Cooperative profile · Ivory Coast
Bondoukou Cocoa Collective
Small-batch cocoa butter from a grower collective near Bondoukou, north-eastern Ivory Coast, bought directly from the growers with no intermediary. Stone-pressed, unrefined, paired with our other West African ingredients for soap-makers and formulators.
Members
~95 grower households
Region
Bondoukou, Zanzan
Product
Stone-pressed cocoa butter
Certification
None held; documented per lot
Premium paid
+19% above gate
The collective
The Bondoukou Cocoa Collective is a collective of around 95 grower households in north-eastern Ivory Coast, a few hours’ drive from Bondoukou. Plots are small and shaded, most members keep cocoa under canopy alongside food crops, which protects soil and reduces pressure to expand into forest. We buy from the growers directly, with no intermediary between the collective and us. Neither the collective nor Essential Care Plus holds organic or fair-trade certification, and we will not claim one; origin, practices and quality are documented per lot instead, with a phytosanitary certificate and a batch certificate of analysis on every shipment.
Their process
Pods are split, fermented in covered wooden boxes for five to seven days, sun-dried on raised mats. The fermented and dried beans are roasted lightly, winnowed, and stone-pressed at the collective’s shared press house. The result is unrefined, unbleached cocoa butter, pale ivory, with a clear cocoa-and-cream aroma.
What our partnership looks like
- 19 percent above the regional gate price.
- Pre-finance at fermentation start.
- Soil testing and training co-funded.
- Press maintenance contract co-funded annually.
- Direct export, usually through our Cotonou hub and sometimes straight from Côte d’Ivoire to buyers in the United States, with a phytosanitary certificate on every shipment.
How we audit
We audit the collective ourselves, through origin visits and per-lot documentation of harvest, fermentation and pressing. Every shipment includes per-batch CoA covering free fatty acid, peroxide value, melt point, heavy metals and microbial. We re-test the first lot of each season in a US-side lab.