FROM BEAN TO BAR

Bean-to-bar chocolates, which herald an exciting chapter in the luxury chocolate segment, come with a compelling story. MARWAR enters their vast, fascinating world in an interaction with L Nitin Chordia, the co-founder of Kocoatrait, the world’s first zero-waste and sustainable bean-to-bar chocolate brand.

- POOJA MUJUMDAR

Over the last few years, Indians’ love for luxury chocolates has grown. Earlier, any imported chocolate that came with a high price tag or with attractive packaging was categorised as a luxury. Fortunately, Indians are better aware of what luxury chocolates really are. Also, they have become more accustomed to spending more on luxury chocolates, which usually are made in small batches, using specialised ingredients and niche recipes. Little wonder then that the country has gradually started to embrace an exciting offering from the world of luxury chocolates—one that has gained popularity in the rest of the world too: Bean-to-bar chocolates. “We can now safely say that the luxury chocolate industry in India has started taking shape,” says L Nitin Chordia, the co-founder of Kocoatrait, the world’s first zero-waste and sustainable bean-to-bar chocolate brand. “We have exciting times ahead,” he adds. Chordia actually is India’s first certified chocolate and cocoa taster, who hosts chocolate-tasting certifications in India every year, in collaboration with the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting, London. Together with his wife Poonam (a trained chocolatier and a Level 2 certified chocolate taster), he operates Cocoashala, a premier institute that offers training in bean-to-bar chocolate making. Through Kocoatrait, they have now become a part of the bean-to-bar chocolate movement which, though still at a nascent stage in India, has begun to revolutionise the chocolate industry.

THE REAL MEANING