Award-Winning Chocolates in Our Christmas Boxes

Our award-winning Christmas chocolates are individual flavours recognised by the Academy of Chocolate, Great Taste or both. Five of those flavours appear across our 2026 Christmas range, alongside other chocolates chosen to make each box varied and enjoyable.

A Christmas chocolate box can look impressive before it is opened, but the real test comes one chocolate at a time. Awards offer independent recognition for particular recipes, rather than automatically applying to every chocolate around them.

What does blind judging mean?

Harry Specters has received 35 chocolate awards across the Academy of Chocolate and Great Taste.

Both schemes use blind judging by industry professionals. Great Taste judging removes products from their original packaging and assesses them independently on taste, while also considering appearance, aroma, texture and ingredient quality. The Academy judging process uses approved judges with chocolate or food-industry experience and considers both subjective and objective factors.

Blind judging keeps the attention on the product rather than the brand name, packaging or wider story.

An award does not prove that everyone will prefer the same flavour. Chocolate remains personal. It shows that a named chocolate was assessed independently and met the standard of that particular judging scheme.

Five award-winning chocolates in our Christmas boxes

Pistachio

Pistachio has received recognition from both the Academy of Chocolate and Great Taste. Its filling combines pure pistachio butter with pistachio oil from the Loire Valley, enclosed in 40% organic milk chocolate.

It is a good example of why an award should be attached to an exact recipe. The recognition belongs to this filled chocolate and its particular balance of pistachio and milk chocolate, rather than to every pistachio product made under the Harry Specters name.

Banoffee

Banoffee is another double award-winner, recognised by both schemes. It brings the freshness of banana into a golden 40% organic milk chocolate caramel.

The flavour may sound familiar, but fruit, caramel and chocolate all need space to come through without one flattening the others.

Salted Lime

Salted Lime also holds awards from both the Academy of Chocolate and Great Taste. It pairs salted caramel with pure lime juice in Belgian 40% organic milk chocolate.

The caramel brings sweetness and salt, while the lime adds a sharper edge. It is a flavour with a clear identity that does not need an elaborate description.

Mango & Raspberry

Mango & Raspberry received a Great Taste award in 2022. It combines sweet mango and tangy raspberry purée in a ganache surrounded by 70% dark organic chocolate.

The fruit pairing brings sweetness and acidity, while the dark chocolate provides a deeper base. It adds a different chocolate type and flavour direction to the group of five.

Vanilla & Coconut

Vanilla & Coconut received an Academy of Chocolate award in 2023. The filling uses coconut cream infused with vanilla beans, enclosed in 40% organic milk chocolate.

Vanilla and coconut can both be gentle flavours, so the interest comes from how they sit together rather than from intensity. Within a mixed Christmas selection, that softer profile also contrasts with fruit, coffee, caramel and darker chocolates.

Which Christmas boxes contain them?

These five chocolates appear across the planned flavour lists for our Christmas chocolate range. The Christmas Luxe list includes all five, while the House Selection includes four and the Bit of Everything includes Vanilla & Coconut. The Ultimate and Christmas Advent Calendar also include all five, while the Signature includes four.

The Luxe, House Selection and Bit of Everything also include two festive message chocolates, made with white chocolate and a dark chocolate ganache. The filled chocolates they replace can vary depending on stock, so although these award-winning flavours are part of the planned selections, a particular one may not appear in every box.

Each box will still offer a varied mix of flavours, with the message chocolates adding an extra Christmas touch.

Why the whole selection still matters

Awards can help someone choose a Christmas gift with more confidence, but they are only one part of the box. A mixed selection still needs range: milk and dark chocolate, fruit and caramel, familiar flavours and less expected combinations.

The recognised chocolates bring independent validation into the selection. The rest of the box determines how those flavours sit together and what the recipient experiences from the first chocolate to the last.

That is the more useful meaning of “award-winning” at Christmas: not a badge placed over the whole box, but named chocolates with specific recognition, included within a wider selection designed to be enjoyed as a complete gift.