Panama's cacao history
Cacao has been cultivated in what is now Panama for more than 3,000 years. The indigenous peoples of the isthmus — including the ancestors of the Ngäbe-Buglé, the Naso, and the Guna — used cacao as currency, as ritual drink, and as food long before the Spanish arrived. The Aztec word xocolātl — the origin of our word "chocolate" — describes a bitter, unsweetened drink made from ground cacao beans and water that was consumed by elite and priestly classes throughout Mesoamerica and the isthmus.
Spanish colonisers initially found the drink unpalatable but quickly adapted it for European tastes by adding sugar — the same sugar being produced on colonial plantations throughout the Caribbean. The first European chocolate was, essentially, a Panamanian-era colonial invention: indigenous cacao plus colonial sugar. Panama stood at the crossroads of this transformation.
Today, Panama grows cacao in several regions — but the Bocas del Toro archipelago on the Caribbean coast has emerged as one of the world's most celebrated cacao-growing zones, producing beans of extraordinary quality that are sought by top European and North American chocolate makers.
Bocas del Toro — Panama's chocolate heartland
The Bocas del Toro province is a Caribbean archipelago near the Costa Rica border — lush, tropical, and almost entirely defined by water. The islands and the coastal mainland have the climate and soil conditions that produce exceptional cacao: consistent rainfall, volcanic mineral deposits, high humidity, and the specific fungal environments that encourage the fermentation processes that develop flavour complexity in cacao beans.
The region is home to Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous communities who have grown cacao for generations — often in traditional agroforestry systems where cacao grows under the shade of larger forest trees, producing lower yields but dramatically more complex flavour than sun-grown plantation cacao. Several small cooperatives and farms in Bocas now work directly with international craft chocolate makers, producing single-origin bars that appear in the catalogues of premium chocolatiers in New York, London, and Tokyo.
The key cacao variety grown in Bocas is Cacao Silvestre — a wild-type cacao with ancient genetic lineage that produces beans with unusual flavour complexity: fruit notes (raisin, blackberry, tamarind), a deep cocoa base, and a long finish that changes as the chocolate melts. International craft chocolate judges have awarded Bocas del Toro cacao at the Academy of Chocolate Awards and the International Chocolate Awards for several consecutive years.
The craft chocolate scene in Panama
Oro Moreno is Panama's leading craft chocolate brand — a bean-to-bar operation sourcing exclusively from Bocas del Toro cacao cooperatives and processing everything in Panama City. Their single-origin bars range from 60% to 85% and are labelled by specific farm and fermentation lot. The 72% Bocas bar is the best entry point: deep chocolate base, dried fruit finish, balanced bitterness. Their limited-edition bars with Panamanian sea salt or Geisha coffee nibs are among the most interesting flavour combinations in Latin American craft chocolate.
Several farms in Bocas del Toro now produce their own finished chocolate rather than selling raw beans — cutting out intermediaries and allowing the specific terroir of a single farm to express itself completely. Finca Chocolate is the most accessible of these farm-direct brands in Panama City, available through specialty food shops and a few Casco Viejo cafés. The flavour is rougher and more intense than a polished commercial bar — deliberately so. This is what cacao tastes like when the distance between tree and table is measured in hours rather than months.
Where to taste chocolate in Casco Viejo
- Our coffee and chocolate tasting experience — the most structured way to understand Panamanian chocolate, with tasting flights comparing different cacao origins and processing methods, paired with Geisha coffee. See below.
- Café Unido — stocks Panamanian craft chocolate bars alongside their coffee. Good for buying; the baristas can explain the provenance of whatever is currently in stock.
- Casa Sucre — the restaurant's dessert menu regularly features Panamanian cacao in various preparations. The chocolate mousse made with Bocas cacao has appeared on the menu for several years and is consistently excellent.
- Specialty food shops near Avenida A — several small shops in Casco stock local craft chocolate bars alongside Geisha coffee and artisanal rum. Good for one-stop souvenir buying.
Pairing chocolate with Panamanian spirits: The combination of dark Panamanian chocolate (70%+) with aged Ron Abuelo rum is one of the better food-and-drink pairings available in Casco Viejo. The rum's vanilla and caramel notes complement the chocolate's fruit complexity. Ask at Pedro Mandinga or any serious bar if they offer a paired tasting — some do.
What to buy and take home
- Oro Moreno single-origin bars: The 72% and 85% Bocas bars are the best take-home gifts. Well-packaged, clearly labelled, and significantly better than airport duty-free options. Available at Café Unido and specialty shops in Casco. Approximately $8–12 per bar.
- Chocolate and Geisha coffee gift set: Several shops in Casco Viejo assemble gift boxes combining craft chocolate bars with Geisha coffee bags — a genuinely premium Panama souvenir that tells two connected stories about the country's exceptional agricultural products.
- Raw cacao products: Cacao nibs (roasted, cracked cacao beans) and cacao powder from Bocas farms are available at health-focused shops. Less shelf-stable than bars but more versatile for cooking.
The coffee and chocolate tasting experience
Our 90-minute tasting experience pairs world-famous Panama Geisha coffee with single-origin Panamanian cacao — tasting both across multiple preparations and exploring the connections between Panama's two most extraordinary agricultural products. The session is held in a colonial building in Casco Viejo, run by specialists in both coffee and chocolate, and designed for visitors with no prior knowledge of either subject. It is the most complete introduction to Panama's food culture available as a single experience.
Taste Panama's finest coffee and chocolate together
Geisha coffee and single-origin Bocas cacao, side by side, with the full story of how Panama produces both. 90 minutes in a colonial building in Casco Viejo.
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