Can you imagine a world without chocolate? No? But will it always be available and what are the challenges the makers face today? And did you know, just like wine, the taste of your chocolate varies depending on where the cocoa comes from? You can learn about all of this at Chocolate Festival. Chocoa Festival is the place where you learn the process from bean to bar, discover the wide variety of flavours in good cocoa and better chocolate, taste many food pairings while being guided by your favourite chocolate makers.

A two day Chocolate Festival in the heart of Amsterdam! Tasting, enjoying and discovering new flavours with wine, coffee and craft beer at the more than 85 stands. Take a journey through the cocoa chain and learn how chocolate is being made from bean to bar. A full day programme of tastings and presentations given by experts.

Learn everything you have ever wanted to know about the magical world of chocolate:

• Meet the renowned chocolate makers and experts
• Vote in the Hot Chocolate Awards with Janny van der Heijden (Sunday), famously known for her cooking books, and TV programmes Tijd voor Max and Heel Holland Bakt
• Test your choco-knowledge during the “Let’s Talk Chocolate” Consumer Debate and take the Quiz with Janny!
• Taste different chocolates from amazing patissiers and chocolatiers
• Combine chocolate with different liquors in tastings
• Understand developments of sustainable chocolate production and how chocolate is made.
• Bring your children along to the Kids Corner where you can paint, color and get creative! Also listen to Sjakie and the Chocolate Factory stories every hour in the Kids Corner. Also, find pingpong and table football games in de Effectenbeurszaal for the bigger kids!

Hot Chocolate Awards (Saturday and Sunday, award ceremony Sunday afternoon)

For the second time, international chocolate makers will be competing, this time for the title “Best Hot Chocolate of the Netherlands 2019”. Taste hot chocolate like you have never before: you can join us in the jury by tasting and voting throughout the weekend. The professional jury will be chaired by renown tv personality Janny van der Heijden, together with other experts. She will guide the audience through the competition, tasting result and congratulating this years’ winner.

Click here for a video featuring the Hot Chocolate Awards

Let’s Talk Chocolate! (14:00-15:00 on 23 February 2019, in the Effectenbeurszaal)

Join the discussion on sustainability in the cocoa chain during the Consumer Debate!

The Dutch consumer is confronted with so many sustainability initiatives. Every product on the market has a logo or a certificate and that is no different when buying chocolate. That does not make choices easy for the responsible consumer. In fact, it can drive you insane! What should you pay attention to when buying sustainable chocolate? What do all these certificates mean? What does sustainability mean in the cocoa sector? The consumer debate of Chocoa will provide clarity for the consumer. Speakers from Mondelez International, Tony Chocolonely, Rainforest Alliance, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) will talk about their role in the chain and respond to provocative statements. The audience is invited to give their opinion and the speakers are open to questions.

Check out our full overview of 2019 Festival exhibitors here!

Follow us for updates on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for updates and inspiration.