Our Story
One hundred years
of patience.
The story of Maison Cacao is the story of a question, asked by four generations of chocolatiers, in the same Parisian courtyard.
Chapter I · 1924
A courtyard, a copper kettle, a vow.
Henri Caillot was twenty-six the winter he opened the Maison's iron-grey doors. Paris was rebuilding itself, and confectioners on every corner were chasing spectacle: brittle sugar work, gilded boxes, dyes the colour of opera curtains.
Henri did the opposite. He stripped his bench to a single copper kettle, two spatulas, and a notebook of origins. He vowed never to add what cacao did not ask for. A hundred years later, that notebook still sits beside our conches.
"Cacao asks for nothing but time. Our work is to give it,
honestly, and step out of the way."
— Camille Caillot, Maître Chocolatier
Chapter II · The Origins
Three valleys, one library of flavour.
Our cacao comes from three places, and only three. Manabí, in coastal Ecuador, for the cocoa nibs that taste of yellow fruit and white flowers. The Sambirano valley in Madagascar, for the bright acidity that makes a tablet sing. The Ashanti highlands of Ghana, for the deep, almost amber sweetness of our truffles.
We work directly with the same families and cooperatives we have known for decades. No middlemen, no anonymous lots, no shortcuts. The names of our growers are on every wrapper.
Chapter III · The Atelier
Slow conches, steady hands.
In an age of speed, we conch for seventy-two hours. Our copper kettles are the same shape Henri ordered in 1952. Tempering is done by hand, every truffle rolled by a single chocolatier from start to finish.
We make small batches because we do not know another way. A bar of Maison Cacao has been touched by no more than four pairs of hands.
Milestones
A century, in moments
1924
A house is founded
Henri Caillot opens a small confiserie in a Faubourg Saint-Honoré courtyard.
1952
Bean-to-bar
The Maison installs its first copper conches and begins roasting beans on premises.
1978
Origin journeys
First direct partnership with cacao growers in the Ecuadorian Manabí province.
1996
Madagascar
Sambirano valley estates join the family of single-origin partners.
2014
Ghana
Long-term agreements signed with cooperatives in the Ashanti region.
Today
Fourth generation
Maître chocolatier Camille Caillot leads the atelier into its second century.