If you want to support this good cause and enjoy riding your bike, please contact us and you can join this special event. Most likely around June 10 or 11, the plans will be revealed on this website, or mail us at fiets@chocoladeboot.nl

Looking forward to have many bikers spread the word and the chocolate, stay tuned on this website…

Enjoy and more news coming up soon!

The journey began last October in Den Helder. The first ports where the ship passed were in Europe: Brixham, Brest and Porto. For loading and unloading of Ale, Wine and olive oil, but above all to pass on the positive message of sailing freight. After Porto, they set sail towards Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands, and crossed the Atlantic to Barbados. In the Caribbean, they sailed a few months, to pick up the famous Tres Hombres rum (12 years old) from the Dominican Republic, and organic chocolate from Grenada. On the journey back to Europe, they passed in the Azores to load tea. The last weeks the ship and crew where confronted with calms and headwinds in the English Channel and the North Sea, which made the journey a bigger challenge in time and planning. The results of not having n engine, but making a strong statement this way.

This trade mission was, as in the old days of the VOC period, funded by individual investors. Thus the captain says there will be many opportunities coming up now for new investors in the next trade mission.

The Tres Hombres is the flagship of the Atlantis Sailing Foundation. An institution to public benefit, with the aim of promoting commercial sailing vessels in the broadest sense of the word. She does this by providing information about the conventional freight shipping, pollution and the alternatives. Furthermore, by maintaining existing sailing traditions: vessels like the Tres Hombres. And developing innovative modern sailing freighters: the Fair Transport Ecoliners . The Foundation also manages the Fair Atlantis transport label for clean and fair transport.Wind power used for international freight is making a “come back”;

Unfortunately the cocoa industry is still today an industry where exploitation and slavery and underpaid employment is wide spread. Initiatives are born to produce chocolate called ‘towards slavery free chocolate’ which are very good to create awareness but they admit themselves it is nowadays almost impossible to be absolutely sure to eat slavery free chocolate if you buy mass market chocolate.

The Fair Trade label is a great initiative to create awareness of consumers about the circumstances in the chocolate production industry. However, the label is very expensive to get, so often small farmers can not afford it. Also, if the profits go to the land owners, they benefit very much but the farmers themselves don’t share the profits so their wages are still very low.

The revolutionary vision Mott had was to create a cooperative that included cocoa farmers and local chocolate makers to make organic chocolate right in Grenada. This adds tremendous value to the local economy, creating jobs and also making the end product itself so all the profit goes to the farmers directly.

This is much better than a Fair Trade logo, it goes way beyond their standards.

Trying to make a difference to other peoples lives. An inspiring video that says it all;

And a bit more about the darker side of the chocolate industry in general;

Watch the trailer below and join the presentation of the movie by Maarten Kal in Amsterdam on June 12 and June 13.

Deep in the tropical forest of the Caribbean Island Grenada is a perfect place to grow cocoa. When anarchist chocolate maker Mott Green arrived for the first time to Grenada, he saw both the enormous potential of cocoa and the large local unemployment (40%) and he came up with a revolutionary idea of creating a cooperative of organic cocoa farmers and to actually make chocolate in the tropics ‘the whole idea of the Grenada Chocolate company started to revolutionise the connection between cocoa farmers and making fine chocolate, to strenghten the position of farmers.

Obviously the tropical climate is an extra challenge to get the job done, but since founding the Grenada Chocolate Company in 1999, they have become pretty good at it and are making award winning chocolate now.

Every part of the process is essential for the final taste of the chocolate bar and having complete control over each part of this process and ingredients used, in small batches, obviously allows them to produce very fine quality.  It takes a whole village to make one chocolate bar and it takes 8 months from tree to bar. The following steps are passed before they can send a wrapped bar off to you:

1 – planting cocoa trees, harvesting cocoa pods
2 – fermenting of the cocoa beans and drying
3 – sorting by hand and roasting
4 - winnowing (taking the shells off the beans)
5 – grinding (crunching the beans and the magic of making them into a liquid)
6 – refining/conching  (process to get acids out of the chocolate and more technical stuff)
7 – tempering (pooring the liquid chocolate at the exact right temperature into moulds)
8 – wrapping…

Growing and harvesting cocoa
From the three main cocoa tree species (Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario), Grenada is blessed with some of the best cocoa in the world, Grenada grows almost entirely Trinitario cocoa with a few Forasteros. After 5 years they start growing so called ‘cocoa pods’, the fruits that literally grow from the stem and have green, red and yellow colors depending on how ripe they are. They more or less have the shape and size of a large avocado and the inside is filled with 20 to 40 beans covered in white fruit. Harvest season is all year round but peaks between December and March. The farmers cut the cocoa pods within reach with their machete and to reach high in the tops of the cocoa trees they use a bamboo stick with a sharp knife at the end, (requires experience!). When bags are filled with cocoa pods they open them and empty the beans covered in fruit into buckets. The taste of these covered beans is comparable to passion fruit and very healthy – cocoa being one of the richest fruits in the world. At the end of the workday the so called ‘wet cocoa’ in buckets is transported to Belmonte Estate where the cocoa is weighed and farmers are payed: 2 East Caribbean Dollar per 100 pounds of wet cacao. This results in about 40pound of dry cocoa after the fermenting and drying, which also costs money. All inclusive – the cost per pound of dry cocoa is about 5 East Caribbean dollars (about 4 Euro).

