Real Truth on Hawaii Chocolate Awards
- Ethan Swift
- Mar 4
- 7 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Disclosure: Having been judges at many of these competitions, I do not participate in judging in competitions featuring our own farmers or products.
There are many brands in Hawaii and farms that have been award for their cacao and chocolate. But did you know there is actually only one state-wide award for cacao? That competition is coming up soon.
This is not an advertisement and no AI was used to produce this blog.
Note: NO ONE, WON "Best Cacao in the World". That would be impossible. There is no award in the world the gives the winners the title "Best Cacao in the World". There never has been a competetion that classifies their winners that way. Not in wine, not in coffee, not anywhere. That would be WRONG to say...and neglectful to all the other gold winners from other parts of the world.
If you enter a contest that awards gold to multiple farms, over multiple years, then there are many winners who would have the "Best Cacao in the World". What a confident winner would correctly share would be that they would be "One, of the Best Cacaos in the World". Otherwise its just mis-representation. Winners shouldn't need to fake news, to sell chocolate. Putting your own brand on an imaginary throne above the other mutual winners is not right.
For example; all those who won the distinction of gold (in 2025), cannot all be the "Best Cacao in the World" because that isn't the title of their award. Here are just some of the (2025) gold winners, and only one claimed they are the "Best Cacao in the World".
The Real Truth
These farms claim the legitimately won title of "Gold". Not "First Place". And, not "Best Cacao in the World". The real truth is, they pick as many new gold winners every year as deserve it. It may be correct to say, "Gold Cacao for 2025" instead of "Best Cacao in the World". Its confusing at best.
This is why you have never heard of the "Best Cacao in the World" before, and won't hear about it again. Can you even name the best anything in the world? Silly. Obviously, all cacao in the world has been rated. One would have to taste it all to really know anyway. Cocoa of Excellence may get thousands of farm, but there are thousands and thousands more that DO NOT NEED or WANT to enter. Anyone claiming they have the best cacao in the world is wrong.
Hawaii Chocolate Awards don't exist. That's where our state is lacking. There are a few chocolate awards but a ton of worthy makers and growers deserve to be noted. Lets go over all the chocolate awards and hope that one our state gets it together to proper value the magical crop that is Hawaiian Cacao. We will even mention some notable cacao farms to visit and experience the majestic tree tops of the best cacao and chocolate grow and made in the United States.
First, lets say a huge congrats and thanks to our friends below who scored high marks at the recent Cocoa of Excellence:
Gold for Kamanui Cacao by Dylan Butterbaugh
Silver for Mapale Fields by Ben Fields
Silver for Honoli'i Cacao by Colin Hart Extremely well done!
Out of State Awards
There are many awards in the world and in the country but very little within state so lets try find the best out there and see how Hawaii'i stacks up.
International Chocolate Awards
National Chocolate Awards
International Chocolate Salon
Good Food Awards
Pacific Northwest Chocolate Festival Global Chocolate Awards
Hawai'i State Awards
Hilo Chocolate Festival Awards - Best Chocolate (1st & 2nd places only). Annual.
Awards - Best Cacao Bean (1st & 2nd places only). Annual.
Awards - Best Chocolate only. Annual.
*Hawaii Cacao & Chocolate Awards
*These do not exist! Other US Based National Cacao awards don't exist!
There are no other national awards for cacao beans in the United States. There are no other Hawaii state awards for cacao either. *Why? Yes America, this author has been trying to tell you our country is behind on fine chocolate. And many of you heard, thank you. Many of you not in America may not realize that we have a very regressive palette nationally. Given all that awards math, it turns out that Island Sharks' farmers have the USA's best-rated cacao! It's the highest - nationally rated cacao in the United States. Since the Big Island Chocolate Fest is the only national one that awards for cacao it is actually the only award in the United States of America for American Cacao. It goes to our farmers.
We are so proud of them! Learn about them here.
Many many makers have won these international awards with the most (over 30) going to my mentor and master chocolate maker Dr. Nat Bletter Phd. He is the most awarded craft chocolate maker in Hawai'i and I am so proud to call him a friend.
*Why is Hawaii is the only state in the entire country (ever) that gives awards for USA grown cacao beans? Its the only state that can grow cacao on a commercial scale.
What Wins Chocolate Awards?
Terroir, always terroir. And time. Time and space. Let me break that down.
