European, Middle Eastern and African Bean-to-Bar Competition, 2024

Location: Bucharest, Romania
Closing date: 19 April 2024
Judging dates: 1 May 2024 – 14 May 2024

The European, Middle Eastern and African Bean-to-Bar Competition celebrates the work of craft chocolate makers creating origin and flavoured chocolate bars from traceable fine cacao. By helping to promote craft chocolate makers, we aim to support the work of cacao farmers producing fine cacao and create a more sustainable market for high-end specialty cacao.

Private label bars made for cacao growers or companies directly sourcing cacao and bars made from liquor are also admissible, provided the chocolate maker and sourcing is declared.

If you also produce filled chocolates, truffles, ganaches, pralines, caramels, fondants, enrobed fruits and nuts and spreads, these can be entered into your national or regional Craft Chocolatier Competition with no additional registration fee.

Hybrid judging, 9 – 14 May 2024

This year judging will be online and in-person in Bucharest and include European judges and members of our international Grand Jury. Samples must be received before the judging begins, to be included and should arrive by 19 April at the latest. Please register BEFORE you send your samples.

Winners of the competition will pass through to the World Final, which will be held in October-November 2024.

Winners’ Announcement Ceremony, 31 May at the Slow Coffee Festival in Bucharest, Romania

Winners of the competition will be announced at a ceremony organized as part of the Slow Coffee Festival in Bucharest, Romania on Friday, 31 May in the evening.
There will be a small craft chocolate section at the festival open for previous ICA award winners to exhibit their products. Please get in touch with us by email if you are interested in participating.

Origin Traceability

We are committed to supporting economically, socially and environmentally sustainable cacao farming where farmers are paid a reasonable price that reflects the work that goes into growing fine cacao. We also believe that the chocolate with the best flavor profiles comes from directly sourced fine cacao.

From 2023 onwards, we will ask every entrant for the origin of cacao used for the dark and milk chocolate in their entries, including chocolatiers. These details are given confidentially when entering. White chocolate and cocoa butter are currently excluded from these rules.

By ‘origin’ we mean a known region, area, district, or farm recognised as a source of fine cacao. We will also limit the number of sources that can be used for an origin to no more than three different cooperatives, commercial farmers, post-harvest centres, individual farmers, research stations or other single sources. Blends are acceptable if they use no more than three different named origins.

We won’t accept origins defined only as the name of the cacao growing country, except for smaller cacao countries producing less than 4000 tonnes of cacao per year.

These rules apply to all chocolate used in filled chocolate and spreads, including commercial couverture. Details of the origin must be obtained from the chocolate maker or supplier if you are not the chocolate maker.

Judging scores and flavor profiles

All entries will receive comprehensive feedback from our judging system, including the overall product score and standardised feedback statements for all products. We use our advanced interactive evaluation system for judging, which is based on the IICCT flavor profiling system. Scores are weighted to align with specialty coffee scores. Scores will be published on our website for all Grand Jury Finalists and Winners.

Eligibility

This competition is exclusively for Bean-to-Bar/Chocolate Maker plain/origin and flavoured bars produced in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Filled chocolates and spreads should be entered into the appropriate national or regional Craft Chocolatier Competition.

The competition is open to all companies whose main business or head office is based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

All chocolate used in all entries in this competition must be made from cacao with a declared and traceable source. Details of the source must be provided when entering each product and will remain confidential.

The admission fee for this competition is EUR €65 and the fee for each entry is EUR €60. Prices will be converted into local currency by your credit card company, if required.