Direct trade &
transparency
The label language is mostly unregulated. Learn which words are backed by something and which are decoration.
Decoding the claims
Click each term to see what it does — and does not — guarantee:
Two ways to buy a bean
Commodity purchase
- Bought by weight at market price
- Farmer is a price-taker
- No relationship or traceability
- Cheapest beans, no flavour premium
Direct / transparent trade
- Maker buys direct, often above market
- Published prices and relationships
- Traceable to region or estate
- Pays for flavour and for people
Reward what you can verify. A published price paid to farmers beats any adjective. Treat "premium," "artisan," and even bare "direct trade" as unproven until the maker shows the detail.
Questions
Flashcards
Lock it in
From memory:
- Is "bean-to-bar" regulated? What does it usually signal?
- What is the strongest sourcing signal, and why?
- What does "single origin" tell you — and not tell you?
- When is "direct trade" meaningful?
- State the one healthy habit toward sourcing claims.
Ethics &
certifications
The uncomfortable core of the trade: high shelf prices, low farmer incomes, and certifications that help less than their logos imply.
The hard facts
Many West African cocoa farmers earn well below a living income, even as bars sell for premium prices. The value simply doesn’t flow back up the chain (Session 15).
Two well-documented problems compound it: child labour on West African farms, and deforestation, with cocoa a driver of forest loss in the region. And the cruel irony of the 2023–24 price spike: because Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana set fixed farm-gate prices and farmers often sell forward, most growers saw little of the record highs — the windfall accrued upstream and to traders, not to them.
What the labels actually deliver
Certifications help at the margin, but none closes the income gap on its own. Click each:
Questions
Flashcards
Lock it in
From memory:
- What is the living-income gap?
- Name two structural ethical problems in West African cocoa.
- Why did the 2024 price spike mostly bypass farmers?
- What does Fairtrade actually guarantee?
- What does organic certification say about farmer pay?
The sourcing
playbook
Turn everything into a buying discipline: how to spot a serious bar on a shelf in thirty seconds.
The checklist
Click each item — together they separate a serious bar from marketing:
Green flags vs red flags
Green flags
- Named maker, region or estate
- 2–4 ingredients on a dark bar
- Batch or harvest date
- Published prices / transparency
- Awards or trusted reviews
Red flags
- "Belgian/Swiss" as the only claim
- Vegetable fats, long ingredient list
- No origin beyond a country, no date
- "Premium/artisan" with no detail
- Dusty, unmarked, or heavily discounted stock
Just as the wine course had a K&L shopping list, this course can have a fine-chocolate sourcing list — specific makers and bars by origin and style, from retailers like Bar & Cocoa, Cocoa Runners, and Caputo’s. Say the word and I’ll build it.
Questions
Flashcards
Lock it in
From memory:
- How many ingredients should a serious dark bar have?
- Name two quality shortcuts you can trust.
- Why does freshness matter?
- Give three red flags.
- Name two good places to buy fine chocolate.