Marie & Frères cacao come exclusively from the Mata Atlântica, designated a World Biosphere Reserve, which contains a large number of highly endangered species. 

Can Chocolate Help Save the Rainforest?

Only 7 percent of the Mata Atlantica remains, and destruction is still going on. Every time a tree is burned, its stored carbon is released. As more carbon is released into the air, the planet gets warmer.  How cacao is grown affects not only the taste, but the rainforest.

Cabruca

We grow cocoa using a method called cabruca — planting the mid-height cacao trees underneath the tall rainforest trees.

While we have fewer cacao trees to the acre by planting inside the forest. But we avoids the drawbacks other farmers struggle with when they grow cacao trees on more open land.  You have more production, but you have lots of problems with more disease and more insects.

For more on the Mata Atlantica and how chocolate can help save the planet see NPR's report.