The Best Dark Chocolate: Our Taste Test Results

After finding the best milk chocolates in one of our most popular taste tests, our editors thought it only fair to find the best dark chocolates on the market. Tasting brands that ranged in price from $1.79 to $7.99, we were pleasantly surprised when two of the top five chocolates came from a surprisingly affordable source -- Trader Joe's!

Though dark chocolate is officially defined as having at least 35 percent cocoa solids, we tested a range between 50 and 85 percent in our quest for chocolatey perfection. We tested only solid dark chocolate bars -- that means no nuts, no fillings, and no added flavors.

Over the course of two days, our intrepid editors blind-tasted 56 different brands. Check out the slideshow below to discover the top 20 performers. Where does your favorite rank?

As always, this taste test was in no way sponsored or influenced by the brands included.

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Comments

[uponyourleopard]

05:13 AM on 06/22/2012

No mention of Honest Chocolate? ( http://www.honestchocolate.co.za ) Hand tempered using high quality unroasted Arriba Nacional beans from Ecuador.

[MichaelLyons]

03:38 PM on 03/24/2013

There is also no mention of A. Korkunov 72% Cacao (from Russia) nor Ulker Golden 70% Cacao (from Turkey). Neither is widely distributed in North America, but both are well worth the hunt. Enjoy!

[jedinyj]

06:26 PM on 12/27/2011

You can't beat the taste and the price of Cadbury Royal Dark also would
like the same but Half the Sugar.

[Seah Jian Ling]

12:49 PM on 11/30/2011

its the cocoa powder that makes the differnet. im sure the expensive chocolate will have its uniqueness.

[hoochie-coochie]

12:52 AM on 11/30/2011

The Queen Latifah will always be my chocolate Godiva.

[Phoenixfire]

11:56 PM on 11/29/2011

As a former pastry chef, my top two choices were Guittard and Valrhona; however, now I would have to do a bit more research to see where they buy their beans and if their suppliers use slave/child labor.

[rmutt1917]

09:12 PM on 11/29/2011

Most of these bars have not saturated the flyover marketplace, but I'll gladly rate Green 'n' Black as the most affordable complex dark chocolate I can find regularly. To my tastebuds, far more interesting than Lindt, ScharffenBerger, Godiva, etc. And, unlike your eggspurts, I sense intense spiciness, rather than fruitiness in the Green 'n' Black choc.

[Mindy Czech]

08:32 PM on 11/29/2011

I think the best dark chocolate is a tie between Dove dark chocolate and Toblerone. Anything Toblerone is good, though. It's my favorite candy bar. I always loved trick or treating in the rich neighborhoods on Halloween, because many folks would pass out whole big bars of Toblerone to the kids. It got me forever hooked on that somewhat pricey chocolate.

[Katzencats]

12:27 PM on 11/30/2011

Ah, another vote for Dove Dark! I've never had Toblerone Dark, but do enjoy their milk chocolate bars. A local dollar store had them for years, until they started getting popular here, now no more. I wondered if they were fake, but my dad's girlfriend sent some from Switzerland & they tasted the same.

[DoctorWhoDat]

08:25 PM on 11/29/2011

According to Ann Coulter, Herman Caine is the best Dark Chocolate she ever had.

[Catherine Friedman]

10:13 PM on 02/02/2013

that is too funny!! On second glass of wine and had to read twice. LOL!!

[Americatheteenager]

08:05 PM on 11/29/2011

So glad to see Hershey's off the list... What they make is not chocolate!!!

[3daywkend]

08:33 PM on 11/29/2011

I saw a German woman on TV touring the Hershey factory and she said Hershey was better than the stuff back home. I guess the grass is always greener.....

[Americatheteenager]

08:43 PM on 11/29/2011

uh??? I grew up in Europe and I can't see what gritty sugary somewhat chocolate flavored paste would be appealing to anyone who's grown up on Swiss, Belgian, and French chocolates... Maybe she was from Eastern Germany?

[GraniteSkyline]

08:48 PM on 11/29/2011

I did some research into them a few years ago and it turns out Hershey's has the highest percentage of feel-good chemicals of all the brands available in the US. It might be wax and floor-scrapings but it makes people very deliriously happy.

[Ben John Smiff]

08:05 PM on 11/29/2011

There is very little chocolate better than Lindt Excellence Chili Dark Chocolate. Why this wasn't included on the list I'll never know.. but it is the PERFECT combination of spicy and sweet.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t279/slallement/chili-chocolate.jpg

[yet anudda view]

08:01 PM on 11/29/2011

I sound snobby but since you're running taste test results occasionally, is any of this being done professionally? There is such a thing as a proper tasting panel (somtimes consumers, sometimes trained food science types).

Intrepid editors taking choco bites yields a lot of chatter, and so what, it sounds fun, but really the comments on these products is a shotgun blast of opinions, here and in recent pasta sauce review. (I cant resist the hook either!)

Consumer Reports magazine at least reveals the who and how in the flavor testing of foods and wine so is far more reliable. That's not being snobby.

I like the readers' comments tho recommending other name brands and such. Since all of this is free, I also should add.....thanks.

[Zillacabra]

07:33 PM on 11/29/2011

I've sampled most of these, but the best I've found is not on the list - Chocolat Bonnat from France (in several region-oriented varieties with Trinite being the best). Unfortunately it's very difficult to find in the US. No additives or artificial flavoring - let it melt on your tongue to appreciate it at its best.

[rayonfog]

07:17 PM on 11/29/2011

Surprised no mention of this:

http://www.burdickchocolate.com/

This, however, is extremely tough to beat:

http://www.roccaticioccolato.com/

[HRH]

07:08 PM on 11/29/2011

Slightly o/t: I read a cute comment (here?) the other day. Someone wrote that the only evidence of the existence of God he/she had found was chocolate.

[hopingheart]

06:30 PM on 11/30/2011

The Aztecs ate a combination of unsweetened cocoa beans and magic mushrooms. I'm sure that commenter was onto something.

[Pleroma]

08:21 PM on 04/26/2012

Theobroma cacao: food of the god(s).

[framante]

07:08 PM on 11/29/2011

Reading this article sent me to the cupboard for a fix from my stash of Equal Exchange.