Our beloved Indonesia has a wealth of fertile lands. Maybe the first picture that comes to mind is a paddy field, but little did we know that our country is the third biggest cacao producer in the world. Unfortunately, most of the products are exported and we find ourselves indulging imported chocolates that might have came from our own farms. Even a Belgian man, who came all the way from his world-class chocolate-producing country, found himself some heavenly cacao ingredients when he came to visit. We are proud to introduce you the finest chocolate in Yogyakarta – Monggo Chocolate.
Thierry Detournay was on a long vacation in Southeast Asia when he first came to Indonesia.
It wasn’t long until our motherland worked her charms on him, so much so that he decided live here permanently. “My background is psychology but I had no idea of what I was going to do,” expressed Thierry. “All I know is I really want to live here.”
Being a Belgian, chocolate is bound to be a large part of his life. Initially, Thierry started formulating chocolates for himself and his friends because he could not find local producers in Indonesia at that time. One of his friends then decided to sell his chocolates in a pink Vespa at Universitas Gadjah Mada.
“We were rather curious of how locals would respond to my chocolates. Compared to other local chocolate brands, I use 100% cacao butter from the beginning to give it the fine quality of chocolate. Surprisingly, the market responded well even though it was a bit more expensive. Now the sales are growing even better,” he shared.
Thierry’s decision to use only pure cacao butter is a tradition in Belgium; Belgians would fuse it with other ingredients including nuts, and finally turning them into pralines, ganache, chocolate truffle and chocolate bars. It takes a few weeks to process the cacao to chocolate products.
He chooses the exact flavours his company would produce based on his past experiences with chocolates. He also carefully examines the taste of the chocolate and the fillings to come up with a perfectly balanced special recipe. “There is a mix of Indonesian culture and European chocolate behind our products,” he says.
This year, Monggo Chocolate celebrates their 10th anniversary. Thanks to Thierry, Indonesia now has their ‘extra fine chocolate’ grown and produced from our own lands, ready to be shared with the rest of the world. “It’s is our commitment to make real good chocolates with Indonesian cocoa beans and promote it,” concludes Thierry.