Quetzal Cacao

Name: Quetzal Cacao
Address: Sortova, La Concepción, PA
Telephone: +50765214464

Casa
Panama
La Concepción
Quetzal Cacao

Delectable, two-ingredient, luxury chocolate. Hand crafted in Panama from our finest organic cacao.

13/08/2026

The percentage on a dark chocolate bar does not tell you how many flavanols it contains.

I spent Monday talking about this with a room full of people in Boquete, and it is one of the things I understand differently because we grow the cacao as well as make the chocolate.

A bar marked 72%, 82%, or 90% tells us how much of the chocolate comes from cacao ingredients. That is useful information, but it does not tell us exactly how many of cacao’s natural flavanols remain in the finished chocolate.

Flavanols are natural compounds in cacao that researchers have studied for their relationship with blood-vessel function.

The cacao itself matters, and fermentation, roasting, and processing influence how much of its natural flavanols remain.

Growing cacao and making chocolate from the same trees means I see the bar long before it becomes a bar. I see the ripe pod, the fermentation, the drying, and the decisions we make in the chocolate kitchen.

That has made me much more interested in what happened to cacao before a percentage ever appeared on the wrapper.

If you have a dark chocolate bar in your kitchen, look beyond the number on the front. See what the maker tells you about where the cacao was grown and how the chocolate was made.

I wrote more about this, along with the 300 cacao seeds we are starting on the farm this week, in the Hearth: lynbishop.com/hearth

The next time you pick up your favorite dark chocolate, see what you can learn beyond the percentage.

10/08/2026

The part of Quetzal’s Chocolate Club I care about most happens after someone joins.

This afternoon, after my talk at the Boquete Library, I am gathering with some of our Boquete members simply because I wanted a chance to thank them in person.

Quetzal’s Chocolate Club began as a way to share the small-batch chocolate we make from cacao grown here on our farm in Panama. Over time, it has become much more about relationship.

Members remember chocolates from earlier collections and ask if I will ever make them again. They write when a flavor surprises them. I learn who prefers her chocolate darker, who loves fruit, who reaches first for caramel, and who wants the cacao to speak for itself.

Those conversations follow us back into the kitchen.

This afternoon, there is nothing to launch and nothing to sell. We are going to sit together, share chocolate, talk, and enjoy the fact that this little circle has grown through years of tasting together.

For me, that is what belonging looks like.

We expect to open a small number of places in Quetzal’s Chocolate Club again in September. If you would like to be invited when we do, you can join the waitlist here:

lynbishop.com/chocolate-club-waitlist

09/08/2026

Tomorrow I’m speaking to 45 people in Boquete about dark chocolate and heart health, and one of the first things I want them to understand is that the percentage on the wrapper tells us less than most people think.

An 85% bar may be darker than a 72% bar, but that number alone does not tell us how many flavanols the chocolate contains, how the cacao was fermented, or what happened to it before it became a bar.

Those details matter.

I grow cacao here in Panama, ferment it, make chocolate from it, and then follow the research that helps us understand what happens when we eat it. The longer I do this work, the harder it becomes for me to separate the health conversation from everything that came before the finished chocolate. It all begins with a living tree.

Tomorrow at the Boquete Library, I’ll be talking about what newer research tells us about dark chocolate, blood flow, and cardiovascular health, while also helping people understand how to choose chocolate with a little more confidence.

Forty-five people have signed up, which is far more than I expected. I am delighted, and I also feel the responsibility to make the science clear enough that people can actually use it.

Later in the afternoon, I’ll sit down with some of our Boquete Chocolate Club members for a small gratitude gathering. Teaching in the morning and sharing chocolate around a table in the afternoon feels like a very good way to spend a Monday.

If you would like to follow more of what we are learning about cacao, chocolate, and the life behind it, you can come further into the Hearth here:

lynbishop.com/hearth

07/08/2026

Next Thursday, our members open three mystery bars.
Until then, I’m keeping the flavors secret.

August’s collection for Quetzal’s Chocolate Club is called The Season Between.

It is inspired by these weeks when the days still feel open and generous. There is time for one more evening outside, one more small pleasure, one more moment before the pace begins to change.

Yet our thoughts begin returning to the kitchen.

Recipes we have not made for months come back to mind. We imagine the people who may soon gather around the table and the empty chairs that will once again be filled.

