Organized by industry consultant Curtis Vreeland, the first Next Generation Chocolatier Competition was held two years ago in an attempt to seek out up and coming chocolatiers who hadn’t yet achieved national recognition in some form or another. This year’s competition relaxed the rules for entry and saw many established chocolatiers provide work for judging including several chocolatiers who participated in the first competition.

Sponsored in part by World Tea Expo, Tea Magazine, Ito En, and the specialty tea company Harney and Sons, the theme for this year’s competition was tea-infused chocolates ...

Criteria for inclusion in the competition included being an American-based company and using artisan production methods (such as being handmade, made in small batches, and relying upon fresh, premium ingredients).

Thirty-one samples were submitted by 18 chocolatiers who used a wide and creative variety of tea infusions: green tea, Earl Grey, matcha, oolong, genmaicha, Sri Lankan black tea, and several tisanes.  Nine chocolates were selected as finalists. Awards were given in four categories: Best of Show, Best Flavor, Best Signature Piece, and People’s Choice. And the winners were/are:

Best of Show was awarded to Kristy Choo of Venice, CA-based Jin Patisserie, for Spice, a combination of dark chocolate with Sri Lanka Black Tea and spices.

Best Flavor given for the best balance of chocolate and tea flavors, was awarded to Michael Krug and Larry Burdick of Walpole, NH-based L.A. Burdick Chocolate for their Rose Hip Tea Bonbon and to Christopher Elbow of Kansas City, MO-based Christopher Elbow for his Earl Gray Ganache.

Best Signature Piece given for the most creative chocolate, went to Andrew Shotts of Providence, RI-based Garrison Confections for his Sri Lankan Black Bergamot Tea Bonbon.

People’s Choice, voted by attendees at the Awards Ceremony, went to Kee Ling Tong of New York City-based Kee’s Chocolates for her Green Tea White Chocolate Truffle.

The judges for the competition were Eric Case (Northeast Sales Director, Guittard Chocolate Company), Serge Decrauzat (Pastry Chef, Valrhona), Queenie Fok (Head Tea Taster, SerendipiTea), Nicole Kaplan (Pastry Chef, Eleven Madison Park Restaurant), Joyce Weinberg (Principal, NYC Food Tours & Events) and Judiaann Woo (Editor-in-Chief, PastryScoop.com).  Other event sponsors included E. Guittard, Corigins, Valrhona, ChocoVision, SerendipiTea, AspecialityBox, PastryScoop.com, and Tomric Plastics.