Colombia
SIERRA NEVADA
Award-winning earthy and complex cacao from the land of magical realism centrally fermented by the association.
2025 Data - Product
Quality: Ultra Premium
Flavor: Apricot, Brownie Batter, White Pepper
Fermentation Style: Box
Drying Style: Solar drying decks and raised beds under plastic roofing.
Quality Practices: Constant temperature monitoring in fermentation boxes, cut tests from day cfour, slow drying to preserve sensory attributes, traceability maintained from farm to central facility.
2025 Data - Planet
Crops that are used for intercropping: Plantain, timber species, avocado, coffee, and assorted fruit trees in agroforestry systems.
Environmental practices: Agroforestry under Good Agricultural Practices: responsible input use, soil conservation, protection of water sources, organic waste management, and conservation of shade and native trees.
Average percent of shade of cacao farms: 31%
Distance of producer to facility (km): 50
Distance to port (km): 776
Ocean freight CO2kgs per MT (US): 66
Ocean Freight CO2kgs per MT (EU): 145
2025 Data - People
Trainings conducted: Agricultural productivity, ecological practices for sustainable crop management, fermentation and drying protocols, business and finance, customer service, labor rights and gender violence prevention.
Producers purchased from: 274
Female producers: 79
Producers <35 years old: 48
Total # of producers trained: 259
Female producers trained: 43
Full time employees: 15
Full time female employees: 8
Part time employees: 15
Part time female employees: 5
Average farm size (ha): 1.32
Average sales per producer (dry kg): 405
Average annual cacao revenue per producer: $2,516
The Sierra Nevada cacao offered by Uncommon Cacao comes from three smallholder associations producing cacao near the Caribbean coast of Colombia.
Cacao Hunters sources from 274 farming families and has worked alongside them to develop biodiverse cacao agroforestry, supporting a prosperous way of life that is an alternative to the degenerative monocropping of bananas prevalent in this part of the country. Farmers’ degree of technical expertise really stands out as exceptional: farmers are even running their own pollination trials to improve quality and yields, which are currently around 700 Kg/hectare in the region.
In addition to excellent growing and processing practices, the cacao from Sierra Nevada tastes delicious. This cacao has consistently won over judges worldwide and over the years has aggregated 15 awards including the coveted Golden Bean Award in 2019.
TERROIR
The farms producing this cacao are located in a uniquely special terroir in between the dramatic Sierra Nevada mountain range to the south, and the Caribbean coast of Colombia to the north. The Sierra Nevada mountain range is located only 50 miles from the border with Venezuela. Cacao arrived in the Sierra Nevada region approximately 4,000 years ago from the Amazon further south. The cacao producers who work with Cacao Hunters to grow and process this delicious cacao are located in the three departments that run along the Sierra Nevada range: Magdalena, La Guajira, and Cesar.
The Sierra Nevada cacao offered by Uncommon Cacao comes from three smallholder associations producing cacao near the Caribbean coast of Colombia.
Cacao Hunters sources from 274 farming families and has worked alongside them to develop biodiverse cacao agroforestry, supporting a prosperous way of life that is an alternative to the degenerative monocropping of bananas prevalent in this part of the country. Farmers’ degree of technical expertise really stands out as exceptional: farmers are even running their own pollination trials to improve quality and yields, which are currently around 700 Kg/hectare in the region.
In addition to excellent growing and processing practices, the cacao from Sierra Nevada tastes delicious. This cacao has consistently won over judges worldwide and over the years has aggregated 15 awards including the coveted Golden Bean Award in 2019.
TERROIR
The farms producing this cacao are located in a uniquely special terroir in between the dramatic Sierra Nevada mountain range to the south, and the Caribbean coast of Colombia to the north. The Sierra Nevada mountain range is located only 50 miles from the border with Venezuela. Cacao arrived in the Sierra Nevada region approximately 4,000 years ago from the Amazon further south. The cacao producers who work with Cacao Hunters to grow and process this delicious cacao are located in the three departments that run along the Sierra Nevada range: Magdalena, La Guajira, and Cesar.
2025 Sierra Nevada Farmgate price
$6.22 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.
2025 Sierra Nevada FOB price
$12.79 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 Sierra Nevada Average sales price
$15.27 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 Gold Academy of Chocolate
Pictured here is Janeth Vargas from the Guardabosques group on her farm in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range.
Flavor Profile
Apricot, Brownie Batter, White Pepper
We believe that the difference between traceability and transparency is published and verifiable data for each and every step in our supply chain.
