Yes, I love chocolate. Admitting it is the first step to telling yourself it is ok to buy more. Sometime in the last decade I decided that I was going to be a chocolate connoisseur. When I was studying in Australia, the dining hall never had any good dessert (you can only eat so much jello), so I wound up buying lots of Cadbury bars. I claim some Swiss heritage, maybe it is no coincidence that I love chocolate because the Swiss lead the world in per capita consumption with 23 pounds(!) per year. Consumption of chocolate by a country correlates strongly with Nobel Laureates per capita as well, according to a study in New England Journal Of Medecine!

For the 3000 years prior to 1847, chocolate was consumed as a drink and not a bar. Chocolate originated in Mesoamerica, but became a European tradition thinks to imperialism and enterprising confectioner-scientists.  I find it interesting that some of the earliest chocolate bar makers including Lindt, Hershey, Cadbury, and Nestle are still among the leaders in the chocolate world (and in the the case of Nestle – the biggest food company in the world).

This sampling is by no means a complete list of the worlds chocolate. I haven’t even been to West Africa, the worlds largest chocolate growing region! I’m sure there are some ridiculously expensive bars of chocolate that I haven’t even come across or tried yet (Take Anthony Bourdain’s $100 a pound Good and Evil bar for example). Luckily for you, most of these bars are only a few dollars and are fairly accessible within their regions if not worldwide.

One thing I have found to be most important when sampling chocolate – the temperature must be warm, preferably near to the point of melting, to enhance the speed and coverage at which the taste buds can contact the flavor molecules. Some folks like their chocolate to be thin to increase the surface area, but I prefer cube shaped pieces.

I love that eating chocolate forces heightened attention to taste and texture.  In a fancy restaurant, presentation of the food and the smell may enhance and influence our opinion of the food. Good chocolate on the other hand, looks like mediocre chocolate (with the exception of the wrapper), and emits only a faint aroma.  This forces the eating experience inside the mouth where smoothness and taste paint the complete picture of whether you like the chocolate or not.

To briefly clarify why I haven’t included white chocolate bars here, it is because I don’t consider it to be chocolate! It has no cacao solids in it, just cocoa butter and sugar and maybe some milk. It’s got fat and sugar, but none of the complex flavor you get from chocolate. However, If you like it, then by all means eat it up.  Which brings me to the most important point of judging the quality of a chocolate bar: if you like it, it is good chocolate!

All this is to simply remind you that chocolate is good for you and makes you smarter and is a unique food experience. Here are the results of my lifetime of “chocolate research”:

Top Milk Chocolate Bars:

Best overall:  TCHO New American Chocolate SeriousMilkâ„¢ “Classic” 39% Cacao. I don’t know how they do it but it so smoothy and caramelly. Kinda like Bulleit Burbon in a chocolate bar.

Most Reliable Worldwide –Lindt Classic Recipe. This bar is easy to find in airports and grocery stores around the world. This is by far the creamiest milk chocolate bar I have tried. Whenever I meet Swiss travelers, I ask them what their favorite chocolate is, and Lindt is usually the first one mentioned

Runner up worldwide – Ritter Sport, Alpine Milk. I have found this in many airports and remote locations, and I love the cube style molding of the bar.

Bulk Milk Bar: Trader Joe’s Pound Plus Milk Chocolate (Belgian sourced). When I want to make sure I have plenty of decent chocolate on hand.

Many chocolate fiends will tell you that dark chocolate is the only way to go. You do get more of the delicious subtle flavors and less fat and sugar (great for pretty much every diet), so they aught to be tastier and healthier. The cacao solids are what contribute to the health benefits, including a range of cardiovascular health and possible cognitive enhancement. I find 70-75% cacao is just about the magic concentration for me (over 80% and you can sacrifice some smoothness), and usually have a bar around to nibble on when I am writing (like my thesis or blog posts).

Top Dark Chocolate Bars:

Best Asian Bar: Marou Faiseurs De Chocolat Vietnamese Chocolate BEN TRE 78% bar. I loved this bar because it was like eating a seven course meal of chocolate. The flavors were constantly changing while savoring a piece of this bar from fruity to earthy to woody.

Honorable Mention Asian Bar: Cokelat Monggo – Indonesian Chocolate 58%. I consider this the dark chocolate bar for milk chocolate lovers (technically it only has 58% instead of 60%+) because of how smooth and creamy it is.

Best South American Bar: Kallari 75% Dark Chocolate. This may be my favorite bar I’ve tried. There is a great story behind these bars too Kallari (Kahl-ya-di) is the Kichwa verb that means “to begin” or “to commence”. Kallari is made by native Ecuadorian chocolate families in an effort to preserve their cultural heritage.

Best American Bar:

Chocolove Dark (77%) Extra Strong Maybe I’m a sucker for the love poem inside, but I keep coming back to this bar. Some chocolate bars you love one day and the next you could take it or leave it –  so I think I’ll go with my gut on this one (and the receipts prove this is what I buy more of).

Best Small Batch American:

Ritual Chocolate. My favorite is the Ritual Chocolate Costa Rica. I might be biased here as my friend Robbie Stout is the founder. I found this bar remarkably smooth, despite having no additional cocoa butter added back in.

Best African: TBD! I have never knowingly had an African chocolate bar, despite Africa’s cacao production.  Any recommendations?

Honorable Mentions:

Green & Black’s Organic Bar, Dark 70% Cocoa

Dagoba Organic Bar, New Moon

Ghirardelli Intense Dark Bar

Scharffen Berger, Velvet Dark Chocolate 72% Cacao

Question: What is your favorite chocolate bar? What do you think makes for good chocolate? Do you prefer yours in a bar, in a drink, or maybe a baked good? Leave your answer in the comments below!