Fu Wan Chocolate

Home: Pingtung County, Taiwan
Chocolate Model: Tree to bar / bean to bar
Cacao Origin: Taiwan
Signature Series: Taiwan #1 Ping-Tung
Specialities: Taiwanese cacao, tea and local ingredients
Known for: Fermentation and origin-focused Taiwanese chocolate
Visit Fu Wan Chocolate

Discovering the Flavour of Taiwanese Cacao

Taiwan may be better known internationally for tea than cacao, but a growing chocolate movement has been changing that perception. At the centre of that movement is Fu Wan Chocolate, based in Pingtung County in southern Taiwan, where the subtropical climate supports the cultivation of cacao.

Rather than importing cacao and simply making chocolate in Taiwan, Fu Wan has built much of its identity around Taiwan-grown cacao. The company works closely with local growers while transforming cacao into finished chocolate near the farms where it is cultivated.

The result is a distinctly Taiwanese approach to craft chocolate — one that connects agriculture, fermentation, chocolate making and local flavour.

Building Chocolate Around Pingtung Cacao

Pingtung provides an unusual setting for chocolate production. Cacao is grown alongside other tropical crops in southern Taiwan, giving Fu Wan access to beans produced within its own region. That proximity allows the chocolate maker to pay particular attention to an increasingly important stage of fine chocolate production: fermentation.

Fu Wan has experimented extensively with fermentation and post-harvest processing to explore how those decisions affect cacao flavour.

The company’s Taiwan #1 Ping-Tung series has become particularly associated with this work. Different percentages, roasting profiles and fermentation techniques allow the same regional cacao to reveal noticeably different characteristics. That approach helped bring international attention not only to Fu Wan, but to the possibility of Taiwanese cacao as a fine-flavour origin.

International Awards Put Taiwan on the Chocolate Map

Fu Wan began attracting significant international attention through the International Chocolate Awards.

In 2017, its Taiwan No.1 62% received Asia-Pacific Gold recognition for Chocolate Maker, Directly Traded and Growing Country. In 2018, Taiwan #9 70% Double Ferment Rough Ground was named the Asia-Pacific competition’s best plain/origin dark chocolate. The following year, Taiwan #8 70% Premium Roast received the same top regional distinction.

The awards have continued.

At the 2024 World Final, Taiwan #3 Ping-Tung Black Sugar 70% and Taiwan #8 Ping-Tung Premium Roast 70% both earned silver medals, while several other Fu Wan chocolates received bronze recognition.

At the 2025 World Final, Fu Wan’s Taiwan #1 Ping-Tung Dark 100%, River 100% and Taiwan #1 Ping-Tung Dark 85% all received silver medals.

More important than the medal count is what those results represent: Taiwan-grown cacao competing internationally as an origin in its own right.

Taiwanese Tea Meets Taiwanese Chocolate

Fu Wan’s chocolate also reflects another important part of Taiwan’s culinary identity: tea. Its flavoured chocolates have paired cacao with Tie-Guan-Yin, Red Oolong, Red Jade and other Taiwanese teas.

These aren’t merely decorative additions. Tea and cacao both depend heavily on variety, growing conditions and careful processing, making them natural partners for a chocolate maker interested in fermentation and aroma.

Fu Wan’s Taiwan Tie-Guan-Yin Tea 62% won Gold at the 2020–21 International Chocolate Awards World Final, while Red Jade Tea and Red Oolong versions also received medals. The combination gives Fu Wan something particularly distinctive: chocolate that can express two agricultural traditions associated with the same island.

Chocolate Flavoured by Taiwan

Tea is only part of Fu Wan’s exploration of local ingredients. The company has created chocolates using Magao, an aromatic indigenous Taiwanese spice often described as mountain pepper, along with Taiwanese black and white pepper, local flowers, fruit and spirits.

Fu Wan’s Taiwan Magao 62% received Gold and a special Local Ingredients award at the 2020 Asia-Pacific competition. That same competition recognised several of its tea chocolates for their use of local ingredients.

These combinations allow Fu Wan to approach flavour differently from a European chocolate house.

Instead of interpreting chocolate primarily through established European confectionery traditions, it asks what fine chocolate might taste like when its cacao and its flavour vocabulary come from Taiwan.

Creating a Taiwanese Chocolate Identity

Fu Wan’s significance extends beyond individual chocolate bars. Its work demonstrates how a cacao-growing region can develop a chocolate identity around its own agriculture rather than simply supplying raw beans to manufacturers elsewhere.

Pingtung cacao provides the foundation. Fermentation and roasting reveal its character. Taiwanese tea, spices and other ingredients then connect that cacao to a broader sense of place.

That makes Fu Wan part of a larger change taking place across Asia, where craft makers are demonstrating that fine chocolate doesn’t have to imitate European traditions to earn international recognition.

For Fu Wan, the most interesting question isn’t simply whether Taiwan can produce excellent chocolate. It is what chocolate can taste like when it is unmistakably Taiwanese.

Featured in the latest edition of Chocolate Affairs Magazine.