Amsterdam's one and only chocolate factory: Chocolatemakers

Adventure, Transportation, Chocolate, The Factory, Chocolatemakers, Bean-to-bar, Tres Hombres, Emission-free

Amsterdam is still the world's largest cocoa port. But making your own chocolate? That hardly happens anymore. At Chocolatemakers in the western harbour area of Amsterdam, they do everything themselves: from roasting the cocoa to packing the bars.

In a state-of-the-art chocolate factory, irresistibly delicious organic chocolate is made there under the direction of the founders and master chocolate makers Rodney and Enver.

Roof of solar panels

Rodney: "When you are in our factory, you should first look up: the - transparent - roof is one big solar panel. The factory This means that we can run entirely on solar energy. And we also work with zero waste. The transport of the cocoa to Amsterdam is also done sustainably. Rodney: "We transport part of our chocolate in a traditional sailing ship from 1943. CO2 emissions: absolutely zero."

Sailed to the Netherlands

The ship is called the Tres Hombres and is named after three Dutch friends who dreamed of sustainable freight transport by sea. Since 2012, the ship has been carrying a substantial load of cocoa to the Netherlands. On wind power it is brought from the Caribbean to the quay in Amsterdam. "Last year we also received a shipment of organic Criollo for the first time. cocoa beans delivered. These come from CooAgroNevada, a women's cooperative from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta nature reserve in Colombia. The cacao comes from centuries-old cacao varieties. Primal cocoa, you could say. And we have used it to make a very special bar: Pure Love, chocolate to fall completely in love with."