Turn the bar over and read four things: the percentage, the origin, the ingredient list and who made it from the bean. Those four lines tell you whether the bar will taste lively or flat before you open it. A great dark bar usually names a farm or fermentary, lists two to four ingredients and sits between 65 and 80 percent.
In the US, "dark chocolate" has no legal definition. "Bittersweet" and "semisweet" only promise at least 35 percent chocolate liquor, so the maker's own details are where the real information lives.
Start with the ingredient list
The ingredient list is the most honest line on the wrapper, because the law makes it list everything in order of weight.
The shortest list a sweetened bar can have is two items: cacao (or cocoa beans) and sugar. Dandelion Chocolate makes every single-origin bar that way. Dick Taylor's 78% Vanuatu is organic cacao and organic cane sugar and nothing else.
The next most common addition is cocoa butter. It makes a bar melt faster and feel silkier, and it is part of the cacao, so it counts toward the percentage. The detail worth noticing is whose butter it is. Goodnow Farms and Askinosie press their own from the same beans that go in the bar. Askinosie's 72% Mababu is 69 percent liquor and 3 percent butter, both from Mababu, Tanzania. Plenty of makers buy deodorized butter instead, which is fine but adds nothing of the origin.
After that come the optional ones: lecithin (usually soy or sunflower, an emulsifier that thins the chocolate for easier molding, capped at 1 percent of the bar by US rules) and vanilla. Neither is a fault. They do tell you the maker wanted a smoother or rounder bar, and that the cacao is not the only voice in the room.
| On the list | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Cacao, sugar | Two ingredients. Nothing between you and the bean |
| + cocoa butter | Silkier melt. Better if it says pressed in-house |
| + lecithin | An emulsifier, at most 1% of the bar in the US |
| + vanilla | A rounding flavor. Fine, but it softens the origin |
| "Processed with alkali" | Dutched cocoa. Darker, milder, common in baking |
| Milk, milk powder | A milk or dark milk bar, whatever the front says |
The percentage, decoded
The number is the share of the bar's weight that came from the cacao bean: the ground nib (liquor) plus any added cocoa butter. Everything else is mostly sugar.
So a 70% bar is roughly 70 grams of cacao and 30 grams of sugar per 100. An 85% bar has half the sugar of a 70%. A 100% bar has none.
What the number does not tell you is how good the beans were or how well they were handled. A 70% made from beautifully fermented beans beats an 85% made from flat ones every time. Two 70% bars can also taste wildly different: one made with extra cocoa butter is milder and creamier than one made from nib and sugar only.
Most craft makers work between 65 and 80 percent. We taste in order of percentage, low to high, so a 100% bar never follows a 60%.
| Percentage | Sugar per 100 g, roughly | How it usually tastes |
|---|---|---|
| 65 to 70% | 30 to 35 g | Round, fruity, easiest to share |
| 72 to 78% | 22 to 28 g | The sweet spot for origin character |
| 80 to 90% | 10 to 20 g | Bold, drier, more bitter and acidic |
| 100% | 0 g | Pure cacao. A great one is fruity, a poor one is harsh |
What the law does and does not say
The US standard for chocolate lives in 21 CFR Part 163. Sweet chocolate needs at least 15 percent chocolate liquor. Semisweet and bittersweet need at least 35 percent. Both must stay under 12 percent milk solids.
Notice what is missing. "Dark chocolate" is not a defined term. Neither are "single origin", "bean-to-bar", "craft" or "artisan". A bar can say any of those words and the law has nothing to add.
That is why the useful information on a good wrapper is the stuff no regulator asks for: the farm, the fermentary, the harvest year, the maker's notes, the roast.
Origin, from vague to exact
Origin labels come in grades, and the more precise the name, the easier the bar is to trace.
- A continent or "blend": beans from several places. Fine for a baking bar, little to go on.
- A country: "Madagascar", "Ecuador". Single origin in the loosest sense.
- A region or valley: Sambirano in Madagascar, Tumaco in Colombia, Toledo in Belize.
- A farm, estate, co-op or fermentary: Bejofo Estate, Kokoa Kamili, Asochivite, Cacao Bisiesto. This is where you can start reading about who grew and fermented the beans and what they were paid.
- A harvest: Dandelion prints the harvest year and batch on its single-origin bars, so you know two bars from different years can taste different.
One honest caveat: single origin is a description, not a promise of quality. A precise label tells you the maker cares enough to say where the beans came from. Your tongue does the rest.
Bean-to-bar, and who actually made it
A bean-to-bar maker starts from fermented, dried beans and does every step after that: sorting, roasting, cracking, winnowing, grinding, conching, tempering and molding. Dick Taylor in Eureka, California, says the whole process in its factory takes about three weeks.
Many good chocolate shops do something else: they buy finished chocolate (couverture) from a large manufacturer and melt it into bars and bonbons. That can be delicious, and it is a different craft. A wrapper that says "made from the bean" or names the roasting is telling you which kind you are holding.
The tell, if the wrapper is coy, is the maker's website. Real bean-to-bar makers love to show their roaster.
Price, weight and what is fair
Craft bars usually weigh 50 to 85 grams and cost $8 to $16. The bars on our picks page run from $8 for Raaka's 100% to $16 for a Goodnow Farms single estate bar, read off the makers' own sites.
Divide by weight before you compare. Askinosie's 72% Mababu is $11 for 85 grams. Goodnow's Asochivite is $16 for 55 grams. Both are fair for what they are, and the second costs nearly twice as much per gram.
The price buys better beans, often bought well above the commodity price, and small batches. Askinosie publishes a transparency report showing what it pays farmers. Cheap "dark chocolate" usually saves money on exactly those two things.
Words that mean less than they sound
- "Rich", "intense", "luxurious" are adjectives with nothing behind them to check.
- "Premium cocoa" has no standard behind it either.
- "Raw": cacao is fermented on the farm, and fermentation runs hot. Some makers skip roasting (Raaka is one, and says so plainly), which gives a brighter, fruitier bar. That is a style, and a good one.
- "Fine flavor": an ICCO trade category for cacao with a complex flavor profile. It is a real list, rated by country. It describes the beans, not the bar.
- Awards: worth noticing when named. The Good Food Awards, the International Chocolate Awards and the Academy of Chocolate Awards all judge by tasting. "Award-winning" with no award named is just a nice word.
Questions
What should be in a good dark chocolate bar?
Cacao and sugar at minimum. Many craft makers add a little cocoa butter, ideally pressed from the same beans. Lecithin and vanilla are allowed and common, but the best bars rarely need them.
Is dark chocolate legally defined in the US?
No. US rules define sweet, semisweet and bittersweet chocolate. Semisweet and bittersweet need at least 35 percent chocolate liquor. "Dark" is a marketing word.
Does a higher percentage mean better chocolate?
No. It means more cacao and less sugar. Bean quality, fermentation and the maker's roast decide whether it is good.
What does processed with alkali mean?
The cocoa was treated with an alkali, called Dutching, which darkens it and softens acidity. It is common in cocoa powder and baking chocolate and rare in craft bars.
Why do craft bars cost $10 or more?
Better beans, often bought above commodity price, small batches and a lot of hand work. Compare price per gram, since bar sizes run from about 50 to 85 grams.
- 21 CFR 163.123, Sweet chocolate, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
- Our process, Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate
- 72% Mababu, Tanzania Dark Chocolate Bar, Askinosie Chocolate
- Our process, Goodnow Farms
- Kokoa Kamili, Tanzania 70%, Dandelion Chocolate
- 100% Cacao, Raaka Chocolate
- Fine or flavour cocoa, International Cocoa Organization
