25 Chocolate Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

If you have a sweet tooth, chances are chocolate brands are high on your snack radar. And if you agree that chocolate might as well be the eighth wonder of the world, keep reading. Per Insider, the chocolate industry is a more than $100 billion business, and keeping that business alive requires a lot of cocoa beans. According to the National Confectioners Association, it takes 400 cocoa beans to make just one pound of chocolate — and a cacao tree will, on average, produce some 2,500 beans a year, which yields about six pounds of chocolate. To put this into context, for Valentine's Day alone, an estimated 58 million pounds of chocolate are sold every year.

As with any food product, some chocolate makers are killing it in this space, while others aren't quite living up to the hype. Our Tasting Table taste testers hit the ground running to round up 25 chocolate brands with the end goal of ranking them from worst to best. As self-proclaimed chocolate fanatics, we found so many good ones it was truly a challenge to organize them for this list. But we did, so grab a glass of milk, a cup of tea, or whatever beverage fits your fancy (and pairs well with chocolate, of course), and get ready for some serious deliciousness.

Next on our list is family-crafted and New Zealand-based Whittaker's Chocolate. Whittaker's sources its beans from Ghana, which, once harvested, take some 80 days to journey from West Africa to Porirua; there, the chocolate maker batch roasts the beans itself. Whittaker's main focus is making palm oil-free chocolate, and we appreciate knowing the chocolate we are consuming has quality ingredients and was crafted responsibly. Making chocolate is neither a simple task nor one that should be rushed. Whittaker's takes every precaution to ensure a high-quality and delicious chocolate result every time.

Like most things, though, high-quality chocolate does not come cheap. Whittaker's is known for being a high-end candy brand, one that's often imported — another reason why it costs more to purchase. With this being said, the taste is worth the price if you can swing it. The only reason Whittaker's landed lower on our list is due to the shipping price for consumers outside of Australia or New Zealand.

Nestlé's motto is "Good food, Good life," which is something we can get behind. Not only is Nestlé a popular chocolate company, but it is also one of the largest food distributors in the world. Nestlé's extensive brand portfolio includes everything from baby food and water bottles to coffee, cereal, and pet care products. The company even dabbles in health care, nutrition, and food service. For the purpose of this article, though, we are obviously most interested in Nestlé's chocolate products.

The popularity of Nestlé's chocolates can be attributed to their good quality and moderate prices. The Swiss multi-industry company was founded in 1867 by Henri Nestlé and has since become one of the most popular chocolate purveyors in the world. In the United States, Nestlé's most popular chocolate bars include Butterfinger, Kit Kat, and Nestlé Crunch. While Butterfinger's flaky crunch sets it apart from other chocolate bars, its incredible sweetness and artificial flavorings contributed to our lower score. These bars and other Nestlé products are delicious but not made with the world's finest chocolates.

Cadbury has been around for a while — it started making chocolate over 200 years ago and continues to invent and inspire today's industry. Chocolate lovers appreciate Cadbury's Cocoa Life, which is the company's use of 100% sustainably sourced cocoa in its Cadbury Dairy Milk products, a practice the company has proposed to do for all its products by 2025.

You may recognize the name Cadbury from its popular Easter commercials, which highlight the famous Cadbury Creme Eggs. This egg-shaped product contains a milk chocolate shell with a soft fondant center that melts in your mouth. Previously, these eggs were only available around Easter time but have since been available for purchase year-round. While this Cadbury chocolate product is top-rated, especially during the spring, Cadbury's other products did not particularly wow our taste buds. We feel like other chocolate brands are better tasting and affordable, hence our lower ranking of Cadbury.

Duc d'O was founded in 1983 by Hendrik Verhelst, a former timber merchant. If you are looking for Belgian chocolate made with the finest ingredients, look no further than Duc d'O. Today, the brand offers an assortment of unique chocolates like flaked truffles, assorted pralines, mousse tablets, and seashells. The company focused on chocolate truffles during its founding, though, so we headed straight for those.

As part of our taste test, we tried the Flaked Truffles and learned no two Duc d'O truffles are alike. This is due to the company's chocolate creation process. The light chocolate mousse journeys through a large bed of chocolate flakes, and the truffles are coated in Belgian chocolate shavings, creating a unique and delicious treat. There are over a dozen truffle flavors to try, and each one is creamy, milky, and mouth-watering. Purchase one of the assortment boxes; you will not be disappointed.

The Kinder brand got its start in 1968 in a small Italian town but has since become a global phenomenon. After only being available in European cities, more recently, Kinder started producing chocolates to be sold in the United States.

Kinder specializes in grabbing the attention of chocolate-loving children. It sells a hollow good-quality chocolate egg with a surprise inside; one half of the egg contains milky sweet creams and wafer bites filled with cocoa cream, while the other contains a surprise toy. While these eggs are not the only chocolate products Kinder sells, they have gained the brand extreme popularity with younger consumers.

For chocolate lovers of all ages, there's Kinder Bueno, which shares its own bit of surprise. Beneath the milk chocolate surface, your taste buds will be surprised with a crispy wafer filled with a creamy hazelnut filling. Then the entire bar is coated and drizzled with dark chocolate for a bar that's incredibly satisfying, but not too heavy.

The Guylian chocolate founders created Guylian Sea Shells in celebration of love and chocolate. Founder Guy Foubert was a passionate Belgian chocolatier, then met his forever girl Liliane, who helped design the shining exterior and the delicately sculpted shapes. They combined their names to create Guylian, and over 60 years later, the brand is one of the top-selling boxed chocolate brands in the world, available in more than 100 different countries. All Guylian chocolates are still produced in Belgium today.

Aside from the famous seashells, Guylian also produces truffles and chocolates with no sugar added in flavors like coffee cardamom or caramel pineapple. We appreciate the diversity of these chocolates, the unique shells, and the flavors that Guylian crafts. Known as Belgium's favorite chocolates, we can agree that these chocolates are delicious, delightful, and of high quality. The creamy nature and the sprinkle topping of the truffles made them truly irresistible.

Jacques Genin, who operates out of his workshop in Paris, is known as one of the best chocolate melters in the world. While Genin crafts some of Paris' most delicious chocolates, he is also widely known for crafting delicious caramels and pâtes de fruits. If you are looking for the ultimate French sweets, Jacques Genin sets a high bar. Genin stocks the top French hotels and restaurants with his sinfully creamy delicacies.

Upon entering the shop, it feels more like an expensive jewelry store than a chocolate shop. This vibe really exemplifies the luxury chocolate aesthetic. When it comes down to the chocolates, not only did we feel fabulous while consuming them, but the taste matched the vibe you feel in-store. The chocolates melt in your mouth and offer the perfect amount of sweetness. Although they're on the more expensive side, the chocolates are worth every penny. You can purchase some in-store if you venture to France or pick up one of the small batches made available for online orders.

If you know anything about chocolate, you know the name Hershey. ​​Hershey's has been around for nearly 125 years, crafting your favorite chocolates like Hershey bars and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Today, Hershey is the umbrella for over 90 brands and products, including sweets, mints, and snacks, but here we'll stick with discussing the company's best chocolate offerings.

We love a Hershey's bar because it's consistently good and delightfully sweet. Hershey offers so many varieties of chocolate, in every shape and size — