Islands x Tate 70% Flakes - Driving Equality in Chocolate
September 2026 marks 15 years of Coffee by Tate and 10 years of its Gender Equality Project. We were honoured to be part of this celebration, collaborating with the team to launch an exclusive hot chocolate created especially for the occasion which incorporates a donation scheme to fund training for females in the cocoa industry.
A Special Connection in Specialty Coffee
Since 2022, our hot chocolates have been an integral part of the Coffee by Tate menu, with our Chocolate Buttons and Hot Chocolate Powders served across its 10 cafés at the iconic Tate gallery London locations. To celebrate this milestone, we've taken that partnership a step further, working with the Coffee by Tate team to develop a bespoke hot chocolate product.
A Spotlight on Semilla
The 70% Dark Hot Chocolate Flakes are crafted using Nicaraguan cocoa sourced through Semilla Escuela Cacao, a female-led cocoa school founded and run by Maria Jose Tejero, mother of our own Cocoa Sourcing Specialist, Jonas.
Semilla Escuela Cacao's mission is to educate cocoa producers and cooperatives in quality assessment and cocoa processing. The organisation establishes chocolate-making laboratories, delivers training programmes, and maintains long-term relationships with cooperatives across Nicaragua and Central America. Semilla Escuela maintains, and supports quality assessment laboratories across Nicaragua, while also providing training and technical support to cooperatives in Costa Rica, Panama, and Honduras. This support covers agronomy, post-harvest practices, quality assessment, and micro-batch chocolate manufacturing.
Discovering Nicaraguan Cocoa
In 2025, Semilla Escuela Cacao connected Jonas with a close partner of the school, Cacao Bisiesto. Cocoa from this fementary was selected for the 70% Dark Hot Chocolate Flakes based on their expertise on local Nicaraguan genetics and post harvest practices. Using this exceptional cocoa, we've crafted a hot chocolate with deep chocolate notes, gentle bitterness, rich dried fruit character, and a warming spice finish.
This exclusive hot chocolate will be served in Tate gallery cafés from Monday September 14th throughout the festive period, with a limited-edition 250g retail bag available to purchase at Tate retail locations and online.
Tastes Good, Does Good.
To support the amazing work that Coffee By Tate have committed to with their Gender Equality Project, we wanted this product to help drive gender equality in chocolate, too. As such, a proportion of the proceeds from the sale of our 70% Dark Flakes has been allocated back to Semilla Escuela Cacao.
With this initial run, we are able to provide a full scholarship for one trainee and the purchase of essential equipment for the training lab. We are hoping as the project gathers momentum, we will be able to support further trainees through essential cocoa and chocolate training.
Now pouring in Tate Modern and Tate Britain cafes. Grab yourself a bag of our exclusive 70% Hot Chocolate Flakes in Tate café shops now.
