Belize
MAYA MOUNTAIN
Flagship, award-winning, organic cacao with balanced fruit and chocolate notes.
2025 Data - Product
Quality: Ultra Premium
Flavor: Honey, Pineapple, Raisin
Fermentations Style: Box
Drying Style: Raised beds with a roof, patio & solar dryers
Quality Practices: Temperature monitoring during fermentation, cut tests during fermentation
Hand Sorting: Yes
Certifications: Organic EU and NOP
Number of awards in 2024: 11
2025 Data - Planet
Crops that are used for intercropping: Banana, Plantain, Coconut, Avocado, Cashew, Coffee
Environmental practices: 100% of the producers registered in the MMC network practices sustainable organic farming. Fruit tree intercropping is practiced in all cacao farms. Producers within the network must adhere to the organic policy of MMC and Mayacert who is the certifier. This is a means for both MMC and the producers to contribute to a sustainable environment as no slash-and-burn and chemical usage is authorized. Creating habitat for animals within the farming areas is another key part our farming practices
Organic hectares cultivated: 425
Average percent of shade of cacao farms: 30%
Distance of producer to facility (km): 23
Distance to port (km): 239
Ocean freight CO2kgs per MT (US): 48
Ocean Freight CO2kgs per MT (EU): 135
2025 Data - People
Community-focused initiatives: MMC distributed 45,000 seedlings to 145 farmers affected by the 2024 wildfires and drought, established a tool bank in San Jose Village to support farm maintenance and rehabilitation, and supported 15 elderly and female farmers with farm maintenance.
Trainings conducted: Farm productivity and maintenance (pruning assistance), ecological practices, cacao quality, organic certification.
Producers purchased from: 510
Female producers: 46
Producers under 35 y/o: 80
Organic producers: 418
Total # of producers trained: 418
Total # of female producers trained: 46
Total # of producers under 35y/o trained: 80
Full time employees: 8
Full time female employees: 0
Part time employees: 20
Part time female employees: 8
Average farm size (ha): 1.11
Average sales per producer (dry kg): 227
Average annual cacao revenue per producer: $2,185
Founded in 2010, this centralized fermentation put Belize on the craft chocolate map as a pioneer in the social enterprise model.
The country’s first exporter of high-quality, centrally fermented cacao to the U.S. Today, they work with 420 smallholder farming families in the Toledo and South Stann Creek districts. Most of these producers are Q’eqchi’ and Mopan Maya, for whom cacao production goes back generations.
Maya Mountain Cacao’s 100% Belizean Maya team processes all cacao at a centralized facility where three unique stages of sun drying create optimal flavor. Maya Mountain Cacao is focused on building long-term, transparent partnerships with farmers and producing uniquely delicious cacao that supports the communities of southern Belize.
TERROIR
Belize’s rich history of cacao production, combined with the country’s stunning limestone karstic landscape and lowland tropical rainforest, created the perfect storm of flavor that was waiting to be fine-tuned through centralized post-harvest. While ancient criollo can still be found deep in Belize’s nature reserves and small private plots, the vast majority of cacao cultivated by the smallholder Maya farmers in the south are Amelonado-dominant hybrids and other Upper Amazon Forastero hybrids. Maya Mountain Cacao is intercropped with hardwood trees, banana, mango, avocado, and coconut.
Founded in 2010, this centralized fermentation put Belize on the craft chocolate map as a pioneer in the social enterprise model.
The country’s first exporter of high-quality, centrally fermented cacao to the U.S. Today, they work with 420 smallholder farming families in the Toledo and South Stann Creek districts. Most of these producers are Q’eqchi’ and Mopan Maya, for whom cacao production goes back generations.
Maya Mountain Cacao’s 100% Belizean Maya team processes all cacao at a centralized facility where three unique stages of sun drying create optimal flavor. Maya Mountain Cacao is focused on building long-term, transparent partnerships with farmers and producing uniquely delicious cacao that supports the communities of southern Belize.
TERROIR
Belize’s rich history of cacao production, combined with the country’s stunning limestone karstic landscape and lowland tropical rainforest, created the perfect storm of flavor that was waiting to be fine-tuned through centralized post-harvest. While ancient criollo can still be found deep in Belize’s nature reserves and small private plots, the vast majority of cacao cultivated by the smallholder Maya farmers in the south are Amelonado-dominant hybrids and other Upper Amazon Forastero hybrids. Maya Mountain Cacao is intercropped with hardwood trees, banana, mango, avocado, and coconut.
2025 Maya Mountain Farmgate price
$9.64 USD
This is the actual price paid to the cacao producer for their product (typically on a per kg or per lb basis) when they sell it to the first buyer.
Farmgate price is often paid for "wet" or fresh cacao, recently harvested and scooped out of cracked pods for sale. Wet cacao loses 60-70% of its weight during fermentation and drying, typically reaching 7-8% humidity before it is sold.
Uncommon calculates farmgate price for each cacao supplier based on the specific weight loss conversion percentage provided to us by the supplier, and we report farmgate price on a per kg dried equivalent basis for all cacao beans we source.
Pictured is Feliciana Kib Coh sorting cacao beans
2025 Maya Mountain FOB price
$14.43 USD
This is the price paid by Uncommon to our partners for cacao transported and loaded onto a ship for export.
Uncommon then covers all of the costs of shipping, freight charges, insurance, import, domestic logistics, warehouse ingestion, customs and duties.
Free on board (FOB) is an international shipping term that represents the seller's responsibility for bringing the cacao over the rails of the export ship.
2025 Maya Mountain Average sales price
$17.68 USD
This is the weighted average price per kg for cacao sold to the premium & ultra premium chocolate makers who purchased it during this year from Uncommon Cacao.
Notable Awards
2022 Academy of Chocolate Gold
Manuel Cucul smiling with fermenting cacao
Flavor Profile
Honey, Pineapple, Raisin
We believe that the difference between traceability and transparency is published and verifiable data for each and every step in our supply chain.
