1
Cacao Hunters
Popayán, Cauca
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Multiple ICA Gold medals · Colombia's most decorated
Founded in 2014 as the first Colombian company dedicated to fine chocolate made from 100% Colombian cacao, Cacao Hunters is the brand that proved Colombia could compete with Europe at its own game. Their Arauca 70% has won International Chocolate Awards Gold for best plain-origin dark bar. Their Tumaco Leche 53% won Gold for best unflavoured milk bar with a score of 89.6/100. Back-to-back Golds at the ICAs put them on the world map, and as of June 2025 they officially launched in the US.
What separates Cacao Hunters from the rest is the relationships. They buy direct from grower communities in Tumaco, Arauca, Sierra Nevada, and Nariño, paying premium prices for fine-flavor beans that used to disappear into the commodity market. The Arhuacos 72% from the Sierra Nevada is the flagship — sourced from the Indigenous Arhuaco community.
Fresh blossoms merging with creamy citrus and sweet honey, with a light glaze of tangy yogurt. A graceful expression of terroir.
— Hello Chocolate, on Arauca 70%
If you buy one Colombian chocolate brand in your lifetime, make it Cacao Hunters. The Arauca 70% is the benchmark.
- Founded
- 2014, Popayán
- Awards
- Multiple ICA Gold (Arauca 70%, Tumaco Leche 53%)
- Origins
- Tumaco, Arauca, Sierra Nevada, Nariño
- Price
- $$ — bars COP 14k–22k
- WhatsApp
- +57 323 220 4794
2
Chocolate Sierra Sagrada
Santa Marta, Magdalena
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
ICA Gold · 91.0/100 — World's Best Dark Bar 2021
A micro-batch bean-to-bar maker founded by biologist Marco Caraballo Pérez and industrial microbiologist Andrea Díaz Ovalle, working with Criollo cacao from the Arhuaca Villafaña family farm in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Their Sierra Nevada 64% won Gold at the 2021 International Chocolate Awards Colombia Competition with a score of 91.0/100 — by score, the highest-rated Colombian bar ever entered.
Production volumes are tiny. The bars sell out from specialty importers within weeks. If you find one, buy two.
Soft red fruit, caramel, and tropical citrus, followed by warm spice and subtle floral undertones. Complexity that belies its modest cacao percentage.
— International Chocolate Awards jury notes
The highest-scoring Colombian bar in International Chocolate Awards history. Worth the hunt.
- Founded
- C & D Cacao SAS, Santa Marta
- Awards
- ICA Gold 2021 (Sierra Nevada 64%, 91.0/100)
- Origins
- Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Criollo)
- Price
- $$$ — bars COP 28k–38k
3
Tibitó
Bogotá
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
ICA Gold 2019 · FEDECACAO 1st Place
Tibitó started in 2015 out of curiosity — its founders thought Colombian cacao wasn't being fully exploited and wanted to prove the point. They've spent a decade doing it. FEDECACAO awarded Tibitó first place at the country's first National Handcrafted Chocolate Contest, and the brand took ICA Gold in 2019 for their micro-batch Arauca 70%.
Tibitó follows a stripped-down bean-to-bar philosophy: cacao mass, sugar, and a touch of sunflower lecithin. No vanilla, no extras. The Tumaco 70% is the bar to start with.
Each chocolate expresses the distinctive sensory signature of its region — fruity and citrusy here, caramel, coffee, nutty there. A countrywide journey in a single line of bars.
— Cocoa Runners, on the Tibitó range
A purist bean-to-bar shop run by people who think Colombian cacao deserves better. The Tumaco 70% proves them right.
- Founded
- 2015, Bogotá
- Awards
- FEDECACAO National Contest 1st place; ICA Gold 2019 (Arauca 70%)
- Origins
- Tumaco, Arauca, Sierra Nevada
- Price
- $$$ — bars COP 22k–32k
- WhatsApp
- +57 310 803 1514
4
Carlota Chocolat
Girón, Santander
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
ICA Gold + Special Prize Chocolate Maker, 2024
Carlota Chocolat
Meta 70% · Gold 2024
Mónica Gómez López — a professional cacao taster from San Vicente de Chucurí, Colombia's cacao capital — and her husband Rafael Harb run Carlota Chocolat from Girón, Santander. Her Chocolate Meta 70% won Gold in the Micro-Batch dark category at the 2024 Colombian competition (score: 89.12), and she took home the Special Prize for Chocolate Maker — a single award handed to the best craftsperson in the field. Earlier, her Chocolate Arauca 72% had already won Gold in the 2021 competition.
Carlota's bars come from a tightly curated set of regions: Córdoba, Arauca, Antioquia, Tumaco, Meta. The Meta 70% has a soft, tropical-fruit body that opens up after a minute in your mouth and finishes clean.
Made from cacao from a single farmer in the emerging Meta region. A complete piece of work — bean to bar, farm to box. The current standard for Colombian micro-batch.
— International Chocolate Awards, 2024 Colombian Competition
The current best micro-batch chocolate maker in Colombia, by jury vote. Find a Meta 70% and you'll understand why.
- Founded
- Girón, Santander · Mónica Gómez & Rafael Harb
- Awards
- ICA Gold 2024 (Meta 70%) + Special Prize Chocolate Maker; ICA Gold 2021 (Arauca 72%)
- Origins
- Córdoba, Arauca, Antioquia, Tumaco, Meta
- Price
- $$$ — bars COP 26k–34k
- WhatsApp
- +57 318 599 1083
5
Luker 1906 (Casa Luker)
Manizales, Caldas
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Founded 1906 · Premium single-origin couverture
Casa Luker has been making chocolate in Colombia since 1906 — long before bean-to-bar was a marketing phrase. Today they run one of the largest single-origin couverture operations in Latin America, and their premium 1906 Single Origin line (Huila, Tumaco, Casanare, Necoclí, Santander) is what serious pastry chefs reach for worldwide.
The Huila 70% is the entry: well-defined cocoa-forward flavor, low astringency, mild acidity, delicate fruity notes. The Tumaco 85% goes the other direction — deep, dense, almost smoky.
Robust flavour featuring delicate citrus and fruit notes, exquisitely roasted nuts, and warm sweetness. Low astringency, mild acidity. A benchmark couverture.
— Keylink, on Luker 1906 Huila 70%
A 120-year-old chocolate house finally telling its own story. The 1906 line is what serious chefs buy.
- Founded
- 1906, Manizales
- Awards
- Long-running B2B premium couverture supplier
- Origins
- Huila, Tumaco, Casanare, Necoclí, Santander
- Price
- $$ — 1906 bars COP 18k–26k
6
Juan Choconat
Ibagué, Tolima
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
ICA recognized · 80 farmer families, fair-price model
Juan Choconat was founded in 2014 by Juan Manuel and Natalia with a mission of social responsibility — supporting small cacao growers in San Bernardo and across rural Tolima. The chocolate has earned recognition at the International Chocolate Awards, but the more interesting story is the supply chain: 80 farming families across Ataco, Rioblanco, Prado, and Ibagué grow the cacao, paid 78% over market price as of 2021.
The lineup is clean — vegan, organic, fair-trade — and ranges from a 76% unroasted to an 85% dark and a 100% heirloom. The bars temper well and travel even better.
Smooth and velvety — a taste of real chocolate and not that sickly sweet stuff you buy at the supermarket.
— Customer review, Juan Choconat UK
Award-winning chocolate that also rewrites a small piece of Tolima's economy. Buy these on principle, and then on flavor.
- Founded
- 2014, Ibagué — Juan Manuel & Natalia
- Awards
- International Chocolate Awards (recognized)
- Origins
- San Bernardo, Ataco, Rioblanco, Prado (Tolima)
- Price
- $$ — bars COP 12k–18k
- WhatsApp
- +57 300 313 6418
7
Murillo's Chocolate
Guamal, Meta
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
ICA Bronze 72% + Silver 86%, 2024 · Paris Chocolate Salon
Don Leonel Murillo runs a small chocolate operation out of Guamal, in the Meta department east of Bogotá. In the 2024 Colombian competition his bars won Bronze (72%) and Silver (86%) — and beyond that, Murillo's cacao has earned recognition at the Paris Chocolate Salon and the Cacao of Excellence, one of the most prestigious cacao competitions in the world.
The 72% is the bar to find — floral nose, light tannic finish, very Meta. Distributed in Colombia mainly through JENDE Coffee and specialty cafés.
A world-class 72% from a region most Colombian chocolate drinkers haven't even tried yet. Don Leonel's bars are quietly setting the standard for Meta-origin cacao.
— JENDE Coffee tasting notes
A Meta micro-maker with Paris medals and a Colombian Bronze. Catch them before the prices double.
- Region
- Guamal, Meta
- Awards
- ICA Bronze 2024 (72%) + Silver 2024 (86%); Paris Chocolate Salon; Cacao of Excellence
- Origins
- Meta single-origin
- Price
- $$ — bars COP 16k–22k
- WhatsApp
- +57 315 692 9555 (via JENDE distributor)
8
Maluwa Chocolate Company
San Gil, Santander
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
ICA Bronze + Special Prize for Gastronomy, 2024
Founded in San Gil, Santander, in 2019, Maluwa won an unusual medal in 2024 — Bronze plus a Special Prize for Gastronomy for chocolate-and-corn-cake preparations (arepa de maíz pelao from Santander, layered with cacao). They're not strictly a bean-to-bar shop; they're a chocolate maker that thinks about chocolate as an ingredient inside Colombian traditions. The straight bars (75% sin azúcar, Origen Meta) are quietly excellent too.
Maluwa has been recognized by the ICAs in 2021 and 2023 as well — they're one of the most consistently entered Colombian makers on the international circuit.
Maluwa chocolates have exquisite, unparalleled flavor with unique and pleasant texture. They handle the best cacao from Colombia with incredible social responsibility.
— Customer review, Maluwa.co
A chocolate company that treats Colombian gastronomy as the canvas, not the afterthought. The corn-cake pairing is the move.
- Founded
- 2019, San Gil, Santander
- Awards
- ICA Bronze 2024 + Special Prize for Gastronomy; ICA recognized 2021, 2023
- Specialty
- Origen Meta 75% sin azúcar, corn-cake pairings
- Price
- $$ — bars COP 14k–22k
- WhatsApp
- +57 310 212 3075
9
Origen Cacao
San Roque, Antioquia
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
ICA Bronze 2024 — San Roque Vegan Milk 50% (85.9/100)
Origen Cacao is rooted in the Territorio de Origen Nature Reserve in San Roque, Antioquia — a 300-acre paradise with 5,000 cacao trees and 6,000 coffee trees, working Criollo cacao that they grow themselves. Their San Roque Vegan Milk 50% took Bronze at the 2024 Colombian competition with a score of 85.9 — a plant-based "milk" built around the body of fine Criollo cacao instead of dairy.
They pay above market price, source from Indigenous communities across Colombia, and run a ceremonial-cacao line alongside the chocolate bars.
Rounder than a dark bar, lighter than a milk bar. A vegan-milk chocolate built on Criollo body, not on coconut compromise.
— 2024 Colombian Chocolate Competition notes
A Santander–Antioquia maker doing the most interesting vegan-milk work in Colombia. The San Roque 50% is one of a kind.
- Region
- San Roque, Antioquia · Territorio de Origen reserve
- Awards
- ICA Bronze 2024 (San Roque Vegan Milk 50%, 85.9)
- Origins
- San Roque (Criollo)
- Price
- $$ — bars COP 16k–24k
- WhatsApp
- +57 300 451 8467
10
Chocolate Santander (Compañía Nacional de Chocolates)
Grupo Nutresa · Nationwide
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
First Colombian single-origin · Most accessible premium bar
Chocolate Santander
70% Cacao · Single-Origin Colombia
Chocolate Santander is the premium retail bar from Compañía Nacional de Chocolates (founded 1920, Grupo Nutresa) — the company that also makes Jet, Corona, and most of the cooking chocolate in Colombian pantries. Chocolate Santander itself is the first single-origin chocolate grown and produced in Colombia, made from Criollo and Trinitario beans from Santander, in 53%, 65%, 70%, and 80% bars, plus passion-fruit, coffee, and cacao-nib variants.
It will never beat Cacao Hunters or Sierra Sagrada on craft, but it's the easiest Colombian chocolate to find — every airport, every Carulla, every Éxito carries it — and the 70% punches well above its supermarket price.
Extremely smooth flavor and mouthfeel, not at all bitter. Complex, strong fruity undertones. One of the best per price — under $2 for an 80g bar.
— TheChocolateLife forum review
Not the best Colombian bar, but the most accessible serious one. Buy two at the airport on your way out.
- Parent
- Compañía Nacional de Chocolates (Grupo Nutresa), founded 1920
- Awards
- First Colombian single-origin chocolate
- Origins
- Santander
- Price
- $ — bars COP 8k–14k
