Kasama Chocolate

Connecting Vancouver with Philippine Cacao

2-1244 Cartwright Street, Vancouver, BC
hello@kasamachocolate.com
236-455-2490

In Vancouver, Kasama Chocolate is demonstrating how a small Canadian chocolate maker can connect local creativity with cacao-growing communities thousands of kilometres away. Founded by a group of friends with backgrounds spanning food, design and entrepreneurship, Kasama has developed a distinctive approach to bean-to-bar chocolate built around collaboration, origin and experimentation.

The company’s name reflects that philosophy. Kasama is a Filipino word that can mean companion, partner or someone who is together with others. It is an appropriate name for a business whose story began with cacao from the Philippines and has grown through relationships with farmers, producers and the community surrounding its Vancouver workshop.

From Philippine Cacao to Vancouver Chocolate

Kasama’s origins can be traced to cacao grown on a family property in the Philippines. What began as an experiment with those beans eventually encouraged the founders to learn the complete chocolate-making process.

Rather than starting with finished couverture, Kasama became a bean-to-bar maker, transforming cacao through the many stages required to create finished chocolate. The company officially launched in Vancouver in 2015 and has since worked with cacao from the Philippines as well as other origins around the world.

That connection to Philippine cacao remains an important part of Kasama’s identity. It also places the company within a growing movement drawing greater international attention to the quality and flavour potential of cacao grown in the Philippines.

Chocolate Built Around Collaboration

Kasama’s philosophy extends beyond cacao origin.

The company frequently works with Canadian farmers, chefs, breweries, distilleries and other food producers, using chocolate as a way to explore ingredients and unexpected flavour combinations. Its collection has included bars incorporating ingredients ranging from coffee and fruit to locally produced spirits and other regional flavours.

This collaborative approach gives Kasama a particularly Vancouver character. While cacao itself must come from tropical growing regions, many of the ingredients surrounding it can tell a much more local story.

It also allows the company to move beyond the traditional distinction between plain origin bars and flavoured chocolate. Both can become ways of exploring where ingredients come from and the people who produce them.

Recognition for Canadian Craft Chocolate

Kasama’s work has attracted attention within international craft chocolate competitions.

Its chocolates have received recognition from organizations including the International Chocolate Awards and the Academy of Chocolate, placing the Vancouver maker among a growing number of Canadian companies gaining attention beyond the country’s borders.

Awards are only part of the story, however. Kasama’s broader significance comes from its willingness to experiment while maintaining control over chocolate production from the cacao bean onward.

That balance allows the maker to produce straightforward origin chocolate alongside more adventurous creations without losing sight of the cacao itself.

A Canadian Chocolate Story with Filipino Roots

Kasama represents an increasingly diverse definition of what Canadian chocolate can mean.

Cacao cannot be commercially grown in Canada’s climate, so every Canadian bean-to-bar maker begins with an international relationship. Kasama makes that reality part of its identity rather than hiding it. Its Philippine roots, Vancouver production and collaborations with Canadian producers all contribute to the finished chocolate.

The result is chocolate that can simultaneously speak to cacao origin, cultural heritage and contemporary Canadian food culture.

By connecting Philippine cacao with Vancouver craftsmanship and a collaborative approach to flavour, Kasama Chocolate is helping broaden Canada’s bean-to-bar identity while demonstrating how chocolate can connect people, places and cultures.