Local chocolate maker, coffee brewer nationally recognized

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Two local companies are getting national recognition from the Good Food Foundation for their award-winning products.

More than 2,000 entries were submitted across 18 categories, attempting to take home a Good Food Award. The Good Food Foundation explained its judging process as one of taste and “commitment to sustainable environmental and social practices.”

237 food and drink producers across the U.S. were crowned winners, two of them being Lancaster’s Dark Forest Chocolate and Buffalo’s Tipico Coffee Roasters.

Dark Forest Chocolate, located on W. Main Street, was named a winner for its Cinnamon Pepper Milk Chocolate. It’s the third time they’ve won a Good Food Award, and this year.

“The chocolate features Mesoamerican flavors of cinnamon and spicy hot pepper in a 50 percent dark milk chocolate.”

Tipico Coffee Roasters’ winning submission was their Guatemala Las Moritas Pacamara blend.

“We’ve found yellow cherries to produce more floral notes, and Pacamara is noted for its enormous bean size and interesting flavor profile,” Tipico’s website says.

The winners were awarded in Portland, Oregon this past Friday. Nearly half (46%) of this year’s winners were first-time awardees. Most of them are small businesses with less than $1 million in yearly revenue.

“The 237 winners here tonight are following singular visions of excellence, subverting an every man for himself mentality, all the while changing norms, opening minds, building a more connected society…[they are] using food to create an impact that reaches far beyond the plate, compounding year over year into a cultural shift that was unimaginable at the onset,” Good Food Founder and Executive Director Sarah Weiner said.