The Bars You’ll Buy for Every Craving

In the battle between milk and dark chocolate, I choose the former every time. Still, here is the knee-depth of the dark chocolate bar, trying to name all of them the best dark chocolate. Let me be clear: It’s not that I don’t like dark chocolate. I often don’t like the bitterness or excessive fruit forward taste of some bars. When craving hits, I prefer smooth, milky chocolate. But as I discovered, what took it was a simple taste test of the best dark chocolate brands to change my songs.

My brother is more known in our family for the defining features of snacks in cocoa nibs and cocoa. (Yes, really.) He thrives with dark chocolate. My dad landed somewhere between us and my mother, and my mother could have taken it or left it.

After a fierce debate over the merits of dark chocolate, my brother and I decided that was the time for taste. Just like my previous bake-off competition (don’t let anyone tell you that these pistachio cookies are still my favorite and pumpkin bread is only autumn), we approached this competition among top-tier dark chocolate brands with some guidelines that crown the best tasting dark chocolate.

Ranking Guardrail

All chocolate is tasted at room temperature, with palate cleanser in between. Sticked only to the 70% (ISH) chocolate bar available at Heb Candy aisle. (Sadly, the Valhrona Dark Chocolate Bar is said to be worth the hype, but unfortunately it wasn’t available immediately.)

My brother is a dark chocolate enthusiast, so I asked him what he was looking for when ranking these bars. This is what he said.

Flavor

Honestly, I didn’t expect the stacks of chocolate bars to taste differently from each other. However, throughout this process I was pleasantly surprised to discover a distinct difference in flavor. For the purposes of our taste tests, we were looking for a bar that served its own flavor without bringing it to the sweetness or fruity. I wanted a balance between flavor and cocoa. True Test: Which bar is back to another square? (Let’s be clear, none of us are professional chocolate tasters, so we just wanted delicious chocolate.)

Texture

We all agreed that our favorite chocolate was smooth on our tongues and not chalk or chunky. A properly softened chocolate should have a nice snap on it.

scent

My brother said it was important so I added this to my ranking list, but I feel it is self-evident.

At the end of the tasting, I actually had some new additions to my rotation, some to reserve to chop into chocolate chip cookies, and some to stick to buying a milk chocolate counterpart. Without a further ADO, here are the results of our quest to name all these best dark chocolates:

Taste: The best dark chocolate

6. 70% organic dark chocolate in green and black

I’m a green and black milk chocolate stan. I live for it and stock up when they are sold at Whole Foods, so I was hoping this would rank higher than what was done between the three of us.

According to my siblings the flavor was ok and leaned slightly to smoky and stling. The texture was also working so we wanted a little more smooth when we were eating it. Overall, this was exactly that, so I fell to the last place –Are you okay. I continue to hype the milk chocolate variety and store this bar for some impending chocolate chip cookie baking.

5. Ghirardelli72%Twilight Delight

I live for a variety filled with Ghilardelli milk and caramel. Sign up to me every day. However, this bar sadly missed Mark. My brother pointed out that the flavor actually leaned towards smoky and he had almost a licorice note on it. Dad said it was a bit bitter with a fruity aftertaste. My brother called for him not to enjoy the scent of this bar, reminding him of the coffee that had passed. (Freely DM him to discuss the importance of aroma in chocolate.) Again, this bar has nothing to write about at home, but you’ll find a nice home for cookie dough.

4. Chocolate Robe 70% Strong Dark Chocolate

As for the flavors, this chocolate bar was fine. All three of us agreed that the fruity bar was so calm that it would be comfortable. However, there were some concerns about the texture. The chocolate did not melt smoothly on our tongues when we ate. I wouldn’t call it a rather white taste, but overall we wanted more textured fun. I’ve never tried the milk chocolate counterpart here, but I liked the taste of this so I’ll add it to the list for comparison.

3. lindt70% dark chocolate

We are a fan of my house chocolate truffles so we were excited to give this bar a try. The flavor definitely leaned towards a gentle, sweet side. As a milk chocolate lover, I personally didn’t mind, but my brother called out a slightly weaker flavor than the other bars. However, the texture was smooth and there were nice snaps in the bar. We enjoyed this bar overall and returned once or twice for the extra squares.

2. Tony’s 70% Chocolate Dark Chocolate

I hadn’t actually tried Tony’s chocolate, but found it in the aisle of Trader Joe. This chocolate had the boldest and fruity flavour of all the bars we tried. My siblings were really enjoyable and bright. Personally, as a milk chocolate guy, I would have preferred it to be a bit gentle. But overall, I thought the flavor was good for dark chocolate and enjoyed the smooth texture. We hope the bar will be a little thinner as the large chunks become more difficult to break the piece. And of course, this bar was a clear winner when it comes to aesthetics.

1. 70% Perugina bittersweet chocolate

Honestly, this bar was an underdog in our group so all three of us were shocked that we enjoyed it the most. It was the only bar we totally ate during the tasting. What made it stand out was the flavor. The texture is very rich and creamy, but has a tasting note with nutty coconut-infused. This bar is not bitter at all, it’s gentle enough to change the disgust of dark chocolate, and is the perfect bar to reach when chocolate craves. I was shocked to find a dark chocolate bar I actually bought again. The lessons learned will never count the underdogs.

Final thoughts

Overall, there’s something for everyone when it comes to finding the best dark chocolate. And I’ll even give him to my brother i-told-you-so for a moment. I’ve tried several different types of dark chocolate so I can point out what I liked and hate that each one is trying to get a new one.

These are just choices from the grocery store, but there are options to bars that I love, gourmand and small beans.

Beyond the good dark chocolate bar

Spring and mulberry dark chocolate bar

Hu Kitchen Dark Chocolate Bar

And if you’re looking for that perfect bar with the cleanest wrapping, check out our list of the best “status chocolate bars”. When your loved ones crave sweets, why not give them the best, and most aesthetic options?

This post was last updated on June 6, 2025 to include new insights.