Our story
Three generations on one hillside
From forty seedlings in 1962 to a chocolate workshop in Port Harcourt. This is how the Ayuk family learnt to grow, ferment and make chocolate.
- founded
- 1962
- generations
- 3
- grower families
- 46
The timeline
Sixty four years in six moments
- 1962
Forty seedlings
Chief Ebenezer Ayuk plants the first trees between oil palms on the ridge.
- 1974
The first crop sold
Dried beans go by lorry to the coast. The family builds the first drying beds.
- 1991
A second generation
Grace Ayuk takes over and plants shade trees: plantain, kola and mango.
- 2008
Growers join
Neighbouring families start selling their wet beans to the estate for fermenting.
- 2016
Our own chocolate
Ime Ayuk-Briggs, the founder’s granddaughter, opens a small workshop in Old GRA, Port Harcourt.
- Today
Bean to bar
Nine bars and products, a tasting room and 46 grower families.
The family
Who runs the estate today
Ime Ayuk-Briggs trained as a food scientist and came home to the ridge in 2014. Her uncle Bassey still runs the farm, and her mother Grace, now in her seventies, tastes every new batch before it is sold.
My grandfather sold beans he never tasted as chocolate. I wanted the people who grow it to taste what it becomes.
- I
Flavour starts on the farm
Good fermenting and slow drying matter more than any machine.
- II
Pay growers properly
We pay a fixed premium above the market price for well fermented beans.
- III
Shade, not clearing
Our cocoa grows under forest trees. We have never cleared forest for new rows.
- IV
Show our work
Every wrapper carries a lot number you can trace.
In pictures
The ridge through the years
Tap a photo to see it larger.
Come and see where it started.
The first trees are on every estate tour.