Amazonas cacao from Peru

The Amazonas project is the newest initiative by our partner Original Beans. The Amazonas region in northern Peru is one of the country's traditional cacao-growing areas, but in recent decades it has been strongly shaped by hybrid cacao and monocultures.

Around three years ago, Original Beans began a pilot project together with the Peruvian cacao association and with support from Swiss development cooperation to introduce Peru's first protected denomination of origin for cacao. The goal was to identify and separate the remaining native cacao in the region and promote it under clearly defined standards in farming, fermentation, and agroforestry. At the same time, Original Beans planned to produce chocolate in Peru without competing with established origins such as Piura or Cusco. The combination of these approaches laid the foundation for the Amazonas project.

Only farms without modern hybrid plants were included in the project. Genetic analysis shows a dominance of the Cajamarca-Amazonas group, an ancient and original cacao variety that is considered the genetic origin of both Piura Blanco and Nacional cacao from Ecuador.

The region is therefore highly relevant scientifically and genetically, as it represents the origin of one of the oldest known cacao forms in South America.
Unlike in Cusco or Piura, where genetically pure varieties dominate, Amazonas shows natural hybridization while largely preserving the original genetics.

Local farming partners in the region follow a modern agroforestry system that differs from traditional food-forest approaches. It is based on planned row planting with carefully selected shade and timber trees in order to combine ecological diversity with economic productivity.

This system enables the sustainable management of formerly degraded land that had previously been shaped by hybrid cacao or monocultures such as rice and pineapple.

Not far from the purchasing center are the archaeological sites of Monte Grande, which belong to the Moche-Chinchipe culture. The oldest known traces of cacao consumption in the world were discovered there, around 5,500 years old, older than the finds from Central America. The genetic remains from these finds also belong to the Cajamarca-Amazonas group. The project therefore preserves not only an agricultural tradition, but also a cultural and genetic heritage of global significance.

Amazonas cacao is defined by a balanced aromatic profile:
intense fruit notes, similar to Piura Blanco,
combined with a full-bodied chocolaty profile that is rare in South America.
This combination makes it one of the most sensorially interesting new origins in the Original Beans portfolio.

Original Beans works closely with the SEPROA cooperative, a partner organization of Norandino, the association that also plays an important role in our Chuncho variety. SEPROA is certified organic, Fairtrade, and SPP, and has extensive experience in producing and applying biofertilizers and biological plant protection products, training smallholder farmers in sustainable farming methods, and efficiently managing modern agroforestry systems.

The farms achieve yields of more than 1 ton of cacao per hectare, sometimes up to 1.5 tons or more.
With an average of three hectares per farm, cacao cultivation can generate an annual income of up to USD 48,000, an exceptionally high figure for Peruvian small producers.

Geographically, the Amazonas region is already part of the Amazon basin, but it lies behind the Andes in a broad river valley, the Marañón. It is an agricultural region, not a rainforest zone. The farmers involved in the project are smallholder farmers, but they are not part of Indigenous communities. Areas that look like forest in drone footage are usually agroforestry plots with cacao and shade trees.

The Amazonas project is an example of a modern, regenerative cacao economy that ecologically upgrades degraded hybrid regions, preserves old cacao genetics, creates sustainable income for smallholder farmers, and at the same time ensures high sensory quality. It combines ecological, genetic, and economic goals in a model regarded as scientifically and socially exemplary for future cacao development projects.