»Direct Trade« is a self-developed quality seal and stands for the direct sourcing of fine flavour cocoa that is produced sustainably and fairly. Rausch relies on the most direct way to produce sustainable and fair chocolate. This means deliberately avoiding middlemen and working closely, personally and long-term with the cocoa farmers. Chocolate of the highest quality and a genuine commitment to sustainability and fairness.

The standards and guidelines for our fine cocoa chocolates far exceed existing seals and certificates. In order to live up to our claim - to act fairly and sustainably - we deliberately refrain from using seals such as »Fairtrade« or »Bio Seal«. These seals are not quality indicators, but merely document compliance with defined standards. Each seal has a different focus when dealing with sustainably and fairly grown food, which limits comparability. No seal reflects our comprehensive understanding of growing conditions, the processing of raw materials and product quality. We have therefore introduced our own seal with clearly defined quality criteria. The seal ensures our commitment to quality and sustainability and enables a direct comparison with existing certifications.

The path of a raw material is often non-transparent and untraceable via many traders, stopovers and warehouses. Rausch has changed this. From the cocoa plant on the fine flavour cocoa plantations to direct sale, the entire value chain is tracked. This ensures and optimizes quality, reduces the number of intermediate stops and resources to a minimum and guarantees transparency along the entire value chain. The value creation process of our Rausch Plantagen Costa Rica 84 % Cuvée Prestige serves as an illustrative example.

Our high quality standards and the quality criteria of Direct Trade are consistently implemented. For over 10 years, Dr. Christina Rohsius and Dr. Elsa Hegmann have regularly traveled to the countries of origin to visit our long-standing partners. They are always on the lookout for new origins with special varieties of fine flavour cocoa. Dr. Rohsius receives the deliveries of fine flavour cocoa beans in Hamburg and checks their quality directly on site.

Since the late 1990s, we have been sourcing our fine flavour cocoa directly from plantations in the regions of origin around the equator. The Rausch cocoa experts have long-standing relationships with the local cocoa farmers. At our fine flavour cocoa plantation 'Tres Equis - Finca de Cacao' in Costa Rica, they research new fine flavour cocoa varieties at the Fine Flavour Cocoa Institute, intensify the exchange and transfer of knowledge with partners and search for new partner plantations. Our partner plantations are selected in four phases:

Phase 1: Search
Phase 2: Suitability
Phase 3: Establishment
Phase 4: Evaluation

After a successful suitability test of the partner plantation, the direct trade criteria are established together with the cooperation partners in order to improve the productivity of the cocoa plantation under sustainable conditions and to optimize quality. Both partners pursue the same goal: long-term cooperation. Training, testing and optimization are just as important as the active involvement of the cooperation partners in all previous steps. Our direct partners to date come from Grenada, Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Trinidad.