You’ll find out for yourself just how good the chocolate from São Tomé is when you visit Claudio Corello’s chocolate laboratory at his factory in São Tomé city.
The laboratory opens to visitors at the end of the working day and you’re welcomed in, past neatly hanging white coats and hairnets, to a small room set with long wooden trestle tables and lined with fascinating things in jars.
Here you’ll learn how Claudio’s wonderful chocolate – the only chocolate that’s truly considered ‘soil to bar’ – was developed out of Claudio’s disbelief that coffee beans had to be so bitter. Since moving to São Tomé and Príncipe in 1993, Claudio has dedicated himself to selecting and recovering indigenous cocoa varieties. And when you taste Claudio’s raw and unprocessed cocoa beans, you will begin to understand the real depth and fruitiness the bean is capable of.
Italian Claudio, a farmer at heart, is unassuming and clearly driven to grow the very best of whatever he’s passionate about – which you’ll be delighted to hear includes coffee! You’ll learn about some of the intricate methods required to grow world class cocoa fruit – like pruning the twenty thousand trees to a specific height to provide the right shade, and allow air to circulate around the plant.
A trip to the chocolate laboratory can be fit into any of our holidays to São Tomé and you’ll be relieved to hear chocolate bars and beans are available to purchase from the laboratory…we challenge you to leave without any!
How do I get there?
Holidays are very personal to each of us and planning a trip to somewhere less travelled requires good advice and careful planning. For over 20 years the team at Archipelago Choice has travelled extensively to all the special destinations we offer and have unrivalled knowledge based on our own personal travel experiences.
Sao Tome and Principe are incredibly special islands to visit and if you think these islands are for you, then love to hear from you. For a friendly chat, please call 00 44 (0) 17687 721050 or email: info@archipelagochoice.com
If you’d like a free brochure then please click on the link – São Tomé holiday brochure
Emma O’Rouke
AWARD WINNING HOLIDAYS – ATOL PROTECTED