In Vietnam’s Central Highlands, in Dak Lak province, cocoa farming is a relatively modern enterprise that was not professionally tackled until the 21st century, despite cocoa being introduced to the country in the late 1800s. Today, more than 12,000 farmers grow cocoa on small plots, often next to coconut and various fruit trees.

In 2017, two school friends, Truong Minh Thang and Nguyen Duy Thong, founded Anh Em Cacao Co. out of a shared passion for cocoa and chocolate. They discovered that the cocoa quality in Dak Lak could be improved and threw themselves into research into microbial biodiversity and post-harvest processes to optimize the taste potential of the beans. The result was the basis for the award-winning chocolate they began producing under their Tbros brand. Anh Em now exports these quality beans to Europe and the rest of the world, to the great benefit of local producers and their communities.