Olam International on January 19 launched Twenty Degrees, a specialty cacao business that sources cacao beans from 10 regions that have distinctive flavors and sensory profiles. Olam Cocoa, part of the Olam Food Ingredients segment of Singapore-based Olam International, will back Twenty Degrees.

Twenty Degrees will allow farmers to bring single-origin cacao beans to market that either are too specialist or too remote to be sold to mainstream manufacturers, according to the company. The business was named Twenty Degrees because it refers to the cacao belt that ranges from 20 degrees north and south of the equator. The regions range from the highland Simbu region of Papua New Guinea to the indigenous Eperara community in the coastal rainforest of Ecuador.

“We’re on a mission to change the way we think about premium cacao,” says Leopold Palmer, business head of Twenty Degrees. “We’re exploring new territories and discovering fresh territories in established growing regions, uncovering unique cacao beans farmed to the highest quality with the greatest possible positive impact, and we’re doing this in a way that is transparent, traceable and delivers quality, consistency and taste to meet the needs of craft chocolate makers.”

The Twenty Degrees range of premium cacao beans is available now in the United States and Europe.