LOS ANGELES, March 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- LetterPress Chocolate, the first bean to bar chocolate maker in Los Angeles, has partnered with Ucayali River Cacao in Peru to help farmers move away from Coca production to Cacao. Coca is processed into cocaine and is a very dangerous venture. Ucayali River Cacao pays a significant premium to farmers of the Ucayali region of Peru to assist USAID Peru and Alianza Cacao to help move farmers away from illicit Coca production towards Cacao production instead. The result is LetterPress Chocolate's award-winning Ucayali Private Reserve 70% Dark Chocolate bar, winner of the 2017 Academy of Chocolate Award, International Chocolate Award USA Gold and World Silver Awards, and a new category, the "MMM" Judges Award for Best Overall Chocolate Bar.

Like other premium single origin chocolate bars, the terroir of the cacao beans reveals itself in the finished product. "In this case, our Ucayali bar tastes strongly of caramel, leading into a warm mocha finish and a hint of cedar. There's nothing quite like it," says David Menkes, owner and chocolate maker at LetterPress Chocolate in Los Angeles. "Having worked so closely with Ucayali River Cacao, we have secured the absolute best of the best to craft our absolute best bar." In addition to winning awards for the chocolate itself, LetterPress Chocolate was also awarded the Academy of Chocolate's Gold Award for Packaging Design. The unique pattern is based on the indigenous Shipibo pattern of Ucayali.

Ucayali River Cacao was founded in 2015 with the goal of fermenting the most consistent, excellent quality cacao in the world. LetterPress Chocolate received the very first sample of this cacao and produced the first ever chocolate made from this unique fermentation process.

LetterPress Chocolate pays Ucayali River Cacao directly for their cacao, establishing a Direct Trade partnership. As a bean to bar chocolate maker, LetterPress Chocolate imports cacao beans from the source, and carefully roasts, cracks, winnows, refines, tempers and wraps every batch in a painstaking process which can take up to a week per batch.

LetterPress Chocolate's Ucayali Private Reserve Bar is available at speciality shops nationwide and on LetterPress Chocolate's website for $18.

Contact:
LetterPress Chocolate
david@letterpresschocolate.com

Photos:
https://www.prlog.org/12694981

Press release distributed by PRLog

 

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SOURCE LetterPress Chocolate