Pure Chocolate

Our Guide to Pure Chocolate

Milk Chocolates

The creaminess and smoothness are usually what matters when it comes to plain milk chocolate. Mackie’s Traditional Milk has the creaminess of supermarket brands but a bit more chocolatey with 30% cacao and a smoother mouth feel. Try Lotte chocolate’s ‘Ghana’ bar for the ultimate in smooth mouthfeel. All the way from Japan, its smoothness is unmatched. If you’d like even more cacao in a classy wrapper, try Coco’s Columbian 40% bar.

‘Dark Milk’ Chocolates

The best of both worlds. ‘Dark Milk’ chocolates are milk chocolates with a high percentage of cacao. This means you get the milky sweetness of a milk chocolate with the rich flavours of cacao. Some of the most popular among Chocolatarium visitors are Willie's Milk of the Star with (54%) with it’s deep flavours of caramel and thick texture.

Chocolate Tree‘s Marañón made with cacao from Peru is one of the richest flavoured milk chocolates at 60%. It has deep flavours of raisins and dark fruits but keeps the creaminess of milk chocolate and pairs amazingly well with a Pedro Ximenez Sherry! 

Dark Chocolates

For premium, high-quality bean-to-bar craft chocolate, take a look at the following ranges...

Duffy’s makes micro-batch, stone-ground chocolate with a textured mouthfeel. His 72% range is a fabulous way to compare different flavour notes of cacao from different parts of the world.

Chocolate Tree’s careful roasting preserves the unique and distinct flavour profiles of the cacao beans. Their Piura bar is fabulous for those who love dark chocolate with honey and citrus notes. Their generous additions of cocoa butter results in smooth textures and melty mouthfeel.

Willie’s Cacao is one the best known bean-to-bar makers in the UK and their chocolate bars can be found in some supermarkets. Willie’s absolute dedication to pure, simple ingredients (his dark chocolate bars contain only cacao and sugar) and his long “conching” times of up to 21 days, lets the natural flavours of the cacao shine through. Willie’s showcases the distinct flavours of cacao from Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Madagascar and Indonesia, and their chocolate has a melty and slightly sticky mouthfeel.

MIA (Made in Africa) is chocolate that is both grown and manufactured in Africa. They create bars with a smooth texture and are great at bringing out the natural fruitness of Madagascan cacao.

At Bare Bones, their meticulous roasting brings out rich flavours and long hours grinding the chocolate result in a lovely smooth texture. Their passionate attention to detail creates outstanding chocolate which has won many awards.

For Extra Dark, 100% Cacao

100% chocolate is made only from cacao but the taste and mouthfeel can vary widely depending on where the beans are from, how they transformed into chocolate and by how much additional cocoa butter is added.

MIA’s Madagascar 100% is smooth with subtle hints of fruit taking the edge off the bitterness of the pure cacao. Willie’s Venezuelan 100% has a nuttier flavour and stickier mouthfeel. Chocolate Tree’s 100% Belize has a sourness expected from 100% cacao that is softened with the silky smooth mouthfeel from generous proportions of cacao butter.

White Chocolate

White chocolate is made with cacao butter (rather than cacao solids) so there is less variation in flavor than with milk or dark chocolate. Willies creamy white El Blanco has no added vanilla and a natural, clean flavour. Montezuma’s Great White with a little added vanilla has a deeper flavour and more sweetness.