Taste testing 80% Dark Chocolate

[mouser]

I have a wicked sweet tooth and I've always thought that dark chocolate tastes like poison.

Over the last few months I've been drastically cutting down on my consumption of sweets, and decided to see if dark chocolate would taste better to my "recalibrated" tastebuds.

To my delight it does!

So I've been on a quest to try all the dark chocolate bars I can find (locally) that are 80% and above, and see which I prefer.

Anyone have any favorite 80% and above dark chocolate bars?  Shall we share ratings?

[cranioscopical]

To my surprise Walmart "Great Value" chocolate bars are better tasting and significantly less expensive than many other brands. At $1 a throw imagine hown much you could cram in! Dark chocolate is part on that line.

[mouser]

Here are my rankings so far:


Those scores are very likely to change when I do my re-tasting of all the top items, since my tastebuds are still adapting and learning.

[wraith808]

You've been 'tasting' a lot of chocolate! 

[KynloStephen66515]

Mouser: "I need to lose weight"
Also Mouser: "I have a spreadsheet for chocolate..."
 

[mouser]

[KynloStephen66515]

Here's a 100% one for you to try: https://www.amazon.c.../258-7506603-3483901
"Chocolat Madagascar 100% Cocoa - Single Origin Fine Dark Chocolate Bar 85g" o.O

[tomos]

Love Chock ("Eat the World Happier" lol)
99% Extreme Dark [Ingredients: Raw cocoa / lucuma powder / vanilla / sea salt]

The taste is a shock initially -- direction of earthy, but not in a bad way. Intense, but not bitter.
Salt noticeable initially and towards the end. Very lovely consistency: creamy, buttery.

I'd give it a [9]

Like you mouser, I used only eat milk choclate. This, I could imagine having in the cupboard and occasionally eating a bit. Probably costs an arm and a leg. Netherlands based -- dont know if available in the US.

(I had a taste of a 70% bar afterwards -- it tasted viciously sweet.)

[mouser]

I've walked past the 100% cacao bars in the store and my basic reaction is this:

[mouser]

I think I have reached an important discovery about testing dark chocolate.  Which is that no dark chocolate bar in isolation is "best"..  You can only really taste the subtle good flavors of a dark chocolate bar in contrast with other different bars.. So you really need to rotate through different bars in order to appreciate any one of them.

My updated ratings with some normalized nutrition info that helps in comparing different bars:
Taste testing 80% Dark Chocolate