THE COCO CARAVAN TEAM
Patricia Brien and Jacques Cöp
Jacques Cöp & Patricia Brien
Coco Caravan is Jacques' business, he set it up and his passion has moved it along for the past 13 years. After working as an ecologist for 10 years, he decided to be his own boss and make something that would make people happy. Before working as ecologist he worked in various places and guises, including marketing consultant, salesperson, freelance photographer and as a cook in various kitchens in Amsterdam.
Patricia is Creative Director and has been working with Jacques since the beginning. She proudly designed the Mandala and deals mainly with the aesthetic of the brand as well as the curatorial direction at the Chocolate House. Her background is in curating, research and writing as well as many years of teaching at universities in NL, Australia and the UK.
Pete Smith - Graphic Design
Never one to panic, we've been most blessed to have Pete Smith working with the team for several years now. He is a professional graphic designer who's day job is teaching new generations of university students the beauty of Graphic Communication. His knowledge is outstanding and we would highly recommend his speedy skillset and relaxed personality.
COCO CARAVAN’S INSPIRATION
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Coco Caravan works only with the best cacao beans there are to find, combined with coconut sugar. The blend of pure cacao and the gentle sweetness of the coconut flower gives our chocolate its smooth melt and clean, vibrant taste in every bean-to-bar creation.
We keep our processes simple and natural, leaving out any additives or preservatives. All of our chocolate is completely vegan, dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, and free from soy additives or emulsifiers.
Our chocolate is more than delicious – it’s regenerative. From the way the cacao is grown to the way we use every part of the bean, we work in a soil-to-soil cycle that gives back more than it takes. Our cacao is sourced from biodynamic, organic, or traditional farming systems that care for the land and nurture its future. Even the husks of the beans are reused in teas and shared with other producers, ensuring nothing goes to waste.
This pure chocolate is hand-crafted in Stroud, UK, by a small team working with passion to create a wide range of vegan chocolate delights – from fruits dipped in chocolate and hazelnut treats to our specialty bean-to-bar chocolate made directly from the cacao bean.
Regeneration is at the heart of everything we do. We choose our cacao with three principles in mind: environmental impact, social impact, and quality (Planet, People, Profit). By working with indigenous communities and smallholder farmers, we support their independence, financial security, and cultural traditions, ensuring chocolate can be a force for good – for the soil, the farmers, and the communities around them.
Our Passion
Our chocolate making was born from a moment of clarity. We started as Chocolates by Jacques in Australia and moved to Cardiff, Wales in 2013, where we started Coco Caravan. After two successful years in Cardiff we decided to move to the heart of the Cotswolds in Stroud. Our approach to life and our products is focused around care for a healthy environment, anthroposophical education and holistic wellbeing. Waldorf Steiner education is very much inline with this approach and our children would have access to that education here in Stroud.
Our passion for the environment, real and raw foods and our deep belief of fair treatment of humans and the more-than-human world are at the base of our chocolate.
Today's chocolate has become so far removed from the real thing that we wanted to make something the way it is meant to be: Raw and Pure.
A taste sensation wrapped in a chocolate bar, enjoy...
All Vegan
Ancient rainforest cacao varieties
Soy lecithin free
From organic or small scale farming
Fair trade or Direct trade ( Cacao and Coconut Blossom Nectar)
All handmade and wrapped plastic free
No short cuts
100% Handcrafted
We are very passionate about what we do, and by making and packaging everything by hand we keep our focus, our control and our devotion for bringing you the best possible vegan chocolate.
Vegan Chocolate
Chocolate can be very simple; ground Cacao beans and a sweetener. Nothing more, nothing less. Yes, we like to add flavours and textures and the natural world is full of wonderful plant-based ingredients which we love to work with.
Organically Certified
We believe in a fairer, cleaner and healthier world. Organic farming practices are inline with these ideals.
All our Cacao and Coconut Blossom Nectar is certified organic.
We are already sourcing our raw materials from Organic Suppliers and are now Certified Organic by the Biodynamic Association (GB-ORG-06) which is Stroud-based. You can download a copy of our Certificate and Trading Schedule here.
We now also offer a range of Bio dynamic products. More information can be found on the Bio Dynamic Association website.