François Pralus

Start with taste. Premium chocolate should taste more distinctive, more considered, and more worth choosing than a standard alternative.

Beyond taste, look for clearer sourcing, quality ingredients, and transparency around where the cacao comes from and how the chocolate is made. Those details often signal a more thoughtful product — but the end result still has to be delicious.

That's where a curated retailer like Bar & Cocoa makes a difference. Every product in our store has been selected for taste, quality, and ethics, so you can shop with confidence without having to evaluate every detail yourself.

The chocolates at Bar & Cocoa are craft chocolate, mainly from bean-to-bar producers who control the process from raw cacao bean to finished bar. We also carry a selection of products from fine chocolatiers that adhere to high standards. That means more attention to sourcing, more defined flavor character, and a clearer connection between where the cacao was grown and how the chocolate tastes.

Mass-market chocolate typically blends cacao from many sources and prioritizes consistency over distinctiveness. Craft chocolate does the opposite — it highlights what makes each bar unique, whether that comes from the origin, the maker's approach, or the style of production.

Start with what you know you enjoy. If you prefer darker, more intense flavors, look for bars with a higher cocoa percentage. If you tend toward sweeter or creamier options, milk chocolate or lower-percentage dark bars are a good place to begin. You do not need to know a lot about chocolate to choose well, we have done the heavy lifting for you by curating the best chocolate in the world.

Beyond that, consider the occasion. For gifting, a polished set or curated assortment often works better than a single bar. For personal exploration, choosing by origin, maker, or flavor profile can help you discover what you like most. Each collection page at Bar & Cocoa is organized to make that kind of browsing easier.

Different chocolates can vary quite a bit in flavor depending on factors like cacao origin, cocoa percentage, ingredients, and maker style.

Some may taste deeper, darker, or less sweet. Others may feel creamier, more buttery from added cocoa butter, softer, brighter, or more familiar. Even chocolates that seem similar at first can offer very different experiences once you compare them.

If you are new to craft chocolate, it usually helps to start with something that feels approachable, balanced, and easy to enjoy. A dark chocolate bar in the 65–72% range or dark milk bar tends to feel familiar enough to enjoy immediately while still showing what makes craft chocolate distinctive.

Tasting sets are also a good entry point — they let you compare a few different styles side by side without committing to a full bar of something unfamiliar. The goal is to notice differences between bars, not to jump straight to the most intense option available. Start with something that gives you a clearer sense of what makes craft chocolate different, without making the experience feel too technical.

Bean-to-bar means the maker controls the entire production process, from sourcing raw cacao beans to producing the finished chocolate bar. This is different from companies that buy pre-made chocolate and remelt or flavor it. Bean-to-bar production gives the maker direct influence over flavor, quality, and sourcing decisions. Bar and Cocoa specifically focuses on carrying makers who work this way.

Bar & Cocoa selects makers based on the quality and character of their chocolate, their approach to sourcing, and the overall standard of their production. The goal is to carry a range of makers whose work is distinctive, well-crafted, and worth discovering. Not every bean-to-bar maker meets the bar, and the selection is actively curated over time.

It depends on the maker. Some specialize in a single origin or a small number of sources, while others work across many countries and regions. Browsing this maker's full collection on Bar & Cocoa will show you the range of origins and styles they currently offer. This can be a good way to explore how one maker interprets different cacao sources.