What are the Best Chocolate Bars in the World?

Chocolate bars are the best way to sample great chocolate at a reasonable price. While some selected chocolates go for $80/pound, the best high end chocolate bars can be bought for less than $6

HERE IS OUR SELECTION OF THE BEST CHOCOLATE BARS

Michel Cluizel -- "La Boutique Michel Cluizel" (alias "La Fontaine au Chocolat) displays Michel Cluizel's main products in the heart of Paris, 201 rue Saint Honoré. Since 1948, Michel Cluizel is one of the rare chocolate manufacturers to process cocoa beans. Assisted by his four children, he elaborates exceptional chocolates in his Chocolaterie, in the south of Normandy. Selections: Created in Michel Cluizel's chocolaterie, with a blend of cocoa beans from several origins, these fine dark and milk chocolate stand out from others by their cocoa content or specific added ingredients. Noir de Cacao 72% Grand Noir 85% Noir Infini 99% Noir au Café (coffee) Noir aux Ecorces d'Orange (orange peel) Noir au Grué de Cacao (cocoa nibs) Noir au Praliné à l'Ancienne Grand Lait 45% (milk) Grand Lait aux Noisettes (milk / haselnuts) What to try: Noir au Grué de Cacao (cocoa nibs) Dark chocolate : 60% cocoa This 'grué' is made from small fragments of cocoa beans specifically produced by the Island of Santo Domingo. After fermentation and drying, the beans are roasted, their shells removed, then ground and blended with the chocolate for a fine chocolate-cocoa harmony. A branch is now located in ABC carpets, NYC.

Galler Jean Galler was born into a luxury dessert environment. He worked in the family confectioner’s shop founded by his grandfather in 1930 and he has kept this passion since then. To develop his knowledge and discover new savours, he studied in Basel (Switzerland), then with Gaston Lenôtre in Paris. At 21 years old, he launched his own enterprise. 30 years later, the foundations of the company remain the same -- Galler bars dark chocolate range from 60-85%

Valrhona Chocolate -- - Valrhona Chocolate continues to be one of our favorites and it has been accessible throughout the world. Many restaurants will use this product in their pastries. And it is even recommended by the Great Pastry Pierre Hermes in his pastry book. Perhaps the best choice in cooking is to purchase the large blocks. Products: Chef Grand Cru and Domain Dark Chocolate - Classic Dark Chocolate - Milk Chocolate and White Chocolate - Pure cocoa -- - Ground praline - Gianduja - Almond paste/marzipan

La Maison du Chocolat Created in 1977 by Robert Linxe. la Maison du Chocolat sets the benchmark for his unusual and subtle associations of natural flavors coupled with chocolates from different origins. Main boutique shops are located in Paris, New York, and London. Chocolate can be purchased online. La Maison du Chocolat remains our favorite pick.

Bonnat Chocolate -- Master chocolate makers, Raymond and Stéphane Bonnat, select only the finest cocoa classics to make their chocolates in Voiron which nestles right in the heart of the Chartreuse mountains. All of the cocoas used are shipped in from the finest cocoa plantations in the world in the form of beans. They are then roasted and transformed into the wonderful chocolates you are about to discover, compare and taste. IVORY COAST : a basic cocoa from Africa with a deliciously light flavour MADAGASCAR : a blonde, sweet cocoa from the Indian Ocean, fruity to the taste and well-balanced CEYLAN : a hearty cocoa with a nevertheless smooth, rounded taste filled with the flavours of Asia TRINITY : strong, rich-tasting cocoa bursting with sunshine from the West Indies and a flavour which intensifies as is melts in your mouth. A “must” amongst the finest cocoas CHUAO : from the cocoa paradise of Venezuela with its powerful, warm taste, this cocoa is the undisputed King of Kings amongst the finest cocoas EQUADOR : this sunny-coloured cocoa from South America, has a subtle and delicate taste with a hint of honey and flowers. PUERTO CABELLO : remarkable for its fine texture and robust flavour. Another Venezuelan cocoa which lingers lovingly in the mouth.

Slitti Chocolate -- The Slitti Company was established in 1969 as a Coffee Roasting Workshop by Luciano Slitti. In 1988 they moved on to working with chocolate. In 1996 Chantal Coady ("The Chocolate Companion") was signalled as one of the best chocolate masters in the world.

Enric Rovira -- Here is someone to watch, having come from nowhere in 5 years. One of the better known ones, his stuff is available in specialist stores outside Spain. He’s innovative with tastes and packaging, lots of nuts, lots of fruit and likes concepts, “The Planets” being an example.

Lindt Excellence Dark 85% -- The passion and expertise of Lindt's master chocolatiers have culminated in a gourmet bar, par Excellence. Excellence 85% Cocoa is an exceptional Dark Chocolate that embodies the essence of cocoa beans with its characteristic robust flavor that dark chocolate enthusiasts will savor "Astonishingly, Lindt has lapped the field here and produced what is simply the best extra bitter chocolate in production. Besting such stiff competition as Cluizel and Castelain, Lindt has achieved the near-unbelievable for a mass-market chocolatier - made a great chocolate. Simply the essence of what an 85% should be - powerfully intense, densely chocolatey, and without that flatness that so often deflates 85%'s..." from www.seventypercent.com

AMEDEI - Amedei of Tuscany, Italy, was founded by brother & sister Cecilia and Alessio Tessieri in 1990. With an admirable passion and determination coupled with the highest standards of craftsmanship and creativity, Amedei today is considered to produce some of the finest chocolate in the world. In their quest for superior tasting chocolate, Amedei buys high quality cocoa beans direct from only the finest plantations and has even gained world exclusive rights to the revered Chuao plantation in Venezuela.-- Amedei Porcelana is perhaps the world's most expensive chocolate at $90 a pound --Porcelana, 70% cocoa, single variety bar This 70% dark, specialist chocolate bar from Amedei is created exclusively from the refined, nutty and caramel flavoured Porcelana bean, a genetically pure strain of the Criollo bean. This bean is extremely rare and Amedei produce only a limited quantity of chocolate each year from it. The bars are individually numbered by hand. This very special cocoa bean produces the most expensive chocolate in the world. Winner of the "Best chocolate 2004".

DOMORI -- Domori is: 1. the first company in the world to create and disseminate a tasting "code" for chocolate, defining the characteristics of what an extraordinary chocolate should be: aromatic, smooth, fresh and lingering on the palate. 2. the first company in the world to both process more than ten different types of cacao from several countries and work solely with fine cacao. These flavor or aromatic cacao types (criollo, trinitario and nacional) represent less than 10% of the world’s harvest. 3. Domori is the first company in the world to produce a chocolate bar with 100% cocoa mass that is smooth and lingering with almost no bitterness nor astringency. 4. the first company in the world to renew heirloom varietals of criollo cacao and process them. 5. among the few companies in the world to make almost all of its chocolate without emulsifiers like soy lecithin.

See also a list of 100 reviewed chocolate bars by Mark, a life-long chocolate expert and the author of xocoatl.org who also gives tasting and commentaries on choclate bars...