Types of cocoa beans

The traditional varieties of Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario, while still used in marketing materials, are no longer considered to have a botanical basis.

Use of these terms has changed across different contexts and times, and recent genetic research has found that the categories of Forastero and Triniario are better understood as geohistorical inventions rather than as having a botanical basis.

The Spanish called cocoa trees planted in Venezuela Criollo; but they actually came from neighboring Mexico and Guatemala.

After European colonialization, population decline and disease led to the Spanish and Portuguese replacing cacao crops with new varieties found in South America.

They were named after the Caribbean island of Trinidad, where in 1724 the first hybrid of Venezuelan Criollo and Amelonado is understood to have been created.

[2] Researchers in 2008 identified ten genetic clusters of Theobroma cacao, with 36 sub-clusters containing at least five specimens.

These new types were Amelonado, Contamana, Criollo, Curaray, Guiana, Iquitos, Marañon, Nacional, Nanay, and Purús.