PROFESSIONAL AWARDS
You already know that our chocolates can boast a total of 106 international awards, but we’d like to introduce to you these competitions in more detail. If you are curious about the specific awards, medals and products, click here! You can also find their merits in the description of each product in the webshop!
Great Taste Awards
The Great Taste Awards competition (founded in 1994, London) is the world's largest and strictest food tasting competition, where applicants can enter in different product categories.
The jury consists of the world's (perhaps) strictest team of 400 people, chefs from Michelin-starred restaurants, recognized gastronomy experts, retailers and buyer directors of famous department stores (Harrods, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Whole Food Markets) and renowned food critics, who make their choice based on blind tests. The competition is all about taste, not clever marketing or eye-catching packaging: the judges taste the products without packaging or any other information.
Many of our products have already won in this competition, but we are most proud of the fact that our Piedmont hazelnut dragée covered with hazelnut milk chocolate and ground Ethiopian Harrar coffee not only won in the chocolate category in 2017, but was also selected as one of the 50 best foods in the world.
International Chocolate Awards
The independent and prestigious International Chocolate Awards can be compared in its importance to the Michelin Guide, in its character to the Bocuse d'Or competition. The winners and medalists of the regional competitions (Eastern Europe, Belgium, Scandinavia, Italy, Canada, USA, etc.) can qualify for a combined, grand final (World Final), which takes place in a different city every year.
The jury of the London final includes the most renowned foreign chocolate experts, gastronomy experts, sommeliers and chefs from (among others) Seventy% (UK), Manhattan Chocolate Society (US), Master of Wine (UK), "The New Taste of Chocolate” (US), Ecole Chocolat Professional School of Chocolate Arts (US), “The Well-Tempered Chocolatier” (Canada). The chairman of the jury and the founder is Martin Christy, editor of the Seventy% chocolate tasting portal, who is one of the world's greatest chocolate experts today.
The International Chocolate Awards are close to our hearts, because at the 2019 competition – in addition to the medals – chocoMe, or rather Gábor, also received a huge compliment from Monica Meschini, the main organizer of the competition. This was the year when the famous Italian chocolatier gave him the nickname: "dragée magician".
Several of our products have received awards here, however, if we had to single out just one special chocolate, it would be the Sicilian almond coated with salty blond chocolate, which, with its golden medal, officially became the world's best seeded, white chocolate dragee.
Academy of Chocolate Awards
The Academy of Chocolate (founded in 2005, London) aims to promote high-quality chocolate consumption, high quality chocolate products, the best cocoa bean areas, and "fair trade" trading principles. Its members, the world's most renowned chocolate makers and gastronomy experts, organize the Academy of Chocolate Awards every year, where the world's best chocolate makers compare their skills.
Our Valrhona 32% blonde chocolate bar, sprinkled with crushed Ethiopian Yirga coffee beans, Piemonte hazelnuts and crunchy caramel, became the jury's favorite and won a gold medal in this competition in 2017, but many of our other products have also been awarded gold, silver and bronze medals here.
