A unique chocolate tea produced by an artisan Kingsteignton chocolate producer has won a coveted taste award.

Barbers Bean to Bar single-origin Peruvian Wholebean Cocoa Tea was awarded one of only two three-star accolades granted across the whole of Devon in the recent Great Taste Awards.

Three stars are the highest honour in the Great Taste Awards. They are only given to ‘extraordinarily tasty food and drink’ and achieved by less than 2% of this years entries.

Barbers Bean to Bar describes the cocoa tea as ‘a healthy alternative to hot chocolate’. The cocoa tea is blended with a mixture of whole cocoa beans, cocoa husks, black tea and herbs.

Founder Michael Barber had previously used the cocoa husks from his chocolate bar in the garden. However, he thought they might be nice to drink and came up with the idea of ‘non-guilty hot chocolate’ – cocoa tea.

As well as being made from what would have been a waste product of chocolate production, the cocoa tea underpins its sustainability credentials with its bags that are made from wood tree sap and are completely biodegradeable.

Barbers Bean to Bar was also awarded one-star awards for its Honduran Dark Chocolate 75% bar and its Peruvian Raspberry Pink Chocolate 35% bar. Less than 30% of entries to the Great Taste Awards get one-star, which are awarded to ‘food and drink that deliver fantastic flavour’.

Other winners of the Great Taste Awards include Frenchbeer Farm near Newton Abbot who received two stars for their organic turkeys. Buckfastleigh’s Fresh Flour Company, was awarded two stars for their sourdough chocolate digestive biscuits and their ramen noodles and one star for their casarecce, orzo and spaghetti. Newton Abbot’s Little and Cull got two stars for Tom’s Pies Steak and Ale Pie and their Whitbread Steak Shin and Ale Pie and one star for Tom’s Pies Chicken, Ham Hock and Leek Pie. Teignmouth’s Dark Bar Drinks gained one star for their Pad Mai Tai. And Buckfastleigh’s Luscombe Drinks’ Sicilian Lemonade, Sicilian Citrus Crush and Devon Tonic Water were all awarded one star.

Winners can use the certification on their labels for three years.