Sirene Chocolate

Exploring the World Through Cacao

Victoria, British Columbia
info@sirenechocolate.com

From its home in Victoria, British Columbia, Sirene Chocolate has built its reputation around a deceptively simple idea: cacao from different farms and regions should be allowed to taste different.

Founded in 2013, the family-run Canadian chocolate company makes chocolate directly from cacao beans, carefully selecting beans for both their quality and their distinctive flavour characteristics. Rather than masking those differences, Sirene uses its bars to invite chocolate lovers to explore them.

Discovering Chocolate from Bean to Bar

Bean-to-bar chocolate gives makers control over much more of the process than simply working with finished couverture. For Sirene, that begins with sourcing.

The company seeks ethically grown cacao and takes time to understand the farms behind the beans. It also searches for particularly flavourful cacao, including heirloom varieties, before bringing the beans to Victoria for chocolate making.

That approach turns a chocolate bar into something closer to a tasting experience. Just as coffee or wine can express differences in origin, cacao can reveal dramatically different flavours depending on where and how it was grown and processed.

Putting Cacao Flavour First

Sirene’s dark chocolate collection provides one of the clearest expressions of this philosophy. Different cacao origins are made into bars that allow the character of the beans to remain at the centre of the experience.

The company also makes dark milk chocolate, combining the character of cacao with the softer sweetness that milk provides, as well as a range of 100 per cent cacao bars without added sugar.

Sirene has expanded beyond bars into drinking chocolate and other formats, but its emphasis remains on understanding cacao rather than treating chocolate as a single, standardized flavour.

Canadian Chocolate with International Recognition

That focus has brought Sirene significant recognition in international chocolate competitions.

At the 2017 International Chocolate Awards Americas competition, Sirene’s Tingo Maria bar earned gold in the plain/origin dark chocolate category. It also received special gold distinctions for both Chocolate Maker and Directly Traded.

Sirene has continued to appear among International Chocolate Awards winners. Its Kokoa Kamili 100% and Rio Jari bars earned silver in 2019, while Tingo Maria received bronze.

During the 2021–22 Americas competition, Sirene’s Pataxte and Tingo Maria bars earned silver medals, with Pataxte also receiving a Canadian national gold distinction. Its Ch’abil dark milk chocolate earned another silver.

Making Chocolate with Transparency

Sirene’s approach also extends to what does — and does not — go into its chocolate.

Because the company makes its own chocolate, it maintains direct control over ingredients and production. Sirene states that its chocolates are nut-free, soy-free and gluten-free. Milk chocolate is produced using dedicated machinery separate from its dark chocolate equipment.

That attention to sourcing, flavour and production reflects the broader evolution of Canada’s craft chocolate movement. Chocolate is no longer simply being moulded or flavoured in Canada; makers are increasingly engaging with cacao from the bean onward.

By treating cacao origin as something worth exploring, Sirene Chocolate has helped demonstrate how a Canadian maker can connect consumers in British Columbia with farms and flavours from across the cacao-growing world.