The Pioneer
Luisa Abram
Luisa Abram
About Luisa Abram
Luisa Abram has chocolate running through her veins. As the granddaughter of a pastry chef, she was destined for the culinary arts. Her love of chocolate, combined with her sharp chemistry skills and a passion for responsible sourcing make her uniquely adept at creating the world’s rarest chocolate.
Founded in 2014, Luisa Abram is a chocolate maker that dedicates itself to sourcing micro-lot, wildly grown cacao from the Amazon Rainforest. The chocolate is made small-scale in São Paulo, Brazil by the Abram-Banks family: Luisa, Andre, Mirian and Andrea. Luisa, the eponymous woman behind the chocolate, values a commitment to quality in every stage of making a differentiated product. The family take a very hands-on approach to chocolate-making, controlling and overlooking every stage of the process, from the harvesting of the cacao to the finished bar and logistics. This explains why the chocolate tastes so good and feels so personal at the same time – quality is crucial to Luisa Abram. Luisa’s unfailing curiosity and commitment to bettering the process make her an innovator in the confectionary world and beyond.
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In the heart of the Amazon
In the heart of the Amazon
Luisa Abram’s chocolate is made with an intense passion and a commitment to celebrating the source. Abram’s labor-intensive process ensures an environmentally- and socially-sound journey for the cacao and a finished product of the utmost quality.
How does this chocolate magic happen?
Firstly and importantly, the wild cacao is processed at its origin, in the Amazon Rainforest, with the fermentation of the cacao beans beginning as soon as they are plucked from the tree. After several days, the seeds go through multiple microbiological processes and become nuts, which are then placed under the sun to dry. When the nuts arrive at the production site, they are checked for proper fermentation and drying.
Next, the nuts are removed and stored in plastic drums. To make chocolate from the cacao nuts, they must first be toasted, which is done quickly and at a very low temperature. After toasting, the nuts are peeled and the cacao is ground using a machine called winnower, turning them into nibs. These nibs are ready for consumption and largely sold in bulk.
Taking it to the mill is the next step. The nibs are ground and refined and mixed with any other ingredients; sugar and cocoa butter are added to complete the flavor profile. After being ground, mixed, shaken, and heated, the mix is transferred to a tempering machine. Following that process, the chocolate bar will become shiny and crisp, and will not melt in our fingers.
Finally, after cooling in a low temperature tunnel, the chocolate is taken out of the mold and lays for some hours before being packed and sent to market.
Perfect nuts give birth to the chocolate used in recipes that preserve flavors of the Amazon.