Celebration is still ahead. This is the quieter season before it, when anticipation grows through small acts of care.

Within The Season Between lives what we think of as the keeping season: a time to hold close what matters, prepare without rushing, and take pleasure in what is here now.

There are three bars in the collection. Each begins with something familiar and carries it somewhere unexpected.

Next Thursday, our members will discover what this moment has become in chocolate.

Quetzal’s Chocolate Club opens again in September. Join the waitlist for the next invitation:

lynbishop.com/chocolate-club-waitlist

06/08/2026

These Cacao seeds may shape the Chocolate we make in 2040.

Today we prepare germinated cacao seeds for planting at Finca La Heliconias, our certified organic Cacao farm in Chiriqui, Panama.

For months, we watched one pod mature.

The ripe cacao pod came from the best producing cacao tree on our farm, after months of watching and waiting for the fruit to mature.

We harvested the selected Cacao pod at Finca las Heliconias, where Quetzal Cacao chocolate begins with fruit grown on the farm.

After germination, each cacao seed was examined by hand. Only the viable seeds were selected for planting in the cacao nursery.

Each germinated cacao seed was planted by hand in a farm made mixture of soil and compost, with the emerging root facing down.

Newly planted cacao seeds will remain outdoors where they can begin adopting to the sun, rain, and the growing conditions of the farm here in Chiriqui.

05/08/2026

Two chocolate bars can both be labeled 90% and taste nothing alike.

The percentage tells you how much of the bar comes from cacao ingredients. It cannot tell you what happened to that cacao before it became chocolate.

It does not tell you which cacao was used, how the fruit was fermented, dried, and roasted, what other ingredients were added, or how many of its naturally occurring flavanols remain in the finished bar.

Those choices shape flavor long before the wrapper is printed.

They help explain why one dark bar may taste harsh and flat, while another can be deep, clear, and full of cacao nuance. They also explain why a high percentage alone cannot tell us what a chocolate may honestly offer our health.

On Monday, I will bring these questions together at the Boquete Library.

Drawing from current cacao research and years of growing cacao and making chocolate from tree to bar, I will explore what researchers are actually measuring, where the evidence remains uncertain, and how the choices made between the fruit and the finished bar shape the chocolate we bring to the table.

The Healing Power of Dark Chocolate
Monday, August 10
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Boquete Library

Includes tasting samples of chocolate grown and made on our certified organic farm in Chiriquí.

Reserve your place:

eventsboquete.org/reservations/healing-power-of-chocolate

04/08/2026

Most people don’t expect a table set with china when they arrive for a farm tour.

This morning, we are preparing for Natalia and her family.

The chocolate has been broken into pieces so they can taste slowly and notice the differences between the bars. Our signature Confit de Cacao offers another way to experience the fruit from which chocolate begins. Fresh nance waits to be blended into a drink while this generous harvest is still with us.

By the time our guests arrive, their visit has already begun.

We have considered what they may never have tasted before, what could surprise them, and how the farm might be understood through flavor as well as through the trees and plants they will see.

The china does not make the farm less rustic. It tells our guests they were expected.

The table is set. The season is present. What we grow here is ready to be shared.

Stay close to the farm through the Hearth, where I share the stories, education, and invitations growing from this place: lynbishop.com/hearth

02/08/2026

The first sip is deep cacao. By the second, the Honeycloud Fluff has begun to melt.

Our Real Hot Chocolate is made with Quetzal Cacao chocolate. Spoon fresh Honeycloud Fluff over the cup, and the warmth slowly folds a little sweetness and creaminess into the cacao while the center remains airy for another sip or two.

We make Honeycloud Fluff only occasionally, and this fresh batch is available now with our Real Hot Chocolate.

Bring them home together before catalog orders close Monday at 5:00 p.m.:

lynbishop.com/catalog

We prepare everything fresh for Thursday shipping and Friday pickup at Uno Express and Fletes Chavales locations across Panama.

Dirección

Sortova
La Concepción

Teléfono

+50765214464

Página web

http://lynbishop.com/chocolate-club

Notificaciones

Sé el primero en enterarse y déjanos enviarle un correo electrónico cuando Quetzal Cacao publique noticias y promociones. Su dirección de correo electrónico no se utilizará para ningún otro fin, y puede darse de baja en cualquier momento.