Auro Chocolate celebrates yet another milestone as it wins a total of 5 awards at the 2026 Asia-Pacific Bean-to-Bar and Craft Chocolatier Competition, amounting to a total of 101 international awards amassed overall. The results were announced by the International Chocolate Awards last April 4 as part of the Kyoto Coffee Chocolate Festival.
Photo: Auro Chocolate/Instagram
Auro Chocolate won the following awards under the following categories:
- Combination enrobed fruit pastes, jellies/gelée
- Gold – Provence
- Special – Gastronomic
- Gold – Provence
- White chocolate bars with inclusions or pieces
- Silver – Sushi White Chocolate Bar
- Bronze – Calamansi Cheesecake
- White chocolate enrobed whole fruit
- Silver – Pineapple Crunch
Through these wins and recognition, Auro Chocolate aims to continue its work of championing the local cacao industry on the international stage, as well as highlighting the work and achievements of its partner farmers.
Championing local cacao, one award at a time
Auro Chocolate regularly participates in major chocolate competitions held by prestigious chocolate organizations in the cacao industry as a means to highlight the quality of Filipino cacao to a global audience, as well as to bring the skills and dedication of its local partner farmers into the spotlight.
Recently, Auro Chocolate won a Silver Award at the 2025 Edition of the Cacao of Excellence Awards, earning recognition as one of the 50 highest-ranking cacao producers around the world. The award recognized Davao City’s Mr. David Christopher Dela Serna, one of Auro Chocolate’s partner farmers, for his exceptional cultivation of Regalo, one of the chocolate brand’s signature cacao beans. This marked Auro’s third win, as well as the third time that one of their farming partners has received such a distinction.
The Cacao of Excellence Awards is the most prestigious award-giving body in the cacao industry, dedicated to recognizing the world’s best cacao and its producers. For the 2025 edition, 50 cacao entries were recognized for their quality and performance after an 18-month blind evaluation process, among them Auro Chocolate’s signature Regalo cacao beans produced by Dela Serna.
Hailing from Barangay Tacunan, Tugbok District, Davao City, Dela Serna has worked closely with Auro Chocolate for years in developing the quality of his cacao beans, all while maintaining sustainability, traceability, and craftsmanship in each stage of the production.
Aside from these awards, Auro Chocolate has also previously won the Top 20 Best Cacao Beans Award in 2019 and a Silver Award in 2023, both times with different partner farmers from Davao.
This continued success and recognition is a testament to the strength of Auro Chocolate’s direct-trade partnership model, which includes post-harvest procedures and training initiatives to empower local farming communities. These wins also highlight the capacity and potential of Filipino cacao to go toe-to-toe with well-known heavy hitters in the global chocolate-making industry.
