Choco Dominique

Choco Dominique started in 2014 at Belle Valley Estate in Dublanc, on Dominica's west coast, built around a simple goal: turn the island's traditional stovetop cocoa tea into a powder that dissolves straight into hot water or milk. The recipe blends raw cocoa sourced from farmers across Dominica and a handful of other suppliers with cinnamon, nutmeg and bay leaf, the same spicing used in the traditional home-brewed version, with no preservatives or artificial flavouring added. Beans are brought to the Belle Valley facility, processed and blended into the finished powder on site rather than shipped out for outside processing, keeping the operation close to its farmer relationships. The company frames those relationships in fair-trade terms, describing a goal of putting money back into Dominica's smallholder cocoa economy rather than just buying beans at the lowest price. What started with support from the Dominica Export Import Agency has since expanded into other Caribbean markets, carrying a home-brewed island staple - cocoa tea, a fixture of Dominican mornings - into an exportable, shelf-stable product without changing what's actually in the cup.