Meat and dairy are important elements of our ancient rural food cultures - but also products of one of the largest industries in our society. Eating more plants and less animals is the single most effective choice we individuals can make every day to change our own health and the world. 75% of Original Beans products are vegan.

Law requires chocolate makers to indicate the percentage derived from cocoa beans (solids and butter) and their ingredients in sequence of the respective largest quantity. Reading “sugar” as the first ingredient should give you pause. When we make chocolate with only one ingredient - beans - law even requires us to call it “cacao” instead of chocolate. Our products are 100% free from lecithins, vanilla or other additives.

There are more than 70 tree species that produce edible food. Food-producing trees play an important role in sequestering atmospheric carbon in their leaves, stems, trunks, roots and associated soils for extended periods. They also prevent erosion and flooding, recharge groundwater, restore degraded land and soils, and support biodiversity by providing habitat. Original Beans sources 100% single varietal cacaos.

In all likelihood, you have eaten pesticides today. It is almost impossible to eat pesticide-free food, unless you go 100% organic. Over four billion kilogrammes of pesticides are used annually worldwide. The effects of pesticides on human health require long-term research and an open debate. Not up for debate are the catastrophic effects on insects. 100% of Original Beans cacaos are certified organic.

Just as pre- and probiotics feed and improve gut health, compost does the same for the soil. Compost represents an opportunity for nearly everyone to connect to a climate solution they can get their hands on. 95% of Original Beans packaging is compostable or biodegradable.

Tropical forests shelter at least 2/3 of all species on earth, including a huge diversity of animals, plants, birds, insects, fungi and countless soil microbes. Any strategy to protect these critical natural resources must honour and support Indigenous rights. In 2021, Original Beans growers protected 27,908 soccer fields of pristine rainforest.

When we think about how to end the climate crisis, we rarely consider wildness as being integral. Swamps, elephants, penny bun fungi, termite mounds and coral reefs fall under the rubric of biodiversity. Nature repairs quickly when harm ceases. When life regenerates, complexity proliferates. Productivity soars. Species reappear. And the climate responds. In 2021, the Original Beans’ foundation donated USD 136,000 to conservation in origins.

If you travel, you are probably familiar with carbon offsets. While offsets have a role, the bottom line is clear: greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced now. Instead of simply neutralizing emissions, why not  triple the reductions in order to work down the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere instead? Original Beans “Climate Forests” offer certificates for Euro 10 per ton of CO2.

Poverty is an extractive industry. It takes value from people, transfers it to others and disvalues the producers. The impoverished may dwell in makeshift shelters where there is pollution, insufficient sanitation and marginal schools. They suffer economic stress and lack of healthcare. Most of the five million cacao farming families live under such extreme conditions. Living Income is a human right. Even as a tiny start-up, we guaranteed the Latin American grower families incomes that are currently 15% (US$ 1,415) above public living incom.

The UN reported that if women farmers were given the same access to resources that male farmers have, they could reduce malnutrition 12-17% globally. This highlights the deep connections between forests and food systems – integrating the two through ecological farming practices has been at the heart of a number of regenerative movements led by rural women. Original Beans actively empowers hundreds of women cacao growers.

Indigenous peoples steward about 1/4 of the world’s landmass and inhabit around 85% of areas designated for biodiversity conservation globally. For millennia, indigenous nations have existed in places where most other people would quickly perish – in deep rainforests and remote Arctic regions on our planet. Original Beans “select tribal” chocolates feature peoples’ cacaos and traditions.