DENVER • The sweet fragrance of chocolate lingers within the walls of a small shop in Edgewater Public Market. Burlap sacks of cacao nibs rest under mixing machines, which hum low as they stir rich cocoa.

Bibamba Chocolate is the byproduct of one couple’s bold mission.

A decade ago, Patrick and Mara Tcheunou founded the farm-to-table operation, and the husband and wife oversee every detail, from harvesting the cacao to crafting the treats.

It began in 2014 when the couple bought a 56-acre farm in Cameroon, where Patrick grew up. The impetus for the move was an NPR story on the industry’s unethical labor practices and unsustainable farming standards — major issues that ultimately could lead to a chocolate shortage.

“Being one of my favorite foods, we were shocked by it,” Patrick said. “And we started talking about it and doing a little bit more research. We realized there was a good correlation between the process, the practice and the quality of the chocolate.

“So we felt like we could actually showcase that by doing the right thing from the beginning to the end.”

A year after buying the farm, they planted cacao and plantain — the foundation of Bibamba Chocolate. The first harvest from the trees would not appear for another five years. So the couple waited.

Patrick, a chemical engineer, and Mara, a psychotherapist, never imagined they would become chocolatiers. They had originally planned to be an ethical supplier of cacao to other chocolate-making companies. But in March 2020, when the first harvest arrived — and a global pandemic with it — that plan changed.

“Everything was shutting down, all the businesses; everyone we made contact with was done,” Mara said.

So the couple decided to take a leap. They’d come too far not to.

“We figured, ‘We can’t just sit on this. We’ve invested over five years of time and money. Let’s make our own and get it going,'” Mara said.

The process of making chocolate is complex. When cacao is ready to be harvested, employees on the farm pick pods from the trees and set them aside to ferment for a week. After that, the beans are dried in the sun for about 10 days and roasted in Cameroon before being shipped to the U.S.

When the nibs arrive, they are loaded into conching machines and ground for upward of seven days — along with other ingredients — to make the chocolate. The chocolate is then cooled on sheets, where items such as plantain chips are added, before being broken into bark by hand.

After receiving the early shipments of cacao nibs and perfecting their recipe, Bibamba’s first chocolate debuted at a Denver farmers market: Jungle Crunch, a dark chocolate bark made with mixed-in plantain chips, an ode to Cameroon.

“It was very intentional,” Patrick said of the farming method. “Plantain was supposed to provide shade to the cacao baby trees. Then the cacao trees grow. As they grow and we start harvesting the plantains, the remaining plantains will decompose and become nutrients for the cacao trees in the soil. So we liked the idea as a great way to combine both foods.”

Customers visiting Bibamba today will find about a dozen bark flavors to sample, including milk and white chocolates. The store also sells a flavorful chocolate spread.

Beyond great chocolate, though, remains the mission to provide ethical working conditions to employees, especially those in Cameroon where cacao farms often take advantage of workers. According to the U.S. Bureau of International Labor Affairs, an estimated 1.6 million children are forced to work on cacao farms in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana — two countries responsible for nearly 60% of the world’s production each year.

“By far, most of the chocolate that people are eating here in the world is connected to some form of child labor and slavery,” Patrick said.

At their farm, Patrick and Mara pay employees above living wages and provide food and water to workers, especially important because of the remote location. Child labor is never used, and the business also covers employees’ health care.

“This is what it takes, being intentional about it,” Patrick said. “There are a lot more people today that care about understanding where their food comes from and getting quality products instead of just quantity.”