Cacao Sampaka

Founded: 2000
Home: Barcelona, Spain
Chocolate Focus: Origin and flavour exploration
Bean-to-Bar Collection: Cacaos de Leyenda
Known for: Origin chocolates, creative flavours and Spanish influences
Locations: Spain and Japan
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A Spanish Chocolate House Built Around Cacao

Founded in Barcelona in 2000, Cacao Sampaka was created around a simple idea: put cacao at the centre of the chocolate experience.

More than two decades later, that philosophy remains visible across the company’s chocolates. Cacao Sampaka works with carefully selected cacao origins while exploring how chocolate can interact with fruit, nuts, spices, herbs and ingredients associated with Spanish food culture.

Its range extends from single-origin chocolate and bean-to-bar creations to bombons, drinking chocolate, pralines and highly inventive flavoured bars.

Exploring Cacao Through Origin

Origin plays an important role in the Cacao Sampaka approach.

The company selects cacao according to the sensory characteristics of individual origins, looking at how different beans can contribute distinct aromas and flavours. Its chocolate collections have explored cacao from countries including Madagascar, Venezuela, Ecuador, Tanzania, São Tomé and Mexico.

That focus allows chocolate to become a way of comparing places rather than simply percentages.

Its Grandes Orígenes collection, for example, has showcased different cacao-growing regions side by side, encouraging tasters to consider how geography and cacao variety influence the finished chocolate.

Cacaos de Leyenda Goes Bean to Bar

Cacao Sampaka takes its exploration of origin further with Cacaos de Leyenda, its bean-to-bar collection. The range uses selected single-origin cacao and adjusts roasting according to each origin. The company describes relatively gentle, precise roasting and shorter refining as ways to retain the aromatic character of the cacao.

Cacaos represented in the collection include Frida, Xoconusco, Copán and Haute-Sanaga.

Rather than treating bean-to-bar simply as a production label, Cacao Sampaka uses the collection as a tasting exercise. Different origins can be sampled together, allowing their individual aromas and flavour profiles to become part of the experience.

From Spanish Ingredients to Unexpected Flavours

Cacao Sampaka is equally interested in what happens when chocolate meets other ingredients. Its current collection includes bars flavoured with Flor de Sal de Ibiza, strawberries and roses, Egyptian fennel, Jamaican pepper, matcha, cappuccino and gin and tonic.

Some combinations draw directly on Spanish and Mediterranean food culture, while others look farther afield. That willingness to experiment gives Cacao Sampaka a different personality from makers focused almost exclusively on pure dark chocolate. Origin matters, but so does the creative potential of chocolate as an ingredient.

Where Chocolate Meets Art and Culture

Design and culture have also become part of the Cacao Sampaka identity. Its Arte y Cultura collection connects chocolate with two of Spain’s most recognisable architectural traditions: the work of Antoni Gaudí and the Alhambra. Chocolate bars and other products use visual design inspired by these cultural landmarks.

The idea reflects the company’s broader view that chocolate can engage more than taste alone. Packaging, architecture, flavour and presentation can work together to turn chocolate into a cultural and sensory experience.

Experiencing Cacao Sampaka in Spain

Cacao Sampaka currently operates shops in Barcelona and Madrid, as well as locations in Japan. Its Spanish boutiques provide access to the wider collection, while the company also offers guided chocolate tastings designed to explore cacao and chocolate more deeply.

For visitors to Barcelona, that provides another way to encounter the company beyond simply buying a chocolate bar. More than 20 years after its creation, Cacao Sampaka continues to occupy an interesting space between chocolate maker, chocolatier and creative food brand.

Its strongest identity comes from that combination: respect for cacao origin alongside a willingness to experiment with what chocolate can become.