Claudio Corallo
Claudio Corallo, from Florence, has
been producing coffee and chocolate for over forty years. Since 1974
he has worked primarily in Africa and, for brief periods, in South
America (Bolivia).
At the age of 23 he moved to what was then Zaire, and after four years of working in the sector bought two abandoned plantations. In just a few years his harvest had risen to 880 tonnes. His high quality coffee is exported and savoured throughout the world. In the early 1990s, Corallo started working in another two plantations, in São Tome and Principe, in Guinea.
Claudio Corallo has always believed that the only way to make great products is to work in perfect harmony with the environment, while integrating with and building a transparent, effective relationship with the people. His work is exemplary of this, both on his own plantations and with local farmers. Originally trained by Corallo, the farmers live in groups and work together to constantly improve farming techniques. It is a fine example of ethical and sustainable business.
Then there is the constant focus he places on the product. Corallo uses only the best ingredients and the entire production process is performed by hand. His chocolate is highly prized by connoisseurs for its unique, unmistakable taste. Varieties include 100% dark chocolate; chocolate containing a rare liqueur distilled from the cocoa bean; 73% dark chocolate with crushed cocoa; delicate chocolate varieties with ginger and orange zest; 80% sablé chocolate; chocolate-coated coffee beans; and chocolate blocks filled with dried Vesuvian apricots.
Honours and Exhibitions
- 2015
At Expo Milan 2015, he was the leading exhibitor in the Cocoa and Chocolate Cluster—with over 40 years’ experience in plantation work, he is the only world producer to farm cocoa and produce chocolate in the same location.