Discovering truly rare cocoa beans is one of the many real joys of working directly with cocoa farmers.

I was especially excited to connect with Giff Laube, a farmer-adventurer with a passion for finding the rarest of the rare.

His goal? To cultivate pure criollo: beans celebrated for their delicate flavour, yet challenging to grow due to their refined genetic makeup. Over centuries, indeed millennia, of careful selection by the Olmecs, Toltecs, Aztecs, and Mayans, this criollo developed its distinctive flavour profile, but also a heightened sensitivity to disease.

Giff’s quest led him to forgotten Mayan ruins deep in the rainforest, overgrown hedgerows, and remote fields of Central and South America—anywhere whispers about these elusive trees could be heard. To verify the authenticity of each find, he subjected each find to rigorous DNA testing.  

Over more than 10 years-worth of attempts, the trees failed to grow in his orchard in Nicaragua, or even just plain died.

Finally, in Susucayan, Nicaragua near the Honduran River he discovered towering cacao trees—a promising sign of resilience. After DNA tests and then many years of careful nurturing at his farm, they finally produced a small, precious harvest.

Sirene was one of two makers in the world to get beans from this harvest. We are thrilled to offer you chocolate crafted from these exceptional and rare beans.

Like all criollo, the chocolate we make with these beans has a mild and gentle flavour. Though it tastes quite distinctly nutty, there are no nuts in it.

The photo above shows the Giff Criollo (on the left) next to Semuliki Forest Uganda (on the right). As you can see, the criollo beans are a creamy red colour.

I am making both Dark Milk and 73% Dark bars with these beans. So, either way you prefer your chocolate you have an option.