The 12 Best Dark Chocolate Brands

This Valentine’s Day the delicious labs team decided to review a range of healthier chocolate’s found in Whole Foods Market. The idea was to find a healthy(ish) and delicious chocolate that will feed your heart and not your waist! Whilst eating a whole bar of chocolate isn’t healthy due to its high saturated fat content, we were looking for an all rounded chocolate bar that won’t leave you feeling guilty after a few squares. After tiresomely (not really) trying a range of 12 different chocolates we have ranked each one based on our judging criteria which are label, taste and nutrition. We have additionally decided to look for chocolate brands who have ethically sourced their cocoa beans as supporting farmers as much as possible is the key to the chocolate making process a happy one.

Conscious Chocolate

What we like:

• Conscious chocolate has added agave nectar as a sweetening agent instead of cane sugar. Whilst agave nectar has more fructose than cane sugar, it contains less glucose and also exhibits a lower glycaemic index, meaning it does not cause a spike in insulin levels due to the slow absorption of agave by the body.
• They have hopped on the vegan trend making their products free from animal products!

Needs Improving:

• Whilst their packaging isn’t bad, creating a stronger branding would help elevate their product to the top of the game.

Label: 7/10

Taste: 6/10

Nutrition: 7/10

Overall Score: 20/30

Balance Chocolate

What we like:

• Using an innovative ingredient like stevia, to help lower the sugar content, definitely makes it stand out of the range.
• Formulation with stevia can be tricky due its slightly unpleasant, though not objectionable, aftertaste, however, Balance have managed to make a chocolate stevia formula that is perfectly appetizing.

Need improving:

• There is much room for improvement when it comes to the design and colour scheme of the packaging. Whilst the logo is great, the packaging doesn’t scream delicious.

Vivani

What we like:

• Their artistic packaging design is extremely unique compared to the conventional store-bought chocolate whilst attracting the ethical shopper labelling their packaging with ‘100% eco-friendly”.
• The flavour profile of this chocolate is simple yet so rich and delicious with the perfect balance between chocolate and almond.

Needs Improving:

• The packaging exhibits an incredibly beautiful painting like illustration, however, it is almost too abstract to work if the image is related to the product.

Label: 6/10

Taste: 7/10

Nutrition: 7/10

Overall Score: 20/30

Pana Chocolate

What we like:

• This deliciously dark artisan chocolate contains ingredients ethically sourced from the likes of Bolivia, Philippines, Peru, Indonesia, Mexico, Spain and Sri Lanka.
• Each bar of Pana chocolate has less fructose (8g) than an average apple (12g) using agave nectar, which has a low GI, compared to cane sugar.

Needs Improving:

• It is apparent that there is strawberry and pistachio in their chocolate bar, however, there is also a strong flavour of coconut due to their choice of using coconut nectar and coconut oil. This may deter consumers who dislike coconut from re-purchasing their product.

Label: 9/10

Taste: 7/10

Nutrition: 8/10 

Overall Score: 24/30

Doisy & Dam

What we like:

• Doisy & Dam catch the eyes of the consumer with their bold packaging and extravagant patterned designs.
• The incorporation of maca root, an unconventional but innovative chocolate ingredient, into their chocolate means not only is this sweet treat great to eat but also provides some nutritional value

Needs Improving:

• Their packaging design isn’t bad, however, more thought into personalizing their branding would help with recognition from consumers.

Label: 8/10

Taste: 7 /10

Nutrition: 8/10

Overall Score: 23/30

Montezuma’s

What we like:

• It is great to see the celebration of a great British pudding as chocolate flavour. 
• Their branded ‘M’ works strongly in their favour to bring greater brand recognition and thereby customer loyalty.

Needs improving:

• Their packing could have been done in a more tasteful manner as it comes across as tacky rather like something you’d find on the street vendors of oxford circus.
• In addition, more work in developing a more palatable flavour would be beneficial for this particular chocolate flavour.

Label: 5/10

Taste: 4/10

Nutrition: 6/10

Overall Score: 15/30

Green & Blacks

What we like:

• Their luxurious and expensive styled packaging brings consumers in by presenting an experience in addition to a healthy sweet treat.
• This standard dark chocolate is exceptionally flavoursome with nutty, bitter, sweet and savoury notes.

Needs improving:

• With the increasing popularity of veganism, releasing a vegan chocolate range would be beneficial in bringing in a different audience.

Raw Halo

What we like:

• The addition of pink Himalayan salt enhances the chocolates flavour profile, truly elevating the product.
• Raw Halo’s chic and delicate packaging definitely portrays its slogan ‘raw chocolate, made with love’.

Needs improving:

• The choice of the scheme of this product may attract a more feminine audience which could potentially narrow down the size of the customer base.

Label: 8/10

Taste: 8/10

Nutrition: 8/10

Overall Score: 22/30

Madécasse

What we like:

• Great packaging: illustration of the lemur links the product to the use of Madagascan cocoa beans. They have also effectively used soft earthy colours that complement the branding.
• The crunch of honey crystals in the chocolate bar is moreishly satisfying hitting all the sweet spots.

Needs improving:

• As it contains honey the sugar content will be relatively high so the addition of agave of coconut sugar instead of cane sugar would be beneficial to lower the GI content.

Label: 8/10

Taste: 8/10

Nutrition: 6/10

Overall Score: 22/30

Chocolate & Love

What we like:

• Great utilisation of the packaging. They have added illustrations that accompany the story and mission of the brand inside of the packaging, so consumers feel more connected to the brand.
• The sea salt and caramel flavour combo perfectly hits all the sugar, salt and fat flavours creating an explosion of flavour. 

Needs improving:

• The packaging design is visibly hectic, therefore, simplifying this would make the product more appealing.

Label: 7/10

Taste: 9/10

Nutrition: 5/10

Overall score: 21/30

Ombar

What we like:

• Each chocolate bar undergoes certain processes that only use low temperatures to retain all the nutrients of the raw ingredients.
• This product only has 6 natural ingredients and no nasties!

Needs improving:

• Being more experimental with ingredients and flavours rather than playing it safe with predictable flavours.

Label: 8/10

Taste: 8/10

Nutrition: 7/10

Overall Score: 23/30

Seed & Bean

What we like:

• Their efforts in ethically sourcing ingredients to make their chocolate hasn’t gone unrecognised as they have attained the ethical company organisation award.
• Like the brand Chocolate & Love, they have utilised the inside of the packaging writing the story of the brand and giving more information on the origins of the product.

Needs improving:

• Although it is a coconut flavour, it is not apparent upon tasting it.

Label: 8/10

Taste: 8/10

Nutrition: 7/10

Overall Score: 23/30

Thanks for reading our chocolate review and we hope it’s helped some of you! Let us know in the comments below what your opinion on these various brands. Stay on the lookout for our next review!