Founded in 2008 by Commander C.T. Kuruvilla and managed together with his daughter Sanjana Kuruvilla, Cocoacraft focuses on making high-quality, couverture chocolate in Kochi, Kerala. Couverture chocolate boasts a higher percentage of cocoa butter that is anywhere between 32 to 39 percent. Cocoacraft sources cocoa beans from the Idukki district. They do not alkalise their chocolate which preserves the natural character of the cocoa.
Cdr Kuruvilla first came across cocoa at his father-in-law Mathew Thumpassery’s plantation in 1977. After he retired from the Navy in 1993, he began researching and experimenting with different methods of chocolate making. At the time, cocoa grown in Kerala was mainly exported out of state by co-operatives like CAMPCO or by foreign chocolate companies like Cadbury.
Cdr Kuruvilla wanted to change this. After years of experimentation and testing, he learned how to bring out the natural flavours of cocoa beans without using alkali. With Cocoacraft, he began selling high quality chocolate, providing an alternative to the more commonly available compound chocolate—made from cocoa powder and hydrogenated vegetable oil vegetable fats—in markets across India. Today, Cocoacraft retails a wide range of chocolates and cocoa-based products like cocoa powder, cacao nibs, cocoa chips, dark chocolate spread with peanut butter, and hot cocoa drinking chocolate. These ingredients and products can also be found at Cocoacraft’s chocolate-themed cafes in Kochi and Valara.
Cocoacraft’s single-origin chocolates come from cocoa beans sourced from farms in the Idukki district. They ferment and dry fresh beans at their unit in Valara, near Munnar. These beans are then taken to their factory in Kochi for further processing where they are roasted and cracked to extract the nibs. These nibs are then slowly ground along with other ingredients like sugar and natural vanilla extract to make chocolate.
The Locavore Bite
TL Bite offers a glimpse into how a partner producer runs their operations, and reflects their core principles and values. The idea is to provide insights into their practices and highlight their positive efforts descriptively. We have identified seven key areas of assessment – origin and source of ingredients, composition and integrity of the products, workforce policies, production practices, community-related initiatives, approach towards preserving or celebrating traditional knowledge and the materials used in packaging. While this assessment may not be entirely comprehensive, we hope it helps you make an informed decision about why you might want to support them, and the ways in which to do so.
The information below offers you a snapshot of where Cocoacraft stands on these parameters. We have put this together based on several rounds of conversations with Sanjana Kuruvilla. Click on a piece of the pie below to find out more.
Why We Love Cocoacraft
- Sourcing and fermenting wet beans: Instead of sourcing dried, fermented beans, Cocoacraft sources fresh, wet beans with pulp, within one day of harvest. The natural sugars in the pulp aid in the fermentation process and help create flavour precursors that determine the flavour profile of the chocolate. Once the beans and pulp ferment for five days, they are dried in the sun. The fermented beans undergo a cut test, where the beans are cut length wise to analyse the fermentation levels.
- Slow processing of chocolate: Commercial chocolate is usually alkalised, a process which neutralises the acidic taste of chocolate, giving it a uniform flavour. However, this often reduces the amount of flavanols, a natural antioxidant, and the natural flavour of the cocoa beans. Cocoacraft does not use alkali; instead, they follow a longer, slower method known as conching. This comprises grinding and mixing the beans with cocoa butter for extended periods of time. Conching makes the chocolate smooth by reducing its particle size, and helps evenly coat the chocolate particles with cocoa butter. Avoiding alkalisation preserves the flavanols and retains the finer, earthy nuances of the chocolate, unique to the region where the beans are sourced from.
- Serving couverture chocolate at Cocoacraft cafes: Cocoacraft opened their first cafe in Kochi in 2015, and later in Valara in 2025, near the fermentation centre. They serve beverages made from couverture chocolate including hot chocolate, cold chocolate, hot shots (a chocolate beverage without milk) as well as desserts like brownies, cookies, waffles, ice cream, and chocolate mousse. In Valara, visitors can also stroll through micro-plantations of cocoa, nutmeg, avocado, and learn about how chocolate is processed.
Cocoacraft has spent years developing its own approach to make high quality chocolate products. What do you think makes artisanal chocolate distinctive, and what do you hope people come to appreciate about it?
At Cocoacraft, we are single-origin chocolate makers, sourcing cocoa beans from the Idukki district in Kerala, within a 20km radius of our fermentation centre. While it is a small region, factors like farming practices and seasonality also have an impact on flavour of the cocoa beans, and since we don’t alkalize our chocolate, there are nuanced differences in flavour that occur from batch to batch. Similarly, each batch is also handled differently, making small tweaks in the fermentation and drying process, roasting time and temperature, grinding and conching, according to the character of the beans. Artisanal chocolate making is truly a labour of love and care!
—Sanjana Kuruvilla, Co-founder
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How to Buy
If you would like to learn more about Cocoacraft, or try their products, check out their website. If you’re interested in supporting them in other ways, please contact us at connect@thelocavore.in.
This is a paid partnership with Cocoacraft. At The Locavore, we strive to keep the practices of a producer transparent and honest across all forms of partnerships.
Yashvi Shah is the Senior Partnerships Copywriter at The Locavore. In her free time, she likes creating playlists for her friends, and going on runs.
Gia Alvares is the Partnerships Associate at The Locavore. She is a writer with a background in Economics and Sociology, drawn to work that centres people, stories, and lived experiences.
Editor: Yamini Vijayan
Copy Editor: Khorshed Deboo
