about us

Our bean-to-bar artisanal Chocolates are made with organic local ingredients, sourced directly from the Indonesian Farmers, who are environmentally sustainable and socially responsible. At Jika Chocolat, we are committed to deliver you the delicious, good quality, and hand-made chocolates.

COCOA SEEDLINGS

FERMENTED COCOA BEANS

BEANS ARE DRIED AFTER FERMENTATION

The Beans are sourced directly from carefully selected farms in Indonesia.

JIKA EXCELLENT COCOA BEANS

At Jika Chocolat, quality is priority. We dedicate ourselves to Direct Trade. We only work closely and directly with our famers who are great craftsmen and have the expertise to produce exceptional cocoa beans. We know the communities from which we source our cocoa beans, and more significantly, we build long-term and mutually supportive relationships with them.

Cocoa bean quality must be perfect and meet our standards for sourcing. The farmers adhere to our very detailed specifications, not those of a broker, which means we have input on all of the facts that impact flavor, such as fermentation and drying. We are involved with these processes, which means modifications can be made early on to ensure the resulting beans taste as perfect as possible.
We have the opportunity to reject defective beans at the farm, and we have done this before. This does not mean that the farmers can’t sell those beans to someone else; it simply means that we won’t buy them.
We ensure that the beans are stored carefully before shipment. The storage process is another detail that has a big impact on flavor.
We control the types of bags that the cocoa beans are shipped in, which impacts airflow, moisture content and ultimately the flavor of the bean.
We control the actual shipment of the beans. This impacts flavor because we can make sure the beans are not “inadvertently” mixed up with other beans at origin, that they are kept safe in transit all the way to our factory from the farm and finally that the beans are stored safely in our warehouse, which is in our factory.

All of this means that in the end, you get better chocolate.

TRACEABILITY

Our chocolate is 100% traceable. This means we know the name of every farmer in the groups we work with and can trace our beans directly back to the farmers from whom we purchased them using software (Cocoa Trace).
We pay the cocoa farmers significantly above the per-kg market price for their cocoa beans.
Fair trade industry pay prices for the goods on the front end. However, our Direct Trade approach pays above Fair Trade market price on the front end.

JIKA SUSTAINABILITY

Our farmers agreed to commit to healthful and responsible cultivation method.
Although many of our farmers cannot afford organic certification, our cocoa beans are grown using organic practices that are ecologically responsible. We know this because we see it firsthand!
All of the cocoa farmers we work with employ organic practices. They use ants around their cacao trees to protect against insects as well as common cacao diseases like pod rot.
Our cocoa farmers also practice a commonly-used ecologically sustainable planting technique called intercropping. This means their cocoa trees are planted among other fruits like lemons, bananas, coconut and sometimes even pepper.

SOCIALLY SOUND PRACTICES

Our agreement with our cocoa farmer partners also stipulates that they use ethical business practices.
This means there is no child or slave labor, and that fair wages are paid to laborers.
At origin, our farmer partners collaborate with other farmer groups and teach them the techniques they learn from us, from moisture reduction to proper storage. In turn, this creates better beans. Because the beans are better quality and because our company pays more for them, this allows the farmers to leverage a better price for them. In some cases, this has created a ripple effect that raised cocoa bean prices to a much fair and reasonable price.

YEARLY IN-PERSON VISITS

We visit our farmer groups at least twice each year. During our visits, we evaluate cocoa beans, discuss post-harvest and fermentation techniques that might be affecting flavor, compare last year’s crop to this year’s in terms of flavor variance, provide an extensive chocolate tasting, which includes tasting and discussing each step of the bean-to-bar process.
We visit our farmer partners regularly to see their small farms, taste the cocoa pods, smell the fermenting cocoa beans.
Regular visits to each of our cocoa origins are paramount to sustaining healthy Direct Trade relationships.

So, why do we practice Direct Trade? Because you get better chocolate and because we all get better communities. Few chocolate makers practice direct trade and almost none go to the lengths we do to be involved every step of the way. It’s certainly not cheaper, easier or simpler, and it definitely doesn’t carry less financial risk for us. We practice Direct Trade because we think it’s the right way and the best way.

When the beans arrive in Jika Chocolat Factory

Beans

Step 1, we do the winnowing process to separate the shell and the beans.

Nibs

Step 2: Grinding Process will smooth out the chocolate nibs

Step 3: Conching process is to promote flavor development release of volatiles and acids, and oxidation.

Step 4: the tempering process will take the chocolate through a temperature curve, thereby align the chocolate's crystals to make it smooth, silky, and glossy.

Then the Chocolate liquid is being transfered to the mold to form chocolate bars!

Jika Chocolat, A True Taste of Nature

Our love of nature has brought us to explore the beautiful countryside of Indonesia. We have always been amazed by the beauty of every plant and trees around us. Our nature inspired packaging, actually gives us a wonderful break from our busy urban life, even if it is just for brief moment.