I want to be direct about what awards mean to us, because I think the way most chocolate makers talk about them gets it wrong.
We do not make chocolate to win awards. We make chocolate because we believe the world deserves food that is genuinely clean - grown in organic soil, processed without additives, and produced in a way that leaves the land better than we found it. That is the work. Everything else is a signal about whether we are doing it well.
The signals we pay the most attention to are not trophies on a shelf. The first signal is the land itself. When wildlife returns to a farm that was depleted, that is validation. When endemic species we did not plant choose our farms as their home - the birds, the insects, the animals that do not negotiate and cannot be fooled - that tells us the ecosystem is recovering. That tells us more about the quality of what we are building than any certificate.
The second signal is our customers. When someone tells us we have ruined chocolate for them. That after tasting ours, they cannot go back to what they were eating before - that is the most direct feedback we can receive. We take it seriously. We are proud of it. It means the care we put into the soil, the fermentation, the production process, the refusal to add anything that does not belong there, it shows up in the chocolate bar. Customers can taste the difference between chocolate made from a clean, protected farm and chocolate that was not.
Awards are the third signal. And they are a valuable one, not because of the recognition, but because of what they actually are: professional tasters, evaluating blind, telling us whether what we have built translates into the chocolate. That feedback is directional. It confirms what our customers already say and shows us where we can improve. We are always looking to improve.
In the last four years, Maleku Chocolate has submitted for one new competition. We are waiting on those results. We will enter more going forward - not to collect awards, but because we genuinely value the expertise of people who have spent their careers learning to evaluate fine chocolate. They push us. We want that.
The nine awards below were earned by the Maleku Chocolate line across the International Chocolate Awards and the Feria de Chocolate. Three of them are Gold. Each one represents a specific bar, evaluated by a specific panel, on a specific day - and each one confirmed that what this farm produces is worth the attention of the world's most rigorous chocolate judges.
We are proud of them. And then we go back to work.
THE AWARDS
GOLD MEDALS
70% Dark Chocolate
Gold - International Chocolate Awards, Centro America 2018
Judges' tasting notes: tropical, hazelnut, caramel, red cherry, vanilla
60% Milk Chocolate with Chili
Gold - International Chocolate Awards, Centro America 2018
60% Milk Chocolate with Coffee
Gold - Feria de Chocolate 2022
SILVER MEDALS
40% White Chocolate with Nibs
Silver - International Chocolate Awards, Centro America 2018
Silver - International Chocolate Awards, Centro America 2019
56% Milk Chocolate (Lava)
Silver - International Chocolate Awards, Centro America 2018
66% Dark Milk Chocolate
Silver - Feria de Chocolate 2022
Spicy Drinking Chocolate
Silver - International Chocolate Awards, Centro America 2019
BRONZE MEDAL
85% Dark Chocolate
Bronze - International Chocolate Awards, Centro America 2018
TOTAL: 9 awards across the International Chocolate Awards and Feria de Chocolate
3 Gold | 5 Silver | 1 Bronze
WHAT THE INTERNATIONAL CHOCOLATE AWARDS ARE
The International Chocolate Awards is one of the most rigorous fine chocolate competitions in the world. Entries are evaluated blind by a panel of trained tasters - professional chocolatiers, sensory scientists, food journalists, and industry experts - using a standardized evaluation protocol. Bars are judged on appearance, aroma, texture, flavor, and finish. There are no relationships, no reputations, no names - only what is in the wrapper.
Winning at ICA means a room full of experts, tasting hundreds of bars from makers around the world, chose yours.
The Feria de Chocolate is Costa Rica's national chocolate competition, bringing together the finest craft producers in the country for evaluation by a local panel of experts.
Nine awards across both competitions, from a single-estate farm in northern Costa Rica, is a record we are proud of and intend to build on.
WANT TO TASTE FOR YOURSELF?
Awards confirm what we already know. You do not have to take the judges' word for it.
Our factory at Playa Brasilito is open for tastings and chocolate-making workshops. Our farm at Llano Azul offers half-day tours through the cacao trees and the ecosystem that produces what ended up on those judging tables.
Come taste it. Tell us what you think. We are always listening.