This year the drinking chocolate competition received a record number of entries, from chocolate makers all over the world, working with an equally global range of cacao. For our chocolate judges, this is another exciting opportunity, a chance to see how all the great chocolate-making talent out there translates that into something designed to drink.

Every sample was different, from fine powder, to pearls, to pistoles, to slabs. Judges prepared the drinks in their own kitchens and every recipe was different, too; some a few lines, some detailed and including additional suggestions and variations for how to get the best from each entry.

Consulting across the Grand Jury judges, what becomes clear is that the most significant factor for a successful hot chocolate, aside from the quality of the chocolate, is the translation of that chocolate via the recipe. – Cat Black, feature writer of the Awards

The highest-scoring product was announced as overall winner of this year’s competition. This year, the ‘best in show’ drinking chocolate was made by Whosecacao from Japan, with their Yuzu-Sansho flavoured dark drinking chocolate powder using a milk-based recipe for the final drink, scoring 90.2/100.

Delicious! Strong yuzu flavor, subtle pepper flavor, and really nice texture / George Gensler, Grand Jury

Very good flavour balance / Martin Christy, Grand Jury

Among the unflavoured dark drinking chocolates made with water Hong Kong-based SLOK Chocolate‘s Philippines 72% got the highest score (84.2) worthy of a Bronze, while among drinks made with milk, Malaysian Benns Ethicoa‘s 70% Single Estate Khlung District received a Gold with a score of 86.6.

There was only one winner in the milk chocolate-based drinking chocolate category, but that was a Gold, for Deseo Chocolate‘s (Poland) very rich Dominican Republic origin hot chocolate, topped with cream and house-made hazelnut paste (88.1 points) which also received a Special prize for ‘Recipe’.

White chocolate-based drinking chocolates were best enjoyed by our judges with some added flavours. Fjåk Chocolate‘s (Norway) caramelized white chocolate with brown cheese won not only a Gold but also a Special award for ‘Gastronomic’, since it’s such a surprising combination.

The cocoa powder categories were single-handedly won by Goodnow Farms Chocolate (USA) with a silver for their Pimienta Gorda Hot Chocolate (85.4 points) and three bronzes in the unflavoured cocoa powder category.

The judging panel was a carefully selected group of our most experienced judges with a professional culinary background, who tasted the entries in anonymised judging, together with the permanent members of our Grand Jury.

Scores

The International Chocolate Awards is continuing its drive for transparency and standardisation in chocolate sensory evaluation, using the flavor profiling system from our parent body, the IICCT. As part of this initiative, we are now listing the scores for all winners and finalists, giving consumers a better guide for chocolate quality and entrants something extra to celebrate along with their medals. The scores given are similar to those used in specialty coffee, where 80 and above indicates fine chocolate quality and scores above 90 suggest extraordinary quality and craft. The prize break points are set by the Grand Jury for each category, according to the product type.

The 2022 World Drinking Chocolate Winners are:

(Prizes are shown in score order for each medal)

'Best in competition' overall winners

Drinking Chocolate

Plain/origin dark drinking chocolate (made with water)

Plain/origin dark drinking chocolate (made with milk)

Flavoured dark drinking chocolate (made with water)

Flavoured dark drinking chocolate (made with milk)

Flavoured milk drinking chocolate (with milk chocolate/milk powder)

White drinking chocolate

Plain/origin cocoa powder drinks (made with milk)

Flavoured cocoa powder drinks (made with milk)

Alcoholic drinks/liquors made with chocolate or cacao (Pilot category)

(*)  Declared chocolate maker for private label bars.

(**) Winner has declared the product is made with their own bean-to-bar chocolate or couverture.

National Awards are given to Grand Jury finalists when there are 10 or more entries from one country in a category.