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Anamalai Cacao

Diaspora Co.

Anamalai Cacao

$24.00

Diaspora's organically grown cacao powder is a beautiful expression of the land it is grown on - a lush estate at the base of the Anamalai Hills in Tamil Nadu, India. It's juicy and bright, with notes of raspberries, caramel, and cream. Made from Anamalai Estate’s award winning cacao beans, this is a beautiful showcase of the potential of Indian cacao. The fact that these beans are grown on a single estate means you’re tasting a true expression of terroir: the soil they were planted in and the seasons they grew through. The cacao is intercropped with nutmeg and coconut palms on land that was originally a eucalyptus grove, then a guava orchard, and now a diverse ecosystem where desi cows roam by day, and elephants scratch their backs on the coconut palms by night. Rich in all its naturally occurring nutrients and antioxidants, this cacao powder is minimally processed and features a super lush chocolately mouthfeel - no doubt in gratitude to the abundance of cocoa butter that makes true, raw, potent cacao powder so special.

5.3oz

100% raw, organic cacao powder

Add 1tsp-1Tbsp to your favorite beverage including coffee, chai, smoothies, food, mole, and beyond. Also incredible in baked goods.

The original intent of colonial conquest of the Indian subcontinent was a desire for domination of the spice trade. 400ish years later, as a young woman born and raised in postcolonial Mumbai, working at the intersection of food and culture, Sana Javeri Kadri was slowly discovering that not much about that system had changed. Farmers made no money, spices changed hands upwards of 10 times before reaching the consumer, and the final spice on your shelf was usually an old, dusty shadow of what it once was.

So in 2016, Sana booked a one way ticket home to Mumbai and signed herself up for 7 months of highly unpaid market research, 40+ farm visits, endless un-answered phone calls, a squishy motorbike ride through rice paddy, and one life-changing meeting with the good folks at the Indian Institute of Spices Research.

A lot of processing of doubts and fears later, 23 year old Sana founded Diaspora Co. in the fall of 2017 with just one spice - Pragati Turmeric - sourced from an equally young and idealistic farm partner - a now dear friend Mr. Prabhu Kasaraneni. But from their very first day, the big, audacious dream was to grow a radically new, decidedly delicious and truly equitable spice trade, to push a broken system into an equal exchange, and to have a lot of fun doing it.

Today, the Diaspora team sources 30 single-origin spices from 150 farms across India and Sri Lanka. They're proud to pay their farm partners an average of 6x above the commodity price. In a system where fair trade is a mere 15% premium, they pay what they believe to be a living wage - an investment in the kind of leadership and land stewardship that will build climate resilience and more delicious food systems.

The Intention

Diaspora's organically grown cacao powder is a beautiful expression of the land it is grown on - a lush estate at the base of the Anamalai Hills in Tamil Nadu, India. It's juicy and bright, with notes of raspberries, caramel, and cream. Made from Anamalai Estate’s award winning cacao beans, this is a beautiful showcase of the potential of Indian cacao. The fact that these beans are grown on a single estate means you’re tasting a true expression of terroir: the soil they were planted in and the seasons they grew through. The cacao is intercropped with nutmeg and coconut palms on land that was originally a eucalyptus grove, then a guava orchard, and now a diverse ecosystem where desi cows roam by day, and elephants scratch their backs on the coconut palms by night. Rich in all its naturally occurring nutrients and antioxidants, this cacao powder is minimally processed and features a super lush chocolately mouthfeel - no doubt in gratitude to the abundance of cocoa butter that makes true, raw, potent cacao powder so special.

5.3oz

The Ingredients

100% raw, organic cacao powder

The Ritual

Add 1tsp-1Tbsp to your favorite beverage including coffee, chai, smoothies, food, mole, and beyond. Also incredible in baked goods.

The Diaspora Story

The original intent of colonial conquest of the Indian subcontinent was a desire for domination of the spice trade. 400ish years later, as a young woman born and raised in postcolonial Mumbai, working at the intersection of food and culture, Sana Javeri Kadri was slowly discovering that not much about that system had changed. Farmers made no money, spices changed hands upwards of 10 times before reaching the consumer, and the final spice on your shelf was usually an old, dusty shadow of what it once was.

So in 2016, Sana booked a one way ticket home to Mumbai and signed herself up for 7 months of highly unpaid market research, 40+ farm visits, endless un-answered phone calls, a squishy motorbike ride through rice paddy, and one life-changing meeting with the good folks at the Indian Institute of Spices Research.

A lot of processing of doubts and fears later, 23 year old Sana founded Diaspora Co. in the fall of 2017 with just one spice - Pragati Turmeric - sourced from an equally young and idealistic farm partner - a now dear friend Mr. Prabhu Kasaraneni. But from their very first day, the big, audacious dream was to grow a radically new, decidedly delicious and truly equitable spice trade, to push a broken system into an equal exchange, and to have a lot of fun doing it.

Today, the Diaspora team sources 30 single-origin spices from 150 farms across India and Sri Lanka. They're proud to pay their farm partners an average of 6x above the commodity price. In a system where fair trade is a mere 15% premium, they pay what they believe to be a living wage - an investment in the kind of leadership and land stewardship that will build climate resilience and more delicious food systems.

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