Fermenting and drying

The wet cacao is poured into an open wooden box and the fermentation process starts. For 7 days the fruit of the cocoa beans is given time for the chemical process of the alcohol entering the bean. This gives the cocoa bean extra rich and complex in taste. The wooden sides of the box are covered with a certain gum (host for bacteria) to enhance the fermenting process. Every day the beans are turned and mixed to stimulate the process and after 7 days the beans look brown because the fruit is almost gone and they are transferred to the cocoa dry house. In this transparent plastic greenhouse is filled with tables of long perforated metal plates where the cocoa beans are spread out. The open slot in the roof creates a draft of air which flows through the house and through the perforated metal plates, causing a drying effect similar to that of a blow dryer. Usually in combination with the sun heating the greenhouse, after about 7 days the beans are dried well, which is important to avoid any mold (exactly what happens to majority of the mass produced and transported beans). Packed back into large brown bags the beans are transported up the road, to the factory of the Grenada Chocolate Company.

Exhausting last days for the crew before getting to the port and therefore an extra warm welcome upon arrival – friends and family waiting for them and many curious and interesting visitors.

A beautiful sun has ever since been with us here and because weather forecast to sail is still not in favour, for now the crew is enjoying the time in the harbor, be on land, do maintenance work and prepare for the last part of the trip, to Amsterdam, arrival June 6th. Happy crew -  keeps eating chocolate!

Short video of the Tres Hombres with the skyline of Portsmouth in the back, as they were tacking their way to approach…

After a 2 hour drive Mott showed them around – they had never seen so much cocoa beans all together – and in the factory they were all very interested in the production process – just see the look on Anne’s face to understand

After a grand tour of chocolate making in the factory and at Belmont Estate, the crew returns to the factory and the most delicious local food, is cooked on charcoal and served on banana leaves (!)

A lot of story telling, on wild sailor adventures, travels, organic cocoa farming and chocolate making. These two companies seem to have a lot in common in their way of doing business and doing good, however different they may seem, they make a great match and so do crew and staff.

‘Definitely love at first sight between Joyce and Piet: great video of them dancing and singing in the factory of the Grenada Chocolate Company!  Joyce being the best ever ‘sorter’ of organic chocolate beans at TGCC and Piet one of the best sailors of the Tres Hombres:

…I found a lover, we’re going home tonight’  …

This documentary tells the message of hope in an an industry entrenched in enslaved child labor, irresponsible corporate greed, and tasteless, synthetic products.  ’From currency to candy, chocolate reflects a rich history saturated with sacred ritual, endorphin highs, hip anti-oxidants, exotic sensuality and high quality luxury. Nothing Like Chocolate adds new depth to the stories of chocolate.’

Definitely see the trailer and look out for the documentary when it will be out;

Deep in the rain forests of Grenada, anarchist chocolate-maker, Mott Green operates an unusual chocolate factory that makes delicious creations unknown to a world saturated with industrially produced cocoa, much of it harvested by exploited child labour in West Africa. Mott utilizes solar power, employee shareholding and small-scale antique equipment to make delicious, organic, and socially conscious chocolate. Each step in the production process, from cocoa pod to candy bar, involves ethical and sustainable methods aimed at empowering the community of farmers involved. This is an intimate story of the relentless and headstrong Mott Green, founder of the Grenada Chocolate Company, as he pursues his unique vision to create the best chocolate in the world, ethically and taste-wise. Alongside Mott’s story we enter the busy life of Nelice Stewart, an independent cocoa farmer, not part of Mott’s co-operative. We experience how she harvests cocoa, meet three of her seven children and her new husband on her farm-land, and are present at the government bean market where she sells her cocoa. We watch in awe as she builds her own house and does her church-work, and better understand the intricate relationships between cocoa farmers, their produce, and their lives. Why is Nelice not part of the co-operative? NOTHING LIKE CHOCOLATE allows us to enter the world’s smallest chocolate factory, and we see how, by tackling the unsustainable and exploitative practices of the Goliaths of the industry, they are doing enormous things for cocoa communities, and the world’s sweet tooth.

Kum-Kum Bhavnani is university professor by day and film-maker by night. She has lived in California for the last two decades, via India and London. Her first documentary, “The Shape of Water” (2006: narrated by Susan Sarandon) screened around the world, including in Istanbul, Rome, Barcelona, London, Toronto, Trinidad, San Francisco, Washington DC, and at FESPACO and the 2008 Middle East International Film Festival. On its travels, “Shape” garnered a number of awards such as Best Documentary (Miami Women’s International Film Festival, Reel Sisters of the Diaspora and Queen’s International Film Festival), the World Cinema Award (DC Independent Film Festival), and Best Director (San Francisco Women’s Film Festival), as well as two HUGO awards. “The Shape of Water” was also selected as the centerpiece for the Human Rights section at the 2008 Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi. Kum-Kum’s hope is for her films to inspire a new generation of audiences, who are also passionate for change.