An opportunity to live and work in a Pacific Island culture came and I had a life-changing year living there full time, and another year travelling back and forth from Australia.

When I returned to Australia in 2012 the seed had well and truly been sown and making chocolate from this extraordinary tree crop was something we had to explore. We started small. Piecing together small scale chocolate making equipment, some self-engineered, Spencer Cocoa kicked-off making chocolate in 2013, buying direct from the local growers.

It’s been a journey together with the families in Vanuatu as we have honed our chocolate making process, and, working with them, in their small plantations to lift quality. The families take great care in growing, harvesting, fermenting and drying the beans from their cocoa plantations and they prepare our cocoa ready for shipping to Australia. We have supported and worked with our growers to ensure the cocoa is processed to maximise quality and eliminate faults that can arise during the fermentation and drying process.

Over my time living and working in the Solomons and in Vanuatu, I’ve grown to treasure the Islander culture and have developed close relationships with the families we buy from. Each time I arrive in Vanuatu and take a deep breath of the warm, humid, smoke-tainted air, I feel a sense of ‘home’.

– Luke Spencer