Until now, there was no universal word to clearly describe the key activity of “cocoa bean transformer”, someone who creates chocolate from the cocoa bean itself and not from pre-formed cocoa masses. Currently the phrase “bean to bar maker” is often used but is not technically exact or internationally recognised. Once again, Michel Cluizel, a forerunner in the fine chocolate industry, has created and introduced a neologism “Cacaofevier” to define this rare but immensely important process.

Cacaofevier, meaning “transformer of cocoa beans into chocolate” has been put forward by Michel Cluizel and his son Pierre to the international chocolate industry as a recognised term for this specific role, to create uniformity, clarity and traceability. Cacaofevier is a combination of two words “cacao” and “feves” (“beans”). Due to the difficulty of translating the word into different languages Pierre Cluizel suggested that this French word should be adopted internationally, as is the case for the word “chocolatier”. As France, and in particular Michel Cluizel has played a decisive role in the field of fine chocolate for many years it seems appropriate for this new word to be French. Chocolate Trading Company fully supports this clarity and will adopt this defined term.

Until now the term “chocolatier” has been used as a loose term to describe anyone who creates finished chocolates, regardless of whether this involves the highly skilled and rare processes of cocoa bean selection, roasting, and grinding of cocoa beans or simply transforming a pre-formed cocoa mass by another.