A special kind of magic happens when generational knowledge meets hard work. And the moment you walk onto Finca Las Delias to meet Alma Hema, you feel it.
Nestled deep in the lush landscape of Comalcalco, Tabasco, at Finca Las Delias Alma is embracing her heritage as a fifth generation cocoa farmer, head on.
Visiting her farm, we got a glimpse of just how much knowledge it takes to cultivate cocoa. From grafting and diversifying cocoa varieties to hand harvesting pods and fermenting beans to perfection.
And if Alma stands for one thing? It’s strong customer relationships based on consistent quality cocoa.
From City Life to Cocoa Fields
If you’d met Alma five years ago, you’d have found her working as an architect. Today, she’s guiding a team through a forest of cocoa trees, planting heritage, and shaping the future of sustainable farming. She’s one of few young farmers choosing to return to the land when so many have left for the city. What changed? A moment of clarity during the pandemic.
Working at a construction site, searching her phone to show a client an image, she stumbled across another photo. She saw a lush scene of vibrant nature and faces full of joy. It was her family at their cocoa farm.
“Why am I surrounded by concrete, stress, and contamination when I could be surrounded by fresh air and rainforest?” she recalls asking herself.
So, she came home — to embrace her roots.
At first, she admits, some of the processes were tough to master. She could hardly tell what a properly fermented cocoa bean looked like (could any of us?). But with grit and a lot of trial and error, Alma embraced the craft.
“It makes sense to come back, take advantage of the heritage that I already have and make the most of it,” she told us while cracking cocoa pods post-harvest. “So I’m trying, I’m trying. We’re still not where we wanna be, but yeah, we’re working on it.”
The Magic of Criollo Almendra Blanca
At Finca Las Delias, Alma tends to a jewel in the cocoa crown: the Criollo Almendra Blanca. This delicate, rare variety is cherished by chocolate makers for its rich flavour and high cocoa butter content, needing less processing. “It’s like a white almond,” Alma tells us, while exposing the pale flesh within a freshly cracked pod.
But quality doesn’t happen by accident. It’s born from precision, patience, and passion — especially during fermentation. Alma now knows the process like a master. “It’s not just cutting the beans,” she says, “you have to watch the colour, the smell.” That’s where the character shines.
Growing with Nature, Not Against It
Walk with Alma, and you quickly notice: Finca Las Delias isn’t a monoculture. It’s a thriving, breathing ecosystem. Plantains shade the cacao trees. Banana leaves protect fermenting beans. Ground creepers hold moisture, lock nitrogen and build soil health.
And then there’s grafting — the farmer’s secret sauce. By grafting new trees onto old rootstock, Alma can transform a cacao tree from a slow-growing giant (8 years until first harvest) into a productive powerhouse in just three years. It’s an age-old technique that makes a cocoa farm more resilient.
Honouring Heritage, Building Trust
But this farm isn’t just about growing cacao. It’s about growing trust.
“Actually, there’s a misconception that chocolate is bad for you because it gives you pimples or it gets you fat, but that’s the commercial chocolate. Actually the cacao is a superfood, super healthy,” Alma tells us.
“I think we’re really used to the commercial smells and sugar, so we have to relearn how to taste things… Most of the time people are not used to the smells of cacao beans just fermented and dried.”
That’s why Alma works closely with chocolate makers. To deepen their understanding of authentic cocoa, while making sure every batch of beans delivers the quality she promises. Even when cocoa prices rise, she doesn’t raise hers arbitrarily. The relationships she builds matter more.
What We Took Home From Finca Las Delias
At The Cocoa Circle, we left Alma’s farm feeling inspired, hopeful, and deeply connected to the heart of cocoa. Here’s what we learned:
- Variety is resilience: Alma plants a diverse mix of cacao trees to protect against disease and pests.
- Nature is a teacher: From banana leaves to shade trees, biodiversity makes farms healthier and stronger.
- Trust is everything: Long-term relationships with chocolate makers matter more than short-term gains.
- Quality takes time: True craftsmanship is in the details — in every seed, every bean, every bite.
Today, Finca Las Delias is more than a farm. It’s a beacon for sustainable cocoa farming — a symbol of heritage embraced, knowledge earned, and passion poured into every pod.
Alma returned to the land when so many left. And thanks to her, this piece of the Tabasco rainforest will continue to thrive, reminding us all why cocoa isn’t just an ingredient… It’s a story.
Rooted in Stories. Growing with Purpose.
Watch Alma’s story and join us in supporting farms like Finca Cacayo that nurture the land, educate communities, and preserve the vital balance of nature.
Watch Alma’s story — live now in Episode 3.