Fine cacao is exactly like fine wine. It takes training and growth of your palette and increased ability to senses aromas. Practice makes perfect. You can get to know the seasons of Hawai'i just from appreciating the subtleties of Hawaii Cacao. Thats identical to what a wine sommelier does. Terroir is identity. And in wine identifying flavors reveals the true form of the grape or cacao. Its true chemistry given its unique growing period. Get to know the land, weather and climate of growing region, just by enjoying its fruits!
A further breakdown would make clear that learning the technique of sensory analysis is only half of the art. The other half is knowing why everything tastes the way it does. It simple really. A foods chemistry and genetics are most heavily influenced by the terroir. In cacao, the fermentation and strain are the other two main factors in creating food chemisty that tastes delicious.
Every harvest season in the wine industry has different flavors and aromas if properly cared for. That occurs because the climate is different every season. The soil then becomes a different concentration of minerals, fertilizers, rain-fall, etc... It becomes a different chemistry. That different soil makes different flavors appear in grapes and cacao. Yes, so different elevations yield different flavors as well. How close the trees are planted effects flavor. Even the pollination rate of flowers that produce pods will distinctly effect flavor.
Chocolate has over 1200 flavors and which ones will be represented depends on the terroir. There really is no best chocolate. There is only, better, chocolate and cacao.
Get to KNOW YOUR PALETTE
It is different every day. Its effected by mood, music, temperature and most importantly, what else one has consumed earlier. Your palette takes training to grow and that means tasting. How many chocolate bars have you tasted in 1 year? 10? 25? 50? How many to grow your palette? Everyone will learn at different rates.
Its impossible to taste 1200 flavors. So just keep in mind, after 4 tastes your tongue has maxed on its receptivity. Nose-blindness or smell-blurring begins at 6 different aromas.
It is that no one can fully process what they are experiencing, by and for which chocolate has affixed us in its ambrosia. We are better for it.
The Most Common Mistake in Palette Training
That would easily be only eating award winning chocolate. Without tasting off-flavors, bad cocoa beans or things like old chocolate, it is impossible to fully categorize every flavor you love. You need a spectrum of flavor, time and the desire to taste the best and worst in the industry. Lets contextualize this. In, wine-tasting, for example, there is no tasting of bad wines. Wine sommeliers taste a variety of fine wines. They don't taste Franzia, also for an example here. Spoiled wine, or wine's that have gone to vinegar are not offered to sensory analysts. That's because they have already been through all of it in a formal training session. Its hard to contextual off-flavors in foods we love and education is a great frame for understanding why bad cacao tastes like ham. Its important to understand why tasting only good wines will never sommeliers a full scope of all of the potential of a grape. Grapes can be bad, they can be raisin and even vinegar. Would you recognize the wine form of grapes without knowing its flavors and smells??? The identity of the ingredients is intrinsic to the land. That is why terroir is so important. In tasting, we get to know the full identity of a grape or cocoa bean, which is to have met, gotten to know and relate to the terroir.
Palette training is not about what tastes good to your palette. It is about being able to measure what will be enjoyable for untrained palettes and untrained chocolate tasters. Trained chocolate sommeliers know that untrained palettes cannot tolerate off-flavors... Professional sensory analysis is about what would taste good to most ordinary palettes. And until you have an extra-ordinary palette, you are just in training. The even more real truth is that the WORLD is in training for cacao and chocolate flavor perception. After mastering wine and coffee, we need something harder. So don't make the mistake of tasting a low quality indulgence instead of an award-winning bean or chocolate bar. Eating commodity chocolate is a mistake only beginner chocolate-tasters make. When it comes to flavor perception, the sky is the limit. It is a miracle that anyone tastes the same thing at all. Just be sure its not actually being perceived in the exact or precisely in the same way. Palette training is actually about communicating with nature.
Note: Judging cacao requires judging the precursors to what we know as chocolate flavor. It is a different flavor profile and is no longer present in finished chocolate.
Want to be a Chocolate Sommelier or Cacao Bean Judge? Want to taste like the experts at Cocoa of Excellence? We train and certify palettes around the world! Get our Premier Hawaii Cacao & Craft Chocolate Tasting Kit with your Chocolate Sommelier Certification. It contains 10 samples to taste from. They include all award-winning Hawaii grown cacao beans, cacao paste, nibs and chocolates to experience and learn from. Its the most flavorful class with 2 in-depth quizzes, hosting requirements, slides and more to give students a full scope of the role of the chocolate-sommelier and of course, delectable Hawaii cacao beans and craft chocolate. Thanks so much for reading. If you enjoyed this check out anyone of our other human written craft chocolate blogs. Aloha.
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