Trinidad and Tobago cocoa ranked in 50 Best of the World

Trinidad and Tobago cocoa farmers have been ranked in the 50 Best of the World and will move on to the next round of the international Cocoa Excellence Programme in October.

The Cocoa Development Company TT (CDCTT) said the cocoa beans of Annette Mills, Winthrop Harewood and the farmers of the Four Roads Tamana Cluster were among those that made the top 50.

The cocoa-bean samples were judged for exceptional flavour in this year’s international Cocoa of Excellence Programme. They were chosen from 235 global samples.

The world-ranked samples were part of the five winning samples of the 2021 National Cocoa Awards, which were submitted to represent TT at the global competition.

The participants will now prepare for the international Cocoa Awards at the Salon du Chocolat, Paris, in October.

The CDCTT said it was also the first time a composite sample from different farms in a community was entered into the competition through the Four Roads Tamana Cluster.

The group is no stranger to the competition, as in 2019, two of its members, Martin and Jacqueline Matthew, won an International Cocoa Award for a sample from their estate.

CDCTT told Newsday via whatsapp on Friday morning that, "The achievement of these farmers was no small feat, as their beans were blindly evaluated from 235 samples received by Cocoa of Excellence (CoEx) from 53 countries, including TT.

"The next stage of the competition involves their beans being made into chocolate for further evaluation. They received certificates for making it to the Top 50, and hopefully their chocolates will earn the country some more international cocoa awards in October."