AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Wine has its sommeliers, and coffee has its Q graders. These are people who taste and compare the products systematically. Now, cacao, the key ingredient in chocolate, has not had such a process until recently, and it seems to be helping a growing number of small farmers. Reporter Ari Daniel has more.
ARI DANIEL, BYLINE: In Perugia, Italy, about 100 miles north of Rome, tucked inside the chocolate experience museum, there's a lab dedicated to processing cacao.
(SOUNDBITE OF CACAO BEANS BEING POURED)
DANIEL: Lab assistant Julia Butac starts by sifting a bag of beans.
(SOUNDBITE OF CACAO BEANS BEING SHAKEN)
DANIEL: You're just removing the little bits...
JULIA BUTAC: Yes.
DANIEL: ...That aren't full beans.
BUTAC: Yeah. So it's really physical work.
DANIEL: Butac is from the Philippines and was never a huge chocolate fan, but she's gained a deeper appreciation for it.
BUTAC: To see the development of the flavor, it satisfies you.
DANIEL: How would you define your relationship with the chocolate you work with?
BUTAC: Oh, it's my baby, I would say. I need to care. I need to look after it.
(SOUNDBITE OF CACAO BEANS BEING SHAKEN)
DANIEL: Next, Butac roasts the beans for a specific amount of time before separating out the shells and then running the nibs through a mill.
(SOUNDBITE OF MILL GRINDING)
DANIEL: Oh, I just got a - that smells like chocolate.
BUTAC: Yeah.
DANIEL: It's intoxicating. I don't know how you get any work done.
Butac then adds a precise amount of sugar and cocoa butter and tempers it before pouring the resulting chocolate into molds. She says that, like people, each kind of cacao is special. This all started in 2009 when a sustainable agriculture nonprofit headquartered in Rome started a program called Cacao of Excellence, and they asked chocolate scientist Julien Simonis to help develop a standard way of preparing and evaluating cacao from all over the tropics.
JULIEN SIMONIS: Cacao has an incredible amount of genetic variety.
DANIEL: As we sit in a park in Rome, he tells me that unlike olive oil or hazelnuts that have internationally agreed-upon standards for describing and assigning value to their different varieties...
SIMONIS: Not in cacao, and it's never been.
DANIEL: But he says such standards could do a lot for the industry.
SIMONIS: Harmonizing the way of talking about a food product, it's to see the differences, to let people appreciate it.
DANIEL: Which helps persuade consumers to pay for higher quality chocolate, money that at least in part can find its way back to the farmers.
SIMONIS: A lot of the cacao producers live under poverty limits, and so there are a lot of economical challenges - access to markets, access to education.
DANIEL: It took years, but the team now has a process they stand behind, the first half of which I saw in the lab in Perugia. The second half happens in the mouth. Simonis has a tote full of samples from the lab.
SIMONIS: You want to taste?
DANIEL: The only answer is yes. Simonis selects a small chocolate from Peru, wrapped in gold foil.
(SOUNDBITE OF WRAPPER CRINKLING)
SIMONIS: You let it cover well your palette and your tongue.
DANIEL: Simonis uses a breathing technique to heighten his perception of the chocolate's aroma and taste.
(SOUNDBITE OF LIPS POPPING)
SIMONIS: So it's extremely creamy.
DANIEL: He describes a splash of sultanas that gives way to a nuttiness. Next, he selects a chocolate from Hawaii.
SIMONIS: Let's go.
DANIEL: Simonis looks reverent.
SIMONIS: My God. Each time I taste these, I'm always amazed. Oh, you have a boost of acidity, this burst of fresh flavors.
DANIEL: He tastes fruits and a hint of cardamom and nutmeg. These two chocolates were processed and prepared identically. So any differences...
SIMONIS: Are only coming from the cacao bean.
DANIEL: Simonis relies on a panel of 15 professional tasters to evaluate a chocolate's unique blend of acidity, bitterness, astringency and more. The result is a standardized way of comparing chocolate, allowing cacao to be priced and valued according to its quality.
SIMONIS: We are trying to work with every single producing country in the world.
DANIEL: That includes Thailand, where Roong Kumpan founded TinTin Chocolate. He says this program raised his small family farm's visibility and helped improve his product.
ROONG KUMPAN: Cacao of Excellence gave small producers a chance to be seen and recognized. I believe it will help increase my income in the future.
DANIEL: Some producers have already seen improved sales, like the Juan Laura farm in the forests of Peru. Rosaura Laura runs the farm and says the extra revenue is about more than just the money.
ROSAURA LAURA: I think this is a good way to dignify the laborers and change the mind of people regarding the farmers.
DANIEL: Above all, she says this effort is allowing cacao producers, buyers and consumers to speak the same language. For NPR News, I'm Ari Daniel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.