Chocolate Tasting 2000

See also: Chocolate 99 Tasting 98 Tasting Drew's Opinion Recipes

Our plans this year are to divide the chocolates into two categories,

Bittersweet - with chocolate solids between 51% and 57%,
Mid Dark - between 58-69%,
Dark - 70-88% chocolate solids.

Interested in just my opinion?

Bittersweet

% Chocolate	Name	Origin	Rank	Total
55	Continent Noir Dessert	French		22
?	Ülker Bitter Lüks Çikolata	Turkey	2	32
55	Chocolove Dark Chocolate	Belgium	1	35
56	Valrhona Noir	France	2	32
52	Neuhaus Plain Dark Chocolate	Belgium	2	32
56	Côte d'Or Noir de Noir	Belgium		27
55	Valrhona Equatoriale	France	2	32
55	Verkade			29
54	Delicata	Dutch		26
52	Droste	Dutch		30
?	Trader Joe's	Belgium	1	35
	Average			30

Mid Dark

% Chocolate	Name	Origin	Rank	Total
60	Laboratorio Artigianale del Giandujotto	Italy	3	38
58.5	El Rey Bucare	Venezuela		30
60	Bossner No. 777 Luftschokolade	Germany		27
60	Feodora Edel-Bitter	Germany		32
60	Michel Cluizel Chocolat Amer	France	1	40
60	Callebaut Bittersweet	Belgium		30
64	Hawaiian Vintage Kea'au	USA		31
64	Hawaiian Vintage Kona Estate	USA		36
64	Van Leer Break up	USA		32
66	Michel Cluizel 1er Cru d'Hacienda Concepcion	France		33
66	Valrhona Caraïbe	France		33
65	Chocolove Rich Dark	Belgium		35
60	Luxus	Germany	2	39
	Average			34

Dark

% Chocolate	Name	Origin	Rank	Total
72	Droste Chocolade Extra Puur	Holland		30
70	El Rey Gran Samán	Venezuela		34
73	La Maison Du Chocolat Cuana	France		35
74	Nestlé Grands Chocolats Noir	France		24
70	Chocolve Strong Dark	Belgium		34
77	Chocolove Extra Strong Dark	Belgium		32
71	Valrhona Noir Amer	France		34
70	Valrhona Pastils Extra Noir	France	1	39
70	Scharffen Berger	U.S.A.		30
70	Valrhona Guanaja	France		30
72	Michel Cluizel Chocoalt Amer Brut	France	2	38
70	Lindt Excellence	Switzerland		33
70	Callebaut Extra Bittersweet	Belgium		31
70	Dolfin Chocolat Noir Extra	Belgium		31
88	Dolfin Noir Extra	Belgium	3	36
70	Swiss Noir	Swiss	1	39
77	Hachez Cocoa D'arriba			24
77	Arks Edelbitter			33
70	Kunzli			33
	Average			33

The best selection of Chocolates I've found in Sili Valley is at Oakville Grocery in the Stanford Shopping Center. Draeger's, right around the corner, is also pretty good. Whole Foods usually has Chocolove and some Valrhona. Beverages and More used to have more, but their selection is going down. Prime Chocolate, at www.primechocolate.com, provided the Hawaiian and Dolfin varietals.