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Within the battle between milk and darkish chocolate, I’d select the previous each time. And but, right here I’m, knee-deep in darkish chocolate bars making an attempt to call the perfect darkish chocolate of all of them. Let me be clear: it’s not that I don’t like darkish chocolate, I’m simply typically not as keen on some bars’ bitterness or overly fruit-forward flavors. When a craving strikes, I choose clean, milky chocolate. However as I’ve found, all it took was a easy style check of the perfect darkish chocolate manufacturers to vary my tune.
My brother is extra recognized in our household for his defining attribute of snacking on cacao nibs and cocoa. (Sure, actually.) He thrives on darkish chocolate. My dad lands someplace between the 2 of us, and my mother, properly, she may take it or go away it.
After a heated debate on the benefit of darkish chocolate, my brother and I made a decision it was time for a taste-off. Very similar to my earlier bake-off competitions (these pistachio cookies are nonetheless a favourite and don’t let anybody let you know pumpkin bread is just for the autumn), we approached this competitors among the many top-tier darkish chocolate manufacturers with some tips to crown the perfect tasting darkish chocolate.
Rating Guardrails
All candies had been tasted at room temperature and served with palate cleansers in between. We caught to solely the 70% (ish) chocolate bars that had been obtainable within the HEB sweet aisle. (Sadly, whereas I’m informed the Valhrona Darkish Chocolate Bar is properly definitely worth the hype, it was sadly not available.)
As a result of my brother is a darkish chocolate connoisseur, I requested him what he regarded for in rating these bars. Right here’s what he mentioned.
Taste
Actually, I wasn’t anticipating any of our chosen stack of chocolate bars to style in another way from one another. However by means of the method, I used to be pleasantly stunned to find distinct variations in taste. For the needs of our style check, we had been in search of a bar that offered its personal distinctive taste with out leaning too candy or fruity. We needed a steadiness of flavors with the cocoa. The true check: which is the bar that we return to for one more sq.? (Let’s be clear, none of us are skilled chocolate tasters, so we simply needed chocolate that tasted good.)
Texture
All of us agreed that our favourite candies are clean on our tongue and never chalky or chunky. A correctly tempered chocolate ought to have a pleasant snap to it.
Aroma
I solely added this one to the rating checklist as a result of my brother mentioned it was necessary, however I really feel prefer it’s self-explanatory.
On the finish of our tasting, I really discovered myself with a couple of new additions to my rotation, a couple of that I’ll reserve for chopping into chocolate chip cookies, and some that I’ll stick to purchasing the milk chocolate counterparts. So with out additional ado, listed here are the outcomes of our quest to call the perfect darkish chocolate of all of them.
Style-Off: The Greatest Darkish Chocolate
6. Inexperienced and Black’s Natural 70% Darkish Chocolate
I’m a Inexperienced and Black’s Milk Chocolate STAN. I dwell for it and replenish after they go on sale at Entire Meals, so I hoped for this one to rank increased than it did between the three of us.
The flavour was solely OK, leaning towards barely smoky and astringent, in line with my brother. The feel was additionally simply fantastic, and we had been hoping for a bit extra smoothness as we had been consuming it. General, this one fell into final place as a result of it was precisely that—fantastic. I’ll proceed hyping up the milk chocolate selection although and save this bar for some imminent chocolate chip cookie baking.
5. Ghirardelli 72% Twilight Delight
I dwell for the Ghirardelli milk and caramel-filled varieties. Signal me up all day on daily basis. However this bar sadly missed the mark. My brother famous that the flavour really leans smoky and has an virtually licorice notice to it. My dad mentioned it was barely bitter with a fruity aftertaste. My brother did name out that he didn’t get pleasure from this bar’s aroma, reminding him of over-roasted espresso. (Be happy to DM him to debate the significance of aroma in chocolate.) Once more, this bar is nothing to jot down residence about however will discover a good residence in some cookie dough.
4. Chocolove 70% Robust Darkish Chocolate
Taste-wise, this chocolate bar was alright. All three of us agreed that the fruitiness of this bar was simply delicate sufficient to be nice. Nonetheless, texture-wise, we had some qualms. The chocolate didn’t soften easily over our tongues as we ate it. I wouldn’t name it fairly chalky, however total we simply needed extra textural enjoyment. I’ve not tried the milk chocolate counterpart right here however can be including it to the checklist to check since I favored the flavour of this one.
3. Lindt 70% Darkish Chocolate
We’re Lindt chocolate truffle followers in my home, so I used to be excited to do that bar. The flavour undoubtedly leans towards the milder and sweeter facet. As a milk chocolate lover I personally didn’t thoughts it, however my brother known as it barely weaker in taste than a number of the different bars. The feel although was clean with a pleasant snap to the bar. We loved this bar total and got here again a few times for an additional sq..
2. Tony’s Chocolonely 70% Darkish Chocolate
I really hadn’t tried any of Tony’s chocolate earlier than this, although I’ve noticed it within the aisles of Dealer Joe’s. This chocolate had the boldest and fruitiest taste of all of the bars we tried. It was brilliant in taste, which my brother actually loved. Personally, as a milk chocolate individual, I might have favored it to be a bit milder. However total, I assumed the flavour was good for darkish chocolate and loved the graceful texture. We do want the bar was barely thinner, as the massive chunks do make it arduous to interrupt off a chunk. And naturally, this bar was a transparent winner when it got here to aesthetics.
1. Perugina 70% Bittersweet Chocolate
Actually, this bar was the underdog of our group, so all three of us had been shocked that we loved it essentially the most. It was the one bar we ate in its entirety throughout our tasting. What set it aside was the flavour. It has nutty, coconut-infused tasting notes whereas the feel is tremendous wealthy and creamy. This bar wasn’t bitter in any respect, delicate sufficient to transform any darkish chocolate hater, and the proper bar to achieve for when the chocolate craving strikes. I used to be shocked to discover a darkish chocolate bar that I might really purchase once more and that my brother favored it as properly. Lesson realized, by no means rely out the underdog.
Closing Ideas
General, with regards to discovering the perfect darkish chocolate, there’s one thing on the market for everybody. And I’ll even give my brother his I-told-you-so second. Now that I’ve tried a couple of completely different sorts of darkish chocolate, I’m in a position to level to issues I favored and disliked about each that retains me open to making an attempt new ones to have available.
Whereas these are simply the choice from the grocery retailer, I do have some extra gourmand and smaller bean-to-bar selections that I really like:
Past Good Darkish Chocolate Bar
Spring & Mulberry Darkish Chocolate Bar
Hu Kitchen Darkish Chocolate Bar
And should you’re in search of that good bar with the prettiest wrapping, seek the advice of our checklist of the perfect “standing chocolate bars.” As a result of when the parents you’re keen on are craving one thing candy, why not give them the perfect—and most aesthetic—choice?
This publish was final up to date on June 6, 2025 to incorporate new insights.
