Ecuador is the country where the Theobroma Cacao plant was domesticated. New scientific evidence shows that cacao was first cultivated as a foodstuff more than 5000 years ago in the Amazon rainforest. The typical Ecuadorian genetic variety is Nacional, which is regarded as a highly prized cacao due to its organoleptic properties. It is also called Arriba Nacional.The story goes that in the latter half of the 18th century and in the early 19th century producers and lovers of good chocolate arrived from Europe to buy cacao. Proceeding to the port of Guayaquil they asked the locals where they could find this noble, much-prized cacao. The answer they received was “arriba… río arriba”, which means “up the river”, the Guayas river, whose estuary forms the zone of Guayaquil Port – the most important river port of Ecuador.