An award given to a shared passion
We were feeling already grateful, being able to share our story while creating speciality chocolate and shipping it to the old continent, when life gave us an unexpected surprise.
That Saturday morning, the London Academy of Chocolate announced the 2020 winners and awarded us for the eight-time. This respected institution, chaired by Sara Jaynes Staines OBE, awards along with a group of judges the most exquisite chocolates from around the world since 2005.
The first impulse was to call Leonardo, who answered from his cacao plantation.
-Leonardo, we won prizes again!- I told him. He was as excited as I was.
He confessed to me that he remembers how we met after so long that morning in Upper Manabí, Ecuador, with 30 cacao producers from the area. I had come in search of that intriguing cacao with hazelnuts and floral nuances that I had tasted days before. It was Leonardo's: I had found a cacao jewel.
That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship supported by blood ties and a mutual passion for that cacao that the Academy of Chocolate awarded.
Life never stops surprising us, and we are beyond grateful.
SPANISH VERSION / EN ESPAÑOL
El premio a una mutua pasión
Cuando nos disponíamos a cerrar el año agradecidas de tener la salud para compartir nuestra historia, seguir creando chocolate y enviarlo al viejo continente, la vida nos dio una linda sorpresa.
La mañana de éste último sábado la Academia de Chocolate de Londres anunciaba a los ganadores de 2020 y volvía a premiarnos por octava vez. Esta respetada institución, presidida por Sara Jaynes Staines OBE, galardona junto a un experto grupo de jueces los chocolates más exquisitos de todo el mundo desde 2005.
El primer impulso fue llamar a Leonardo que respondió desde la plantación de cacao.
-¡Leonardo, nos han vuelto a premiar!- le dije. Se emocionó tanto como yo.
Me confesó que hasta ahora recuerda cómo nos reencontramos después de tanto tiempo aquella mañana en el Alto Manabí en la que estaba reunido con 30 productores de cacao. Yo había llegado a buscar el origen de ese hermoso cacao con sabor a frutos secos y flores que había probado hace pocos días. Era el cacao de Leonardo: había hallado una joya.
Desde ese día iniciamos de una bella amistad apoyada en lazos de consanguineidad y a una mutua pasión por su cacao que la Academia del Chocolate acababa de premiar.
La vida nunca de sorprendernos y nos sentimos realmente agradecidos.
Cárdenas Chocolate wins two awards at the London Academy of Chocolate 2020 competition. It’s the seventh recognition we receive in London since 2018.
The bars “Tierra Hermosa 72% with Jipijapa Coffee” and “Tierra Hermosa 72% with Orange & Ginger” were awarded in the “Tree-to-bar flavoured” category.
What a moment of joy! Showing our awarded chocolate bars part of the “Tierra Hermosa” chocolate collection, single-origin Manabí, Ecuador.