Sero - Dark chocolate 70% Valle de Polochic - AJ ASIPASM - GUATEMALA - 80g
Bean-to-Bar
This Sero 70% dark chocolate creation is made from a rare ancestral cacao produced by Maya Q’eqchi peasant families in the Polochic Valley. Awarded the Cocoa of Excellence prize in 2019, it is one of the finest cacaos known today and will take you on a journey through notes of honey and grapefruit with a beautiful finish leaning towards coffee and pepper.
Guatemalan artisan chocolatier Sero offers a unique way to discover pure-origin, terroir dark chocolate: through its collection of 4 Bean-to-Bar creations made with indigenous Acriollado cacao (an endemic blend of Criollo and Forastero), sourced from 4 distinct plantations across Guatemala, it takes us on an impressive journey into how soil, climate, and altitude shape cacao flavor.
Cocoa paste (70% Guatemala), cane sugar, cocoa butter
Cocoa farmer and chocolate maker
This cacao has a significant social and environmental impact: in the heart of Jolomijix, Panzós, in the Alta Verapaz region, the Maya Q’eqchi’ cooperative AJ ASIPASM transforms cacao into a lever for resilience, dignity, and environmental protection. With over 350 small-scale producers, this cooperative represents one of the most important partnerships that Chocolates Sero has established in the cacao sector.
A community rooted in the land: AJ ASIPASM was Sero's first source of cacao from smallholders — and remains its strongest partner to date. Today, 180 active members provide cacao grown on their own family plots. By purchasing at prices significantly above market rates, Chocolates Sero helps guarantee:
- Food security for farming families
- Preservation of ancestral lands
- Reduction of rural exodus from the Polochic Valley, one of Guatemala's most vulnerable regions
- Family unity and community prosperity
Cacao in service of conservation: AJ ASIPASM producers live on the edge of the Sierra de las Minas, one of Guatemala's most pristine nature reserves. The cacao tree's need for shade has turned these farmers into guardians of the forest, protecting biodiversity and preventing illegal logging.
This cacao cultivation also supports the preservation of native trees, ecological corridors, and regenerative agroforestry systems.
Sero Cacao Embassy was founded in 2018 in Guatemala City by three brothers: a chance event gave rise to a shared vision: to do good through high-quality chocolate and rethink cacao culture in Guatemala. While Quique deepened his passion at a pastry school for chocolatiers, Pablo built relationships with cacao producers across the country. Julio, for his part, devoted himself to post-harvest processing in order to improve cacao quality in a targeted way. Cacao Embassy was born from the pooling of their strengths. Their SERO brand, dedicated to their bean-to-bar chocolates, takes its inspiration from the word "serotonin", the chemical substance that cacao naturally releases in the body. SERO chocolates have won international awards, including a silver medal at the AVPA in Paris. Finca Kampura is also considered one of Guatemala’s best cacao origins and has received several awards, notably at the Cacao of Excellence Awards. These distinctions confirm Cacao Embassy’s and SERO’s commitment to exceptional, sustainable cacao. For the SERO brand, close collaboration with the people who grow cacao is at the heart of its priorities. This includes both stable partnerships with small-far...
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