Our Story

Thailand
in chocolate.

We make bean-to-bar chocolate in Chiang Mai with cacao from Thailand. Our flavors take their cue from the country’s fruits, teas, coffees and food traditions, giving you a different way to taste Thailand.

Cofounders Neil Ransom and Kristian Levinsen
Cofounders Neil Ransom and Kristian Levinsen
The beginning

Inspired by Thailand.

Neil, who has a PhD in environmental science and policy, was teaching and learning about Thai coffee and cacao before Siamaya began. Discovering craft chocolate while traveling outside Thailand gave him the idea to make it here.

Neil started Siamaya with Kris in Chiang Mai in 2017, developing the first flavors, designing packaging and even building some of our first equipment! Our chocolates have continued to evolve. Today, our product team develops new flavors, with ideas coming from across Siamaya.

Early chocolate flavor experiments in molds, with handwritten labels.
Early flavor experiments.
P’Aoy and Darin, two of Siamaya’s early employees.
P’Aoy and Darin, two of our early employees. P’Aoy is still at Siamaya today.

A changing look.

The full Siamaya market stall, with bars, product displays and earlier packaging
Market days. From the Siamaya archive.
Earlier Siamaya botanical wrappers with cacao illustrations and colored flavor bands
Early wrappers with botanical illustrations.
Four Siamaya bars in vivid color-block wrappers
A bolder palette.
Illustrated Siamaya wrappers beside chocolate samples and tasting notes.
Previous-generation wrappers, with illustrations by Marco Baccioli.
Direct trade

From local farms to our factory.

We buy cacao directly from farmers and cooperatives across Thailand. We’re selective about the beans we use, and always looking for growers whose cacao meets our high standards.

We assess beans on their size, flavor and fermentation quality, and give each grower feedback. If the beans make our shortlist, we turn them into chocolate and share it with the farmer, discussing how we can work together.

Our largest supplier, Khun Pathom, leads Cocoa Nakorn Lampang, a social enterprise working with growers across northern Thailand. He grows cacao and buys pods from other farmers, fermenting and drying the beans in Lampang.

Then it’s our turn. At our Chiang Mai factory, we carry out every stage of chocolate making ourselves, from roasting the beans to molding the finished bars.

Neil and Pathom beside sacks of cacao at the supplier’s facility
Neil with Khun Pathom in Lampang.
Pathom showing Neil the cacao drying beds in Lampang
Khun Pathom showing Neil the drying beds.
Choosing our ingredients

Our chocolate is only as good as our ingredients.

Our product team is constantly testing ingredients and comparing suppliers, choosing for flavor, texture and how each ingredient works with our chocolate.

That care goes into the details, from crispy banana pieces and candied tomatoes to local arabica coffee beans.

TikTok screen capture of a Siamaya team member saying I'm ready behind four tasting bowls, with the original TikTok side controls visible.
Staff training by tasting chocolate.

Tasting is part of the job.

We all love chocolate, and we make sure everyone at Siamaya gets to know our flavors. There’s plenty of tasting involved, and we like to have fun with it. After all, it’s chocolate.

Illustration of a smiling chocolate maker folding crispy noodles and fried shallots into chocolate, with ingredient tubs on the workbench.
Mixing our khao soi chocolate.

Making every ingredient count.

We take just as much care when we blend those ingredients into our chocolate, so their flavors and textures come through in the finished bar.

Find your favorite flavor online,
or visit our shops in Chiang Mai and Bangkok.

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