Once used as "Money" beans in ancient Mayan civilizations. cacao has been cultivated, celebrated, and now [perfected] into lavish locally sourced & locally made Belizean treats. Bars of chocolate, cacao butter lip balm, cacao oil, chocolate drinks, cacao nibs, artisan candies, chocolate scrubs -- the list goes on of things I love that are made from cacao.
My love of chocolate began as a child, with dark chocolate oranges that my grandmother would send us at Christmas -- dark dark chocolate with soft notes of citrus, smooth and instantly melting in my mouth... My love of chocolate only grew when I met the Belize Chocolate Company. Built on Chris Beaumont & Jo Sawyer's love of chocolate, locally sourced -fair trade - organic Belizean cacao beans, and a ton of experimentation, the Chocolate company has grown from an idea and a large bag of Cacao beans in their kitchen, into a refined Belizean chocolate company + chic chocolate shop, filled with delicious (and absolutely beautiful) artisan chocolates.
A huge part of our inspiration behind TWIG & PEARL has been in celebrating the things we love about Belizean life. Chocolate is a large part of our history, our agriculture sector, and one of [my[ favorite parts of Belizean life. How could we not take inspiration from Chocolate? After eating a [whole] box of chocolates, I decided we NEEDED a bag, that specifically celebrates what cacao is, and how much we love it. I sent Jo an instagram message, and she was all in for partnering together on the project! After testing a few sketches I settled on a plan I loved: The actual Google Definition of a Cacao, its pronunciation, and then individually hand-painted cacao pods below, all stitched onto a handmade canvas tote with soft chocolate brown leather handles.
"My favorite part about the tote?
Its big enough to hold all the chocolate
that I want to eat!"
So head over to the Belize Chocolate Company in San Pedro (Or at their new Caye Caulker Location!), buy yourself a TWIG & PEARL X Belize Chocolate Company Tote, then buy enough chocolates to fill it up! xX