Cocao Kingdom
Cocoa Kingdom is chocolate lover’s wonderland. Located in TanjungAru, Kota Kinabalu, it has producing the best chocolate in Sabah for over 10 years. Their aim is to expose Borneo’s cocoa experience while promoting Sabah’s heritage to the world through chocolate. It is more than just a chocolate shop, rather a destination where you can learn in a fun way about the multi-stage process of turning ‘bean into bar’, view hand-made chocolates being made by the artisan work force, discover the anti-oxidant health benefits of cocoa rich chocolate and the important bit, an opportunity to sample delicious chocolate some with flavours that we guarantee new to your taste buds.
Majority of Sabah’s cocoa is grown in Tawau. This is home town of Mr. Siaw Ten Hon and his family. It was Mr. Ten Hon’s father Mr SiawMeng Kiang’s passion for growing and cultivating cocoa over many decades that led the family to producing chocolate in 2009 to establish Cocoa Kingdom.
At the entrance of Cocoa Kingdom, several cocoa trees are growing. The trees start to produce crop after three years. At 10 years the tree is mature to provide enough cocoa to produce on average 1kg of chocolate per annum. Harvesting is challenging as cocoa is not a seasonal crop with many visits to each tree required to gather beans that take more than six months to ripen. The farmers are nearly all smallholders with may be just three to four acres of land. Visitors can then view some of the Cocoa Kingdom team making artisan chocolates, many to bespoke orders.Then it’s time for the best bit, a chance to sample some chocolate! The sizable shop showcases all of Cocoa Kingdom’s chocolate products including exotic flavours such as durian, cocoanut, mango, pineapple and the very popular tiramisu. Nearly all are available on a ‘try before you buy’ basis with many samples available.Try locally made chocolates in variable shapes and flavours at affordable prices and sample their best sellers.
Can you imagine a world without chocolate? Neither can us. In 1989, Malaysia was then one of the largest cocoa-producing countries in the world. However, cultivation began to decline in 2000 following competition for land use for other commodity crops, especially oil palm.Cocoa is Sabah’s fourth largest agricultural crop. Cocoa bean is processed to produce various medicines, skin care products, chocolate and other foodstuffs. Cocoa was first planted in Sabah in 1950s. Sabah’s tropical climate and rich fertile soil is perfect for the cultivation of an array of cocoa beans.Today it is found in Tawau, Sandakan and Kudat.
Bonaterra Cacao Mill and Chocolate Maker
Bonaterra, meaning ‘good earth’ in Italian, is a chocolate factory located at Bandar Sierra. It was established by 50-year old Eddie Kim, a Korean who has been residing in Sabah for over a decade. One of the pioneers of beans-to-bar chocolate maker in Sabah, Bonaterra Cacao Mill and Chocolate Maker uses exclusively cacao beans grown in Sabah.The rich and luscious soil terrain in Sabah produces the best quality cocoa beans in the world. It contains over 55% cocoa butter, compared to cocoa beans sourced from other countries that produce less than 50% cocoa butter. Higher cocoa butter content means higher quality.
Their chocolates are crafted in micro batches and takes approximated one month to make and age. The BONATERRA BAR are a series of varieties using beans from Sabah. Three of varieties are names after Sabahan districts (Kota Marudu, Keningau, and Tawau). The fourth is a blend from other three areas, known as Borneo Blend. Experience the high quality tastes of finest cocoa bean in the world.
