Vietnamese Chocolate Bar – A Gift from Heart to Heart

After a trip to beautiful and hospitable Vietnam, you may think about buying a small gift for your family and relatives. It could be a conical hat that is very familiar on every road along the length of this country, or a T-shirt with the word Vietnam printed on it and pictures of the landscapes of the regions you have visited, or refrigerator magnets made from ceramic, or lovely items made from coconut shells… But perhaps, you will rarely, or never think of Vietnam having a souvenir that is extremely familiar to the taste of almost everyone – that is chocolate.

It would be strange to bring chocolate back to Europe or North America, and even other big cities in Asia, because chocolate was either born there, or has become too popular in the food shelves of every family. But Vietnamese chocolate, proudly crafted from cocoa beans grown in this country, has a flavor and story completely different from what you have enjoyed or experienced before.

International experts in a recent field survey objectively assessed that the cocoa source grown and developed in Vietnam has a quality in the top 5% of the world. Besides, Vietnam has a diversity of cocoa growing areas with diverse soil characteristics, intercropping with other plants such as coconut trees, cashews, fruit trees… with 3 main cocoa growing areas in the Central Highlands, the Southeast provinces and the Mekong Delta. 

Not only when cocoa beans, the main ingredient to create top chocolates, were evaluated, many people came here, bringing with them their experience and chocolate production techniques, from France, Belgium, Russia… along with the local people who are passionate about creativity and hard work, to create chocolate brands, which have now reached beyond the borders, to infiltrate every boutique chocolate shop on the busy streets of Seoul, Singapore, San Francisco, Nice, Bruges… and even the big shopping centers in Dubai, Tokyo, Paris… Below are a few famous chocolate brands that are proud to be produced in Vietnam using purely local agricultural ingredients, including cocoa beans, that The Myst Dong Khoi Hotel would like to introduce to you.

Top 5 highly recommend Vietnamese Chocolate for your special gift

Marou Faiseurs de Chocolat

Established in Vietnam in late 2011, Marou, Faiseurs de Chocolat was founded by two tourists from France who met by chance during a camping trip through the jungle in the South. A former bank manager and a senior advertising expert together sought out farmers in the provinces of the Southern Delta, convinced and accompanied them to bring out the most original and unique raw cocoa beans, along with advanced technology and relationships with leading chefs in the chocolate industry to create chocolate bars with a strong Vietnamese flavor.

As pioneers in purchasing cocoa beans directly from farmers, Marou’s chocolate bars are now exported to more than 20 markets worldwide, in the spirit of “from bean to bar”. Visitors can find their chocolate bars, from traditional to innovative, in stores with MAROU signs and exteriors painted in a mix of fiery red and navy blue.

ALLUVIA

The Alluvia brand is proud to carry the purest and most original essence of the Mekong Delta, where more than 40 years ago the father cut the first layers of land to build a prosperous cocoa farm, and 3 decades later, the daughter created a chocolate brand from the cocoa ingredients grown on the family’s land.

Agricultural ingredients grown and produced in Vietnam such as pepper, cashew nuts, green tea, coconut nectar, ginger, chili, mango, lemon… are meticulously selected by Alluvia to combine with cocoa and create chocolate bars with vibrant Vietnamese flavors, harmonies honoring local heritage, carefully combined with packaging designs decorated with traditional cultural features, thereby telling stories about Vietnamese lands and culture to international visitors.

HALLELU

The founder of Hallelu’s entrepreneurial journey did not start with cocoa. Starting out as a mechanical engineer for a large foreign car company based in Vietnam, during a business trip, the founder of Hallelu witnessed farmers destroying their own cocoa gardens just because of a good harvest and low prices. With the mechanical knowledge he learned from university, this man did not hesitate to create chocolate production machines from cocoa. But more importantly, he began to explore the market for this special agricultural product to support farmers in sticking with this fruit that was previously undervalued.

Since 2018, Hallelu has launched more than 50 types of chocolate and cocoa products combined with Vietnamese agricultural products, 100% mixed and packaged in Ho Chi Minh City and exported to Japan, Europe and distributed domestically.

The Cocoa Project

The birth of The Cocoa Project also started with 2 tourists on the bus from Da Lat back to Saigon, the difference is that one is an expert – a chocolate trader from Belgium with decades of experience, and the other is a French-Vietnamese on her journey back to her homeland. Initially, they only intended to build a chocolate museum to honor the journey of developing native cocoa trees as well as share with the majority about sustainable farming activities. That idea gradually changed into a reliable address for Vietnamese people to learn about and love domestic chocolate products, but still aiming at the initial goal of the project, which is to create a chocolate enjoyment culture for Vietnamese people from the products developed in Vietnam.

Now, The Cocoa Project is not only a destination for Vietnamese and international tourists who want to explore products made from locally grown cocoa beans, but also an interesting culinary space for everyone, of all ages. And of course, chocolate bars mixed with local agricultural products are always introduced at the shop.

BINON CACAO

Binon is a cocoa brand founded by a Japanese woman in Vietnam. She chose Chau Duc (formerly Ba Ria – Vung Tau province, now Ho Chi Minh City), with its unique climate and soil, to start a business with a modest 2ha farm. Binon has also constantly mobilized and cooperated with local farmers to cultivate cocoa trees according to the organic agricultural model. Currently, Binon’s farm is nearly 10 times larger than its original area, with modern, methodical agricultural techniques, and a closed-loop factory to create more than 20 products of all kinds from cocoa beans.

In addition to the store located in a hidden alley in the city center, Binon also organizes tours and experiences of the park and factory, bringing visitors the opportunity to learn from the farm to the perfect chocolate bar. Binon’s products are especially popular with Japanese tourists, and are also distributed in stores across the Land of the Rising Sun.

Stonehill

The brand itself speaks to where their cocoa beans are grown, on the barren rocky hills of Dong Nai province since 2010. Stonehill‘s founder is a leading agricultural PhD in Vietnam, known as one of the outstanding individuals leading the way in regenerative farming and sustainable agriculture (Permaculture).

With more than 50 types of cocoa beans being grown on the farm in a closed self-sufficient process, Stonehill is also proud to be one of the very few manufacturers in Vietnam and in the world capable of providing tree-to-bar chocolate products to domestic and foreign markets (directly from growers to consumers).