Cocoashala, a chocolate business incubation unit for/of startups, has announced that most of the winners from India at the International Chocolate Awards Asia Pacific Competition hosted recently in Hong Kong have either been incubated at Cocoashala or are students/alumni.

Indian bean-to-bar chocolate brands won a total of 13 awards. The awards had a few new interesting and exciting entrants and winners this year, but most of the award winners were the more established brands.

"The extent to which brands are innovating with flavor combinations is visible and commendable," says L Nitin Chordia, co-founder of Cocoashala, Chennai. "We are immensely proud to play a meaningful role in their journeys with services starting from Incubation, training, recipe/formulation development, selection/supply of equipment, ingredient selection/sourcing, costing, first trial/production run and scaling up. The only thing we let our clients decide is the design/branding strategy because this is so personal to each entrepreneur."

"These new age bean-to-bar brands are competing against some of the best in Asia and pushing the envelope and we are happy and thrilled to see the acceptance of Indian cacao and chocolate at the international level. This truly demonstrates the potential of what Indian cacao beans, Indian chocolate, and chocolate makers are capable of. This is just the beginning!" adds Chordia.

The award winning chocolates entries for Asia Pacific 2023 are: 

1. Gold: Paul And Mike (India) – 57% Vegan Milk Indian Style Masala Chai
2. Silver: Paul And Mike (India) – 72% Dark Sula Dindori Reserve Shiraz
3. Silver: Kocoatrait (India) – Kocoatrait 65% Dark Masala Chai
4. Silver: Savorworks Roasters  (India) – 72%- Gin & Tonic
5. Silver: Paul And Mike (India) – 64% Dark Chocolate with Gin & Ginger
6. Silver: Paul And Mike  (India) – 64% Dark Sichuan Pepper & Orange Peel
7. Silver: La Folie (India) – Silk Route
8. Silver: Chitra’m Craft Chocolates (India) – White Chocolate – Masala Chaas
9. Bronze: Paul And Mike (India) – 87% Dark Chocolate
10. Bronze: Manam Chocolate (India) – 43% Milk, Lam Dong and Ben Tre, Vietnam
11. Bronze: La Folie (India) – Kelagur Coffee Bar
12. Bronze: Paul And Mike (India) – 64% Dark Rum & Rummy Raisins Chocolate
13. Bronze: Paul And Mike (India) – 64% Dark Beer Chocolate

Previous year winners include brands like Bon Fiction (Bronze).

The complete list of winners is available here.