Fine and Flavour Cocoa Forum

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Day 1: Sunday 22 April 2018

Fine and Flavour Cocoa Forum (Berlin Room)

08:30 Registration

From niche to mainstream: spreading the taste for origin cocoa and quality chocolate to new and larger markets

Moderators: Martin Christy and Maricel Presilla

9:00 Introduction, Opening Remarks

Dr. Jean-Marc Anga, Executive Director, ICCO
Martin Christy, Director, International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting

9:10 An overview of the developments since the 2016 Fine and Flavour Forum in origin cocoas and chocolate products

Maricel Presilla, Founder IICCT & International Chocolate Awards, Gran Cacao Company, FCIA, James Beard award-winning chef and author of ‘The New Taste of Chocolate’ & 'Peppers of the Americas'

New Responses to Address Various Market Issues:

9:30 Standards and tools for evaluating fine cacao and chocolate

Dr Darin Sukha, Research Fellow, Cocoa Research Centre of the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago
Dr. Alex Rast, UK, IICCT, Seventy%, University of Southampton
Martin Christy
Maricel Presilla

10:10 Do certified and ethical products work in conjunction with fine cacao?
Speakers to include a farmer /co-operative and a chocolate producer 


10.40 Panel: How Fine and Flavour cocoa can increase farmer income / Productivity and Profit

Frank Homann: Honduras/Denmark, Founder and CEO, Xoco

Guido Castanga: Italy, Award-winning artisanal bean-to-bar chocolatier, giandujotti maker, author, TV personality

11.10 Cocoa Break

11:30 Examining the increase in small-scale production: can cocoa emulate the rise of speciality coffee?

Warren Hsu: Taiwan, CEO, Executive Chef and Chocolate Maker, Fu Wan Chocolate Resort
Spencer Hyman, Cocoa Runners (UK)

12.00 Assessing the threat from cadmium legislation on fine cocoa origins and on small chocolate makers

Mikkel Friis-Holm: Denmark, Award-winning bean-to-bar chocolate maker, chef
Esteban Tinoco, Economist, International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) (Ecuador)
Carmen Rosa Chavez, Peru Ministry of Agriculture (Peru)

12:30 Lunch Break (independent)

Latest Developments in some of the most innovative Fine and Flavour origins:

14.00 Latest Developments in some of the most innovative Fine and Flavour origins: (government and/or industry representatives)

14.00 Nicaragua H.E. Mr. Orlando Solórzano, Minister of Development, Industry and Commerce 

14:10 Ecuador (Representative TBA)

14:20 Dominican Republic H.E. Mr. Federico Cuello, Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland

14:30 Madagascar H.E. Mr. Chabani Nourdine, Minister of Trade and Consumption, Chairman of the National Cocoa Council 

14:40 Peru (Representative TBA)

14:50 New Approaches to Promoting Quality Chocolate: The View of a Successful Supplier to the German Market

Michaela Schupp, Owner Chocolats-de-luxe.de, online fine chocolate retailer (Germany)

Ciaran Close, Hover Chocolates, (Germany)

Iveta Kilianová, Hover Chocolates, (Germany)

Katharina Zeilinger, Belyzium Craft Chocolate, (Germany),

15:30 Cocoa Break

15:50 Introducing the World’s Finest Chocolate

16:10 Roundtable Discussions

Table 1: Standards and tools for evaluating fine cacao and chocolate
Table 2: Sustainability, certification and labelling in the fine and flavour cocoa sector
Table 3: Productivity and Farmer incomes in Fine Cacao
Table 4: Marketing for end Consumers
Table 5: Cadmium legislation and it effect on the fine cocoa and chocolate sectors

16:55 Forum Closing Session

Meet the Winners of the International Chocolate Awards and hear why they won. Hear descriptions and join tastings, with award-winning chocolate makers and the farmers that grew the cacao

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