I have always loved chocolate as a young child. It has been my companion on every occasion. Can you resist a good bar of dark chocolate? I bet you won’t! Recently, I discovered a couverture chocolate that will surely bring out the sweet tooth in you – Malagos Chocolate. I first noticed Malagos Chocolate in Manila Peninsula Hotel in a form of macarons. It has always been my favorite for few years now.
Malagos Chocolate is single-origin made from ethically grown and primed cacao beans that have been carefully inspected, graded, fermented, and solar-dried in one of the farms in Davao. The Grade A cacao beans used are from Trinitario – a hybrid of Forastero & Criollo.
Did you know that Malagos Chocolate won one silver and two bronze awards at the 2017 Academy of Chocolate competition held in London, UK earlier this year?
In April 2015, Malagos Unsweetened Chocolate won the bronze award for Best Unflavored Drinking Chocolate at the 2015 Academy of Chocolate Awards in London, United Kingdom. Later in October of the same year, Malagos 65% Dark Chocolate was given the silver award in the World Drinking Chocolate Competition organized by the International Chocolate Awards in Hannover, Germany.
I was fortunate enough to interview Sir Rex Puentespina of Malagos Agri-Ventures Corp, one of the owners of Malagos Chocolate. Here’s a transcript of the exclusive interview with Sir Rex:
TF: When did the brand started in Davao?
RP: It started last October 2012. We launched our first product at World Food Expo (WOFEX) last August 2013. the first product was the 65% dark chocolate and unsweetened chocolate. But we have been farming cacao since 2008. My mother started it. We brought a property beside our resort. There were cacao trees already growing on that property. My mom rehabilitated the trees. After 4-5 years, we met a group from Mars Cocoa Development Corporation who does training and CSR initiatives in the USA. These are scientists who teach farmers grow cacao using advance techniques and technology. They went to the Philippines as an advocacy to teach farmers. Malagos Chocolate partnered with them. After that, we trained other farmers using our farm as our laboratory to help them grow cacao. We started exporting the beans after that around 2008-2009. We started 1 container a year until it progressed.
On November 2007, we asked help from a consultant from Holland (The Netherlands). He went to Davao to visit us since we want to start with chocolate making already. When he came he said “Sorry you cannot make chocolates with your beans. You need to further improve the quality of your beans.“ after 5 years to assess the raw materials. Then it’s when we started making pilot batches (8 kilograms) of chocolates. I remember we were only 3 in the company. We learned chocolate making by experience.
TF: What are the current corporate partnerships of Malagos Chocolate apart from Manila Peninsula Hotel? Do you sell your chocolates in retail?
RP: Yes. We sell our chocolates to home bakers, to different institutions like hotels where they use Malagos Chocolate as one of the key ingredients to their creations. It is visible also on SM Kultura. There’s a special section for Malagos Chocolate since this is under a specialty food category.
My favorite among all the variants would be the Malagos 72% Dark Chocolate. It got the right richness of the chocolate along with the perfect amount of sweetness. I also love the Roasted Cocoa Nibs. It’s perfect as topping for your favorite Filipino dishes such as champorado.
This is definitely an ACE for me. I really love the texture and the taste of each chocolate. Presentation wise, they also have good packaging materials. It’s perfect gift for Christmas or any special occasion. You may contact them at (02) 929 9310 or at sales@malagoschocolate.com. You may also visit their website: http://malagoschocolate.com.
Alternatively, you may contact them at their official social media accounts:
Facebook: Malagos Chocolate
Instagram: malagoschocolate
Twitter: malagoschoco
Yum These products all sound so delicious! Got me craving chocolate now, thank you!
I love chocolate too! I could not live without it! I had never hard of this brand before. Sounds like a great brand
I am a choc-a-holic! These chocolates look absolutely amazing! I will have to check out this brand! Thanks for introducing them!
I am a choc-a-holic! These chocolates look absolutely amazing! I will have to check out this brand! Thanks for introducing them to me! Looks like this would be a great Christmas gift!
Hands up I LOVE chocolate and I am all for trying new and different brands, I personally would love to give this a try as it sounds like they are such a great company and have such a lovely ethos.
I love chocolate and haven’t tried this brand before! I need to fix that asap!
I enjoyed reading the interview. I would definitely love to try these premium dark chocolates!
Dark chocolates are my absolute favourite!!! By the looks & description of Malagos, it sure looks promising!! 🙂
85% dark chocolate is too much. 72% is as dark as I will go. It has just the right amount of sweetness to make my face not tense up. Lol!
What a great interview. I am a HUGE fan of chocolate. I eat it on a daily basis.
I am not familiar with malagos chocolate and I am a huge chocolate lover though my experience it limited to just white chocolate as I cant do dark chocolate at all
I love that malagos is made from ethically sourced chocolate! And I too love chocolate, I am eating chocolate cake as we speak haha!
I’ve always had an on/off relationship with chocolate but since my pregnancy I’ve found that I’ve definitely become more of an on person. Never heard of them before but the chocolate does sound great!
Cocoa, used throughout history as a folk medicine, may actually have significant health benefits.
21 studies with 2,575 participants shows that cocoa consumption is associated with decreased blood pressure, improved blood vessel health, and improvement in cholesterol levels, among other benefits.
I really enjoyed reading this interview. I would definitely love to try these premium dark chocolates as I just love chocolates…temptation is too hard to control!
I will be visiting London and I really wish I can get this Malagos Chocolate. I love chocolate, especially the dark chocolate.
Glad you love their chocolates, and its thrilling that Malagos are also available at Starbucks stores here in Manila. My next agenda is to visit their museum and resort!
I will definitely need to try this brand out and can already see some great Xmas gifts in the future for the chocolate lovers in my life. Great information and well written!
I am not a chocolate person and I’ve never even heard of this brand but it definitely sounds intriguing!! I had never heard of unsweetened chocolate either. Didn’t even know that was a thing!
I love chocolate! I could read this article all day long. And as someone who watches their weight, the dark chocolate varieties are always OK to eat, so I am extra happy to learn of this brand, thanks!
This was such an interesting read. I loved learning about the company. The biggest thing I’ve learned is that I want some!
Awesome, I love all types of chocolates and I think I have heard of this one as it first came in the market in the Philippines. I could only recommend it, I’m not sure if I have already tried or tasted it, but I heard positive reviews about these chocolates.
I try to eat a little dark chocolate every day. I haven’t heard of Malagos Chocolate before, but it was great learning about this company. I am now really curious to try their products!
That’s awesome that they’re racking up awards. Now I’m really sitting over here wishing for some chocolate.
We love dark chocolate. I haven’t tried this brand yet, but it sure looks like something I will have to buy the soonest!
Hhhhmmmmm….next time I come across Malagos chocs, I will surely give them a try!
This was such an interesting read, and I really enjoyed your interview. Dark chocolate is such an aquired taste but this chocolate sounds like it is popular in its area.
I have never tried their stuff before. I am glad you had this opportunity; I bet it was a blast!
Lucky duck! They make really great chocolates. I need to get some more.
This is a great post! I have never heard of Malagos chocolate before. I will totally try them!
I love chocolate and these look like some delicious products! I would love to try these!
Wow this looks so good! My dad is a huge chocolate lover so this would make a great gift for Fathers Day!
Mmm I want to try this chocolate!
I have tried this brand before. It’s so yummy! I can’t wait to order soon.