This article is part of our Supplier Stories series, where we share the people and stories behind the products in our gift boxes.
There are chocolate makers, and then there is Bronwyn O’Hara. In the coastal village of Ōākura, Taranaki, Bronwyn makes stone-ground, bean-to-bar chocolate by hand in micro batches, using cacao she sources directly from farming communities in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Most steps of the process, from bean to finished bar, happen under her own roof. The result is a bar you can trace all the way back to the growing community it came from.
Starting With the Bean
The name MALVA comes from Malvaceae, the botanical family that includes Theobroma cacao, the cacao tree. It is a name that tells you what this business is about. The plant itself, and an honest relationship with it.
Bronwyn sources her cacao directly from villages in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, through a supply chain she keeps deliberately simple and transparent. She works with The Cacao Ambassador to make sure the communities growing the beans are well supported, and that the journey from harvest to her stone grinder in Ōākura is as short and as fair as it can be.
Once the beautifully prepared nibs arrive, Bronwyn grinds them on a stone grinder for several days with organic raw cane sugar and a little cacao butter. No colourants, no emulsifiers, no fillers, preservatives or stabilisers. Gluten, soy and palm oil free. Everything is packed in home compostable, plastic-free materials made and printed here in Aotearoa.
Chocolate as It Was Meant to Be Eaten
Bronwyn described tasting her chocolate in a Stuff interview with the certainty of someone who has thought about it far more than most.
You take a little bite and you just leave it to melt in your mouth.
The Stone Ground Full Bean Organic Chocolate 70% cacao, which we stock in our Taranaki gift box, is smooth, floral, fruity and lively. Organic cacao from the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, organic cacao butter, organic raw cane sugar. Nothing else.
Her Honey Caramels, made with local bush honey, fresh cream, pure butter and the same stone-ground dark chocolate, won a Gold Medal at the New Zealand Chocolate Awards in 2022. Bronwyn also runs small cacao and chocolate workshops from her Ōākura home for groups of four to six people, sharing the history of cacao, the story of the Pacific farming communities behind it, and the full bean chocolate-making process in person.
A Village-Focused Business
What makes MALVA distinctive is the reason behind the method. Bronwyn has built her business around the idea that the most powerful way to support cacao-growing communities in the Pacific is to buy from the most transparent source possible. Every bar carries that intent.
Her packaging is home compostable and plastic-free. She delivers by bike within Ōākura. She makes in micro batches to keep the chocolate fresh and the waste low. These are the shape of a business designed with the whole picture in mind.
Taranaki, In Every Box
Region Taranaki
Location Ōākura, coastal Taranaki
Product we stock Stone Ground Full Bean Organic Chocolate 70% cacao (Bean to Bar)
Find it in Tasty Taranaki Gift Box
Every We Love Local gift box also includes a 1% donation through the One Percent Collective, which supports charities across Aotearoa.
You will find MALVA Chocolate’s Bean to Bar in our Tasty Taranaki Gift Box, together with fellow Taranaki makers Treasured Morning and MK Spice. If you are looking for a corporate gift with real craft and a story worth telling, this is the kind of chocolate that earns its place in the box.
