MALAGOS CHOCOLATE Premium Philippine-made chocolates launched in the US

(Award-winning, single-origin chocolates from Davao, Philippines make their premiere at two major US cities.)

Chocolates from the Philippines made their grand debut in the United States November 2016. The Davao-based Malagos Agri-Ventures, maker of the internationally acclaimed Malagos Premium Chocolates, will premiere its multi-awarded, all-natural, single-origin chocolates in two major cities in the United States. First at one of the world’s top shows for chocolates, the Northwest Chocolate Festival in Seattle, Washington on November 12 and 13, 2016, over 45 chocolate makers from 12 countries who showcased the best of their products.

This was followed by special events in Chicago, Illinois where its importer, Ampac International Inc., previewed its products at UNI-MART Niles in Niles on November 17, and UNIMART Hoffman in Hoffman Estates on November 18.

The Malagos line of chocolates has received acclaim from international fine food and chocolate award-giving bodies in Europe for its premium qualities. Malagos chocolates are single-origin, having been manufactured fully on-site on its farm in Davao, located on the Philippines’s southernmost island of Mindanao.

Single-origin chocolates command a premium because of their unique taste profile and limited supply. The price difference can reach as much as three times the price of chocolate beans traded on the commodities market. Single-origin chocolate is made using ingredients coming from the same region, and is wholly manufactured within the area where the cacao bean is grown. This adds value to the products made from this cocoa, not to mention it generates more local employment and adds to the economic activity of its country of origin.

However, it is still difficult to distinguish between true single-origin chocolates and those that harvest single-origin beans in one country but manufacture the end-product elsewhere. This is in part because of the restrictive inputs, namely the investment and technical knowledge needed to see the product from end to end.

“We invested heavily in both technology and knowhow to make it possible for us in Davao to make these high-quality, single-origin chocolates,” said Rex Puentespina, the Chocolate Maker and Sales & Marketing head of the family-owned company.

Puentespina said that the company works closely with more than 40 small farmers in the area, using cacao beans harvested from trees growing in the foothills of Mount Talomo in Davao. The area is a highly diverse agricultural zone on Mindanao island, which is known for both fruit trees and orchids.

Malagos Agri-Ventures Corp. started making premium single-origin cocoa liquor in 2012, building on the training it received from the Mars Cocoa Sustainability Team on how to grow & produce high-quality cacao beans. While the PUM (Programma Uitzending Managers), an organization of senior experts based in Netherlands, provided the company the much-needed technical assistance on chocolate making. The company also invested heavily in machinery – buying solar dryers, precisioncontrolled roasters, ball mill grinders and tempering machines to enable them to control the process from end to end.

Malagos Agri-Venture grows Trinitario clones, a cross between the Criollo and Forastero varieties, specifically and predominantly the UF 18, BR 25 and PBC 123 clones. These beans are considered as fine flavor beans and are manually harvested by farmers and then fermented on the farm to further enhance naturally their complex flavor.

Malagos chocolates have already won international acclaim from several professional chocolate award-winning bodies.

At the 2015 International Chocolate Awards, its Malagos 65% Dark Chocolate was named one of world’s best drinking chocolates. In the same year, it won at the Academy of Chocolate Awards when its 100% Unsweetened Chocolate won the Bronze Award for Best Unflavored Drinking Chocolate.

In 2016, its Premium 100% Unsweetened Chocolate won the Silver at the Drinking Chocolate competition of the Academy of Chocolate’s Eighth Golden Bean Awards in London. It also won that year a blind-taste competition when its Unsweetened Chocolate earned two of the maximum three stars awarded by Great Taste, the world’s most prestigious food accreditation body.

The company continues to invest in equipment and technology, producing its premium, single- origin chocolate products such as Malagos 100% Pure Unsweetened Chocolate, Malagos Roasted Cocoa Nibs, Malagos 65% Dark Chocolate, Malagos 72% Dark Chocolate, and Malagos 85% Dark Chocolate.

ABOUT MALAGOS AGRI-VENTURES CORP.

MalagosAgri-Ventures Corporation produces single-origin premium chocolates from cacao trees grown in the foothills of Mount Talomo in the Davao region of Mindanao Island in the southern Philippines. Its chocolates are sold in select stores in the Philippines, as well as distributed in Singapore, Australia, Japan and the United States.

Malagos Agri-Ventures Corporation is a family-owned corporation established in 2012 and is based Purok 2, Barangay Malagos, Baguio District, Davao City. It is a member of the Puentespina Group of Companies. The group is engaged in various agricultural and fine foods enterprises including Hydrock Wells, Inc; Puentespina Orchids and Tropical Plants, Inc,;

(Left) The official cake-cutting for the launching of the Malagos Chocolate at UniMart Niles, showing, from left, the Puentespina family (Jen, Charita & Rex) from Davao, owners of Malagos Chocolate; Andrew Przybylo, Mayor of Niles, IL, Sebastian Cualoping, owner of Unimart, and Consul General Generoso D. G. Calonge of the Philippine General of the Philippines. (Right) Table display of Malagos Chocolates, 100% Pure-All Natural.