Best Bites from The Australian Chocolate Festival 2025
On the first weekend of July 2025, chocolate fans gathered in Melbourne for The Australian Chocolate Festival by bean-to-bar makers. A vast selection of delectable bean-to-bar chocolate was on offer, alongside colourful bon bons, single origin gelato, chocolatey baked goods and a host of cacao-based treats.
Following on from last year’s success, this year’s event was twice the size, with almost 2000 attendees and over 40 exhibitors. Craft chocolate makers from throughout Asia and the South Pacific brought their finest creations, and creative visionaries Chocolate Naive joined the incredible lineup, all the way from Lithuania.
Several cacao growers from the Pacific Islands also exhibited at the event, and much of the chocolate on offer was made with specialty beans from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. For newcomers to the world of craft chocolate, it was an eye-opening and palette-expanding experience that showed the passion, ingenuity and togetherness of the Oceanic chocolate community.
10 tasty treats
We were lucky enough to enjoy an insightful and delicious weekend at the festival. There was a lot of exceptional chocolate to taste, and alongside familiar favourites from world-renowned antipodeian producers, these were our top ten flavour discoveries.
Alessandro Luppolo bonbons
Alessandro Luppolo Bon Bon Selection
Melbourne-based Alessandro Luppolo is one of only a few chocolate makers in Australia who makes bon bons from scratch – from ‘bean to bon bon’. For the festival he created a six-piece set that featured single origin Ecuador and Solomon Islands chocolate, alongside fascinating pairings like Spiced Beetroot & Pumpkin Seed, Chestnut & Grappa, and Smoked Dark Chocolate. Alessandro has worked in Michelin-starred kitchens all around the world, and this experience informs his approach to small-batch chocolate making.
Baron Hasselhoff's Baron Hasselhoff’s Fig, Honey & Almond Chocolate Bar
Officially launched at the festival, this is a new, limited edition bar from fun-loving New Zealand chocolate maker Baron Hasselhoff’s. Cacao from Malekula Island in Vanuatu combines with dried figs, roasted almonds and dehydrated honey, taking you on a luxurious flavour journey across the Ottoman Empire. ‘Chief Chocolate Disciple’ and founder Clayton McErlane says “This bar is an ode to my wife, my love and my partner in this crazy chocolate world we have created.”
Chocolate Naive Las Trincheras, Canabobo
Arguably the headline act of the festival, Chocolate Naive’s impeccably designed bars were suitably show-stopping. Naive’s gastronomically-diverse collection includes Kefir milk chocolate, Porcini chocolate, and the much-discussed Dry-Aged Beef bar. However, our pick of the bunch was the Las Trincheras 70% bar, which is part of the limited edition ‘nano lot’ series. This is an exquisite showcase of highly-rare, ancient and genetically-pure Venezuelan cacao.
Cuvée Chocolate Rum and Raisin
This Special Edition bar from Melbourne-based Cuvée Chocolate is a gourmet and handcrafted version of a classic. The delicate outer shell of 75% dark chocolate is made with cacao from Kokoa Kamili in Tanzania. Within the shell you’ll find sumptuous raisins soaked in Shiraz-cask rum, sourced from Loch Brewery & Distillery in Gippsland. This is a deeply satisfying combination of flavours and textures, with soothing warmth from the rum. File this one under ‘unputdownable’.
Kiama Chocolate Illawarra Plum Gin, 90% Dark
Kiama Chocolate Illawarra Plum Gin, 90% Dark
Based in Kiama Downs, New South Wales, Kiama Chocolate offers a beautiful selection of single origin bean-to-bar chocolate, alongside some highly-innovative micro-batch bars. Only 27 of this Illawara Plum Gin bar were created, and anyone who had a taste will be left wanting more. The Peruvian cacao nibs were soaked in plum gin – sourced from South Coast Distillery – and the sweetness of the gin makes this 90% bar taste more like a 70%. Due to the high cacao content, you get much more gin flavour than your average alcohol-infused bar, and the plum notes perfectly complement the cacao.
Lucid Chocolatier Sauternes Infused 70% Dark
Lucid Chocolatier Sauternes Infused 70% Dark
This is another exceptional alcohol-infused bar, this time from New Zealand’s Lucid Chocolatier. After tasting Sauternes – a Bordeaux sweet wine made from sémillon, sauvignon blanc, and muscadelle grapes – chocolate maker Johnty Tatham was compelled to combine it with his award-winning Peruvian chocolate. Using VRAE 99 cacao from Juan Laura’s farm in Cusco, Southern Peru, he soaked the nibs in Sauternes for around four weeks. The nibs were then dehydrated and ground together with Peruvian panela. This is a limited edition bar that launched at the festival, and it’s due for general release later this year.
Mörk Chocolate Of The North
Mörk Chocolate Of The North
Mörk Chocolate’s bean-to-cup philosophy has put them at the pinnacle of specialty drinking chocolate in Australia, and beyond. At last year’s festival they unveiled their first ever chocolate bars (including an exceptional Bolivian dark chocolate flavoured with tonka beans) and this year four more were launched. Our favourite was Of The North, which is inspired by the Swedish culinary roots of co-founder and chocolate maker Josefin Zernell. It’s a two-layered bar, with Nicaraguan dark chocolate on the bottom and a beetroot, goats cheese and licorice layer on top. One of the most talked about bars at the festival!
Oh My Gelato x Ratio Cocoa Roasters Solomon Islands Chocolate Sorbet
Melbourne is home to an unfathomable amount of great gelato makers, and Oh My Gelato is no exception. Festivalgoers were treated to an enticing array of chocolatey creations, and our pick of the bunch was the Solomon Islands Chocolate Sorbet. Melbourne’s Ratio Cocoa Roasters transform cacao from Guadalcanal into a fruity and deep 76% dark chocolate, before Oh My Gelato turns it into this rich and melty delight.
Siamaya Chocolate Tom Yum Dark Chocolate
Siamaya Chocolate travelled to the festival all the way from Chiang Mai, bringing the flavours of Thailand with them. Using cacao sourced directly from growing communities and social enterprises in Northern Thailand, Siamaya’s bean-to-bar collection features exciting flavour combinations like Coffee & Pomelo, Mango & Chilli, and Durian milk chocolate. Our pick was the revelatory Tom Yum soup bar, which blends Thai cacao with zesty lemongrass, kaffir lime, and a hint of chili. Sweet, tangy, spicy and mouthwateringly-delicious.
Valura Chocolate Calvados, Vanuatu 70%
New Zealand's Valura Chocolate offers a small and exceptionally-crafted selection of single origin chocolate, made with cacao from Central America and the Pacific Islands. This limited edition Calvados bar is a 70% dark chocolate that combines the warm, aromatic character of Calvados – an elegant apple brandy from France’s Normandy region – with premium cacao from the lush, remote islands of Vanuatu. A deep and complex bar with delicate fruity and earthy notes.