For the Love of Chocolate !!!

In the earlier half of this century, Tobago made significant contributions to Trinidad and Tobago's production of world-famous fine flavor cocoa, a worldwide-accepted benchmark in the global cocoa industry. Cocoa was one of the major crops grown throughout Tobago and many of the larger plantations, such as the Roxborough, Richmond and Goldsborough Estates - all over 100 acres and more in size.

On these larger estates in Tobago - many of them now acquired by the Tobago House of Assembly - there is still tangible evidence of past involvement in cocoa production. Estates at King's Bay, Louis D`or, Richmond, and Roxborough, to name a few, still have old cocoa houses, and in some cases, these houses - with little renovation - are still in use. In the fields, there are still hundreds of trees, even though they are showing signs of decades of neglect. There are about 45 cocoa farmers with farms ranging from two- (0,2) hectares; and there is only one functioning privately owned cocoa estate of approximately 80 hectares.

A cocoa farmer then was considered a person of status in his community. The village elders of today can recall the lifestyle and operations of the cocoa farmer in the prime years of their life. The cocoa farmer then was a dedicated full-time farmer who spent long hours on his holding. As a result of such interest, the cocoa farms were well established. They were relatively free of pest and the yields and financial returns were very much in keeping with the efforts put into operation. Cocoa provided the farmer and his family with a comfortable standard of living.

This single estate chocolate has been the dream of Duane Dove since he acquired an old and redundant cocoa plantation on Tobago in 2004. After five years of careful planning and preparation, the first bar of chocolate went on sale at the end of 2009. It has been made with the collaboration of French chocolatier François Pralus, who specializes in small-batch artisan fine chocolate. Although manufactured abroad, it is the first single-estate chocolate made entirely from Tobago cocoa beans by a Tobagonian. Launched in the Caribbean in January 2010. 

So take the time out and come visit our thriving cocoa plantation in Tobago, viewing its pods and dried beans from which one of the world’s finest dark chocolate is made. Have your life sweetened with Tobago’s own dark and lovely chocolate and then have a swim in the majestic Argyle Falls. Drive through the village and admire the ruins of some of the small cocoa processing factories and feast your mind with the richness of what Tobago has to offer.