Make Your Valentine’s Sweeter with These Local Chocolates
Feb 12, 2020 • Ina Louise Manto
Feb 12, 2020 • Ina Louise Manto
It is Valentine’s week and you know what it is! The streets are beginning to be filled with people carrying bouquets, gifts, and chocolates once again. If you still haven’t figured out a gift for this season of love, why don’t you make it a sweeter day with these local artisan chocolates?
Passion and love for the Philippines and chocolates — that’s what Theo & Philo is made of. This award-winning brand carefully crafts chocolates with ingredients from the cacao farmers of Davao and sugar farmers of Bacolod. Theo & Philo’s best-selling chocolates incorporate Filipino flavors in one decadent bar such as Dark Chocolate with Labuyo, Milk Chocolate with Adobo, Milk Chocolate with Pili Nut, and Pinipig.
Available at their website and select stores.
Tigre y Oliva offers handmade bean-to-bar chocolates from La Union. Owner Simone Mastrota is an Italian who traveled the world with his family in the search for great cacao. He took an interest in Philippine cacao after discovering that aside from the usual fruity notes, other cacao origins have spicy, nutty, and earthy flavors. Mastrota believes that the world deserves a taste of Philippine cacao. He makes sure that the cacao doesn’t lose its flavors — he uses little to no sugar at all to highlight the bean’s natural flavor. Tigre y Oliva’s single-origin chocolate bars are wrapped with printed paper from Italy, mixing two cultures into one.
Available here.
Auro is an award-winning bean-to-bar company that produces premium chocolates with a social impact. The beans are directly sourced from farmers in Mindanao. In addition, they buy them at a higher price, which is a way to help improve the farmers’ standard of living. They do not only show their love for cacao but also for Filipino farmers. Since Auro’s launch in 2015, they have gained both domestic and international success, with stockists in 12 countries.
Available in their website and stores.
Hiraya is derived from the ancient Tagalog word that means the fruit of one’s hopes, aspirations, and dreams. The brand makes bean-to-bar chocolates through sustainable practices and celebrates local farmers by ensuring they earn more for their labor. Hiraya’s best-selling variant is the 72% Single-Origin Dark Chocolate Malabog Davao, which is made of Trinitario beans sourced from Davao.
Available on Facebook and Lazada.
Malagos Chocolate is a part of a group of family-owned businesses that have always worked with nature. Tracing their roots in Davao, the chocolate capital of the Philippines, the Puentespina family have been working in agriculture in the past five decades. To this day, they continue to highlight the city through the premium chocolates they make.
Available on their website and stores.
Send an order on Instagram Instagram and Facebook.
Una sonrisa a de la Corazon, a smile from the heart — that’s what you’ll get with every bite of Risa Chocolate. It is a business that is driven out of passion and love for chocolates, which started as a passion project for family and friends. Now, Risa makes handcrafted truffles, seasonal chocolates, barks, pralines and bars using the finest ingredients.
Available through their website.
Coco Dolce is the perfect option for those who wish to eat sweets guilt-free. The Free Food is a company that promotes better health and supports the development of rural areas through organic farming. Coco Dolce is one of their all-natural and organic products.
Available on their website and retailers.
Did we miss your favorite brand in this list of chocolate brands in the Philippines?
When she’s not writing, Ina’s busy curating playlists that will save her when words don’t work, reading, annoying her cat, or thinking of her next meal.
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