least, we pay the cacao farmers a higher price than asked to ensure that we demonstrate our compassion towards them. This, to us, has been our differentiator from the very beginning.
Educational Elevation
Education is the most important tool to establish and maintain the sustainability of humanity. In Jainism, it is said that no conduct is possible without knowledge. Further, defining knowledge, Lord Mahavira said that “with the help of which we can know the truth, control the restless mind, and purify the soul is called knowledge.” Attaining salvation is the ultimate aim of Jainism. The criteria for salvation is to have Keval Gyan i.e. attainment of complete knowledge. Knowledge through research is an integral part of Jain philosophy and continuous application of the same is the primary task. Jainism lays less emphasis on the formal knowledge but more to the practical application, which trains the person to behave in harmony with nature and other living creatures.
How Cocoatrait, Kocoatrait & Cocoashala has benefitted from the above principles:
As we operate Cocoashala, an institute aimed at spreading knowledge about bean to bar chocolate making and tasting, we have always believed that equality in society can be achieved via knowledge sharing, education and research. The aim of our 360 degree education approach with the certification courses we offer in chocolate making and chocolate tasting is to do our best to elevate all members of the industry with in-depth knowledge. We have incubated and helped establish several chocolate brands at Cocoashala without fearing them as competition and with a clear and pure approach of ensuring their well-being and progress via continuous knowledge sharing, education and training. We started with no formal education in chocolate making and we worked backwards to increase our knowledge with in-depth research. We researched and understood the final chocolate product in-depth and then backward integrated to equipment curation/contract manufacturing, and then to the farm level where we now undertake post-harvest projects. The guiding principles have been research. We have never assumed that we know everything there is to know and we have improved our understanding via practical application of our knowledge. Having no formal education has never been disability for us and research has guided us all along. Our association with IICCT, UK is also our effort to bring the best of education to the community.
I hope that you like reading this piece and I would welcome and appreciate your honest feedback. Kindly contact or whats me at +919600064846 or nitin@cocoatrait.com
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