All over the world, people are in love with chocolate. Today it’s by far the most popular sweet treat for Americans who consume over 11 pounds of chocolate annually per person. And for Europeans, it’s double that amount, they eat over 22 pounds of it every year. In fact, consumers around the world spend a total of seven billion dollars on chocolate annually. So what is it about chocolate, besides the irresistible flavor, that makes it so tempting?

The Aztecs believed that chocolate was an aphrodisiac, and while this isn’t quite true, it does contain a natural substance that makes you feel the same way you do when you are falling in love. And if that doesn’t make you reach for more; chocolate is full of healthy antioxidants that boost immunity and mood.

The chocolate we are used to seeing in shops starts as cocoa pods full of cocoa beans growing on trees in tropical places. These beans are bitter but aromatic and have more than 500 flavor components. Professional chocolate makers who turn those bitter beans into luscious chocolate, choose their cocoa beans very carefully and are meticulous in the long process of turning cocoa beans into chocolate. Their preparation process is their art, and they use it to create some of the best chocolate in the world.

Here’s a look at seven companies that are taking their art to the highest level to give you outstanding chocolate.

Jean Paul Hévin

Now a world-renowned chocolatier with 24 boutiques around the world, Jean-Paul Hévin began as a pastry chef and protégé of Joël Robuchon at Hotel Nikko in Paris, France.

Although the sweet creations of La Maison Hévin include pastries, macarons, and specialty products, Jean-Paul is passionate about chocolate. To make his signature chocolates, Jean-Paul finds the rarest and most refined cocoa from the best planters in the tropics and creates mixtures that he personally loves.

La Maison Hévin produces around 200 kilograms of Jean Paul’s signature chocolates every day to sell in his boutiques around the world. You can find Jean-Paul Hévin chocolates in six Paris shops, twelve in Japan, three in Taiwan, one in Shanghai, and two in Hong Kong.

Jean Paul’s chocolate offerings include his signature Grand Crus chocolates which are available in boxes of different sizes and styles. They also have a variety of flavor combinations including truffles, pralines, covered fruits, and ganache.

You can also try one of the 30 varieties from his collection of artisanal chocolate bars. These bars offer the opportunity to taste the flavor components characteristic of cocoa beans grown in different parts of the world. For example, the Columbia bar has notes of coffee, caramel, and cookies; or the Equateur 70% has sweet licorice and spice notes.

If you want to learn more about the chocolatier Jean-Paul Hévin or his outstanding chocolates, pastries, macarons, and other delicious French products, his website is www.jeanpaulhevin.com.

Vosges Haut-Chocolate

Founded by chocolatier Katrina Markoff, Vosges Haut-Chocolate opened its doors in Chicago, Illinois in 1998. Katrina’s philosophy about chocolate is that it should go beyond exciting the tastebuds and it should “open minds, balance the body, mind, and spirit and create an appreciation for the world’s diverse cultures.”

At Vosges Haut-Chocolate, Katrina and her team use only high quality, natural ingredients. She has also created the brand of chocolates she has named “Wild Ophelia”. This line features natural, non-GMO Americana chocolates.

Other products sold are truffles or bars in several varieties, boxes of luscious confections like peanut butter bites, marshmallow, caramel, and even chocolate covered bacon!

You can shop at Vosges Haut-Chocolate in two locations at Chicago’s O’Hare airport or from the online store at the website: vosgeschocolate.com

You can also purchase Katrina’s chocolate creations at goldbelly.com

Norman Love Confections

Norman Love is the master chocolatier behind the recognized chocolate and confection company that bears his name. Norman Love started making his handcrafted gourmet chocolates in Fort Myers, Florida in 2001. Since then his company has been named the best premium chocolate company in the United States six times.

Before dedicating himself to his namesake chocolate company, Love was a corporate executive pastry chef for Ritz-Carlton and later went on to the Carymax LLC culinary event production company to help produce popular televised pastry competitions.

What makes Norman Love Confections unique and exceptional is Love’s belief that there is artistry in chocolate. His company searches for the best quality ingredients that the world offers. Then, he uses his talent and genius to create his delicious culinary works of art.

Norman Love Confections has a great variety of products available in stores or through online ordering. Their chocolate boxes include the Signature Line and Black Line. In the Signature Line, there are assortments of truffles, dark, milk, and white chocolates in flavors like coconut, tiramisu, peanut butter cup, dulce de leche, Sicilian pistachio, and many more. In the Black Line boxes, the chocolate is ultra-premium, single-origin, and from tropical places like El Salvador, Vietnam, Peru, Tanzania, and others that lend their own unique flavor profile to the final product.

The six types of chocolate bars are dark, milk, white, five varieties in the Black line, nine varieties in the Inclusion line, and Love Origins. The Inclusion chocolate bars are loaded with crunchy goodness like hazelnuts, salted caramel pretzel, and pecan turtle. The Love Origins bars are high cocoa mass dark chocolate wafers that include chocolate from different cocoa-growing regions around the world.

Norman Love Confections has four dedicated chocolate and dessert salons in Naples, Estero, and Ft. Myers, Florida, but they also sell products inside other locations across the country. You can also order his sweet creations online at his official website: NormanLoveConfections.com. 

La Maison du Chocolat

Pastry Chef Robert Linxe opened his first La Maison du Chocolate boutique in 1977 in Paris after studying to become a chocolatier in France and Switzerland.

Since 1996, Linxe has worked closely with associate chocolatier Nicolas Cloiseau producing their high-end premium chocolates for La Maison du Chocolat. Today Cloiseau continues to create new and exciting assortments of chocolates for the business.

Together, Linxe and Cloiseau are committed to using the finest ingredients in their handmade gourmet chocolates so they can give chocolate lovers some of the best products in the world.

At the six La Maison du Chocolat boutiques, or in their online store, you can find their signature boxes of chocolates and truffles which include a variety of flavors and styles. You can get dark or milk chocolate, all filled with either luscious ganache, caramelized mousse, praline, coconut, almonds, or hazelnuts, to name a few. They also sell chocolate bars made with quality chocolate from tropical countries like Madagascar or Brazil; and many other confections like chocolate covered almonds, hazelnut spread, coated orange peel, and an assortment of pastries.

You can purchase their chocolates and desserts in Paris at the Faubourg Saint Honoré, Victor Hugo, or La Madeleine locations and in Cannes, France. They are also available in London at Selfridges or Piccadilly, and in Tokyo in the Marunouchi District.

If you can’t visit La Maison du Chocolat in person, you can also order their products online at the website: lamaisonduchocolat.com.

Taza Chocolate

When Alex Whitmore fell in love with stone-ground chocolate in Oaxaca, Mexico, he stayed there to learn how to hand-carve granite to make the best grinding stones, then took his knowledge back to Sommerville, Massachusetts to open his own chocolate factory.

In 2005, Whitmore launched Taza Chocolate together with his wife Kathleen Fulton, who is the Chief Design Officer of the company. Since then they’ve been making premium organic stone-ground chocolates with the Taza label.

But Taza isn’t just about creating another delicious product, Alex Whitmore is the first chocolate maker in the United States to practice ethical sourcing of cacao, and the company has established a third-party certified Direct Trade Cacao Certification program. They also show respect for the farmers and workers by staying in close contact with them and paying above fair-trade prices for their products.

Because stone-ground chocolate uses minimal processing, the bright, fruity flavors of the cacao really sing in the final products.

At the Taza Chocolate Factory or online, you can find chocolate bars in amazing varieties like gingerbread cookie, almond milk, quinoa crunch, toffee almond sea salt, coconut, raspberry crunch, and many more.

Taza also sells chocolate discs inspired by traditional Mexican treats in flavors like spiked eggnog, 85% super dark, vanilla, cinnamon, salted almond, coffee, and guajillo chili just to name a few.

You might like to try their treats in different sizes and containers full of chocolate-covered espresso beans, cashews, hazelnuts, or almonds.

You can visit the Taza Chocolate factory and store to take a tour or purchase their fine products. It’s at 561 Windsor St. Somerville, Massachusetts. Before you go, check online at their site: tazachocolate.com for the hours of operation, or to purchase their goodies in the online shop. 

Recchiuti Confections

Self-made chocolatier Michael Recchiuti began Recchiuti Confections in San Francisco, California with his wife Jacky in 1997. Michael brought years of experience and a passion for high-quality ingredients to this endeavor and the business quickly became a success.

Recchiuti’s love for the culinary arts started when he was young and spent time baking with his grandmother in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He then went on to work at the famous restaurant Le Bec Fin creating plated desserts and trained for three years in sugar and chocolate with pastry chef Alain Tricou. In 2005, Michael Recchiuti wrote the book “Chocolate Obsession” together with pastry expert Fran Gage. The book was a finalist for the 2006 James Beard Award.

These early experiences helped Michael Recchiuti find his passion for creating hand-crafted, high-quality chocolates. When he moved to San Francisco in 1987, he became even more fascinated by flavor combinations that the local California herbs, fruits, and spices could bring to his chocolates.

Today, Recchiuti mixes his custom-blended chocolate with a unique flavor profile together with his signature flavors like burnt caramel, lemon verbena, and spring jasmine tea to create his boxes and bars of gourmet chocolates.

Customers can purchase Recchiuti Confections online or in their store at the Ferry Building Shop in San Francisco. Products include boxed chocolates and bars in custom blends of dark milk, semisweet, and bittersweet chocolate, and caramels.

If you would like to learn more about Recchiuti Confections and the amazing chocolates and other sweets they offer, you can visit www.recchiuti.com.

Kreuther Handcrafted Chocolate

When Chef Gabriel Kreuther and Pastry Chef Marc Aumont got together to open Kreuther Handcrafted Chocolate in 2016, they created confectionary magic. Both chefs are dedicated to using the finest quality ingredients and craftsmanship to produce chocolate, pastries, and confections that are among the best in the world.

Today at their company headquarters in New York City, Kreuther and Aumont work with a team of professional chocolatiers and pastry chefs who have years of experience in Michelin-starred restaurants and chocolate boutiques. Not only do they want to produce the best chocolate in the world, but they also want their chocolates to tell a story, and they do that with their superb offerings.

Kreuther Handcrafted Chocolate is available to purchase in boxes, bars, and truffles. The Chef’s Signature Collection boxes include flavors like Tahitian vanilla, salted butter caramel, honey saffron, and banana peanut. Truffle flavors are white chocolate strawberry and dark chocolate salted caramel. Bars come in dark chocolate from Ecuador and the Dominican Republic; milk chocolate with flavors of caramel and notes of honey, toasted nuts, and biscuits; and white chocolate made from Ecuadorian cocoa beans and pure cane sugar. Kreuther also sells a selection of pastries and other chocolate confections.

You can purchase Kreuther Handcrafted Chocolate products at Gabriel Kreuther – the two Michelin-star restaurant owned and run by Kreuther. The restaurant is located across from Bryant Park on West 42nd Street in the heart of Manhattan. You can also order from their website: kreutherchocolate.com, or get the high-quality chocolates and sweets at Goldbelly.com

Healthy attributes aside, chocolate has always symbolized love and romance in every part of the world. Whether you are looking for something spectacular for yourself, or you want a special gift for another, you should choose the best chocolates in the world.