Take notes of this year’s winners before buying your next chocolate box. 

Johnty Tatham, aka Lucid Chocolatier is NZ Chocolate Awards 2022 Supreme Winner with Lucid Chocolatier 68% Port. He took the title ahead of 150 NZ-made chocolates from 31 chocolate makers and chocolatiers from across Aotearoa at the Awards which were judged in Auckland at the beginning of October.

Lucid Chocolatier 68% Port also won the and Bean to Bar Flavoured category and is a chocolate bar flavoured with Port. Nibs from Marañon cacao beans were submerged in a 10-year-old Taylor’s Tawny Port. The judges raved about it saying “Outstanding aroma notes and flavour and complexity. Flawless texture with exceptional length. Perfect example of restraint.” Lucid Chocolatier 68% Port is $22.

Lucid Chocolatier, founded in 2020, is a bean to bar maker meaning it controls the entire chocolate making process from sourcing cacao, roasting it, grinding and winnowing, tempering and making through to selling. All Lucid chocolates are made exclusively from Peruvian cacao, which Johnty chose after analysing nearly thirty samples from throughout world with the top three all coming from Peru.

In a wonderful irony, which is a nod to the small and collaborative nature of Aotearoa’s artisan chocolate makers, Johnty’s rise to the top has been supported by two previous NZ Chocolate Awards Supreme Winners. His first chocolate making job was with Nico Bonnaud from Honest Chocolat, the inaugural Supreme Winner in the NZ Chocolate Awards 2017. An encouraging discussion with NZ Chocolate Awards 2020 Supreme Winner, David Herrick from Foundry Chocolate sold 23 year old Johnty on the lifestyle of a boutique chocolatier.

NZ Chocolate Awards Director Kathie Bartley said it was wonderful to see so many new chocolate makers being recognised in the biennial awards. “It bodes well for chocolate lovers looking for special treats to enjoy and share over the coming gifting and summer season.”

NZ CHOCOLATE AWARDS 2022 WINNERS

Supreme Winner

Lucid Chocolatier, 68% Port

Category Winners

Bean to Bar Plain
Lucid Chocolatier, 72% Santiago De Sisa

Bean to Bar Flavoured
Lucid Chocolatier, 68% Port

Flavoured Chocolate Bar
La Petite Chocolate Dr Beak Premium Gin, Dark Chocolate

Filled Chocolates – Truffles & Bonbons
Aroha Chocolate, Whiskey Hearts

Chocolate Bark, Brittle or Dipped Fruit and Nut
Adelphi Fine Chocolate, Florentine Chocolate Bark

Christmas and Novelty
Dekadenz, Christmas Treat Individual Chocolate

Kids’ Favourite
Chocolate Brown, Hedgehog White Chocolate

Drinking Chocolate
Foundry Chocolate, Pinalum, Malekula Island, Vanuatu Drinking Chocolate