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Cocoa beans are cultivated all around the world under widely ranging conditions, which gives regional cocoas distinctive characters and flavors. For example, chocolate made with Sumatran cocoa will taste very different from a Caribbean blend.

Most chocolate manufacturers blend four or five varieties of cocoa beans from different parts of the world. Following a precise flavor profile, beans are blended to match the desired flavor. The flavor profile is unique to a specific chocolate, and is considered to be the proprietary, secret recipe for the chocolate manufacturer. A number of different chocolates are also used to coat or enrobe, in order to make each product a unique taste experience.

Some smaller chocolate makers have started to produce a single-source chocolate using beans from just one country, region, or even one farm. Borrowing terms from the winemaking industry, these unblended chocolates are referred to as "terroir," French for soil, or "Grand Cru," a designation granted to the very top vineyards.

However, many chocolate connoisseurs, however, prefer balanced blends, because blending results in the most pleasing chocolate flavor.

1) Types of Cacao Trees
	Criollos (meaning 'native'), sometimes called the "prince of cacao," or the Rolls Royce of beans and the most delicate, produces the highest grade beans. Only 10 per cent of cocoa comes from criollo trees, as they are delicate and very susceptible to disease. It is cultivated mainly in the countries where cacao originated, such as Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Trinidad, Jamaica and Grenada.

	Hardy, disease-resistant forastero (meaning 'foreign') cacao trees are high-yielding, and generate the majority of the world's cocoa beans. It is grown mainly in Brazil and Africa, accounts for about 80 per cent of the world's production.

	The third type of cacao tree is a hybrid of the first two: trinitario, named for the place it originated, Trinidad, is gaining in popularity because it combines many of the rich flavor characteristics of criollo with the heartiness of forastero.

	Within these types, there are dozens of subspecies and variations, such as Rio Caribe from Venezuela, Arriba from Ecuador, and Java in Indonesia.

2) Where do cocoa beans come from

3) What affect the cocoa bean's flavor

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