Rewarding Excellence in producing high-quality Cocoa Origins

Cocoa of Excellence is the entry point for farmers to participate in the Salon du Chocolat's International Cocoa Awards (ICA’s), the only competition of its kind rewarding the work of cocoa farmers and celebrating the diversity of cocoa flavors.

Most chocolate is made from beans that have been fermented and dried by smallholder farmers before being sold to manufacturers. By standardizing the chocolate making process, Cocoa of Excellence ensures that the differences between the chocolate presented to the jury of the International Cocoa Awards will be mainly due to craftmanship at the farm level, as well as to the intrinsic quality of the beans and the mysterious 'terroir' effect.

Cocoa of Excellence is an initiative of Bioversity International, of the French research institute CIRAD and of the organizers of the Salon du Chocolat in Paris, Event International. The initiative has been carried out under the aegis of the  International Cocoa Organization and was funded by the Common Fund for Commodities, by the industry partners and by the main implementing institutions. Other partners to the initiative are the Cocoa Producers Alliance, the Cocoa Research Unit of the University of the West Indies, the World Cocoa Foundation and the chocolate makers Barry Callebaut, Belcolade, Cacao Atlanta Chocolate Co and Mars Inc.