Three Paths for a Single Bean ∼ Industrial, Bean-to-bar and Tree-to-block

Sakara
Jul 6
3 min read

Criollo cacao beans gently warmed over a wood fire, ready for hand-peeling — a key step in the tree-to-block process, carried out directly within Guatemalan communities.

As a preliminary note, we would like to clarify that One Love Cacao is a project led by a small non-profit association. We work directly with a collective of farming families in Guatemala through an eco-solidarity approach that goes far beyond the principles of fair trade. Our project deliberately exists on the margins of the global cacao and chocolate industry. It is from this human-scale perspective that we observe the different ways cacao can be transformed, and why we have chosen to support an approach that remains deeply rooted in the producing communities.

When people think about cacao, they often assume that there is only one way to transform it.

Yet today, the very same cacao bean can follow three fundamentally different paths: the industrial model, the bean-to-bar movement, and the tree-to-block approach.

These three approaches represent more than different production methods. They also reflect three distinct visions of cacao, of value creation, and of the relationship between the plant, the people who cultivate it, and those who ultimately enjoy its gifts.

The Industrial Model

The industrial model is built around large volumes and centralized processing.

Cacao beans from different countries and harvests are often blended to achieve a stable and consistent flavour profile throughout the year. They are then processed in large manufacturing facilities, where every stage is optimized to ensure food safety, efficiency and standardization.

This model has played a major role in making chocolate accessible around the world.

At the same time, the unique character of each terroir, each cacao variety and the work of the producers often disappears behind the uniformity of the final product.

Bean-to-Bar

The bean-to-bar movement emerged from a desire to give cacao back its identity.

Artisan chocolate makers carefully select their beans, know where they come from, often build direct relationships with producers, and carry out every stage of the transformation themselves: roasting, grinding, conching, tempering and moulding.

Each chocolate bar therefore expresses a particular origin, a specific variety, a harvest and the craftsmanship of the chocolatier who created it.

Over the past two decades, this movement has profoundly changed the way we think about chocolate. It has brought the richness of cacao terroirs back into the spotlight, encouraged more transparent trading relationships and restored artisanal craftsmanship to the heart of the chocolate world.

Tree-to-Block

At One Love Cacao, we use the expression tree-to-block to describe an approach in which cacao is transformed directly in its territory of origin, within the producing communities themselves, before being exported as pure cacao blocks.

Fermentation, drying, gentle roasting over fire, manual peeling and artisanal pressing are all carried out by the women and men who cultivate the cacao trees, sometimes with the support of other members of the local community who simply come to lend a hand, without the cacao changing ownership through buying and selling at any stage of the process.

The raw material never leaves its territory before it has already taken its final form.

The tree-to-block approach is not simply about preserving a method of transformation. It seeks to preserve continuity between the tree, the land, the gestures, the knowledge, the community and the final product.

Each cacao block therefore carries not only the qualities of the bean itself, but also the living memory of the place where it was born.

Three Paths, Three Philosophies

The same cacao bean can therefore follow three very different paths.

The industrial model primarily seeks consistency and standardization in order to support large-scale production.
Bean-to-bar reveals the richness of cacao terroirs through the expertise of the chocolate maker and the careful selection of beans.
Tree-to-block preserves the continuity of transformation within the producing communities, maintaining the connection between the tree, its territory and the cacao block

This is not about establishing a hierarchy between these approaches.

The bean-to-bar movement has played—and continues to play—an essential role in bringing recognition to cacao terroirs, cacao producers and artisan chocolate making.

At One Love Cacao, we have simply chosen to follow another path.

A path where most of the transformation takes place where the cacao grows, where local knowledge remains at the heart of the process, and where every cacao block still tells the story of its land and of the people who shaped it.

Because beyond transforming a cacao bean, there is also a way of preserving a living connection between the Earth, the communities and cacao itself.

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With you.

Sakara, Association One Love Cration, Project One Love Cacao