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Davao, Mindanao, Philippines
Sitio Malagos smallholding
Ricardo and Marilou Santos farm two and a half hectares under rainforest canopy, with their son Miguel now grafting the next generation of trees.
Ricardo planted his first cacao between existing banana and coconut in 1998, because the forest was already there and he did not want to clear it. Nearly thirty years later the trees grow in the same mixed shade, which is why his beans come in slower and taste of red fruit rather than raw bitterness.
Marilou runs the fermentation. Six days in wooden boxes, turned by hand, judged by smell rather than a chart. Their son Miguel came back from Davao City to graft and replant the older blocks, and now keeps the harvest records for the family.
We buy every kilo of their harvest ourselves, at a price agreed before the season starts and paid on collection. No exporter, no broker, no cooperative pooling their beans with fifty other farms. When you look up a Davao lot number, you are looking at this family's work.
