Ambur’s latest chocolate brand Cavasa retails dragees, bars, and ganaches

Ambur — a town in Tirupathur district of Vellore region in Tamil Nadu — might find itself on India’s food map for its biriyani, but Harshaa Jain is trying to polularise it for something else: artisanal chocolate. Cavasa, a brand she launched in March 2023, offers dragees, bars, fruit barks, ganaches, and more.

Ambur — a town in Tirupathur district of Vellore region in Tamil Nadu — might find itself on India’s food map for its biriyani, but Harshaa Jain is trying to polularise it for something else: artisanal chocolate. Cavasa, a brand she launched in March 2023, offers dragees, bars, fruit barks, ganaches, and more.

A graduate from Mumbai’s School of European Pastry, Harshaa talks about how she moved to Ambur in 2022 after getting married. “During lockdown, my family nudged me to make treats for them! I remember making dragees with limited ingredients and they became a big hit,” she says, adding that the pandemic-induced pastime transformed into a serious entrepreneurial endeavour. “Recognising the limited market for premium pastries in the region, I pivoted to the world of chocolate. Ironically, despite my initial aversion to the messy nature of chocolate during pastry training, I’ve found a deep passion for crafting these indulgent treats,” says Harshaa, 26.

The name Cavasa holds several meanings, she says. “It’s ‘Cava’, the Spanish word for euphoria, and dancing, merged with ‘Vasa-Vyasa’, the source of knowledge. Cavasa means ‘food that comes from a wealth of knowledge’.” 

While Harshaa launched Cavasa with flavours such as chilli and sea, rose and hazelnut, and masala chai, her more-recent offerings include Barks in a Box (assortment of chocolate barks), orange ganache, and the Oh so Dark 90% dark chocolate ganache that is surprisingly light on the palate sans the bitterness one would expect. “This was the toughest flavour to crack,” says Harshaa, “We had to get a fine balance between the darkness of the chocolate and the taste that appeals to dark chocolate lovers. After much trial and error spanning four months, we finally have something that we are proud of.”

The chocolate that goes into these products comes from Europe, West Africa, and India. “We source the darker flavours of 90% dark chocolate from Karnataka and Kerala. The mild dark chocolate comes from Ghana which primarily goes into our dragees and classic ganache. The milk and white chocolate come from Belgium.”

Given the global cocoa shortage and with prices quadrupling almost overnight , how did Harshaa ensure that her brand stayed afloat? “Our team jokingly refers to cocoa powder and butter as gold dust,” she laughs. “Since lowering standards or switching to low quality ingredients was not an option, a price adjustment of five-seven percent became necessary to offset the increased costs,” explains Harshaa. This unexpected situation led to a creative pivot, resulting in the introduction of “white chocolate and fruity flavours, such as pistachio and passion fruit and chilli cranberry, that expanded our product range beyond traditional cocoa-based offerings,” concludes Harshaa, who is now working on bon bons that she plans to launch in time for the Deepavali gifting season. 

Upwards of ₹315 on cavasa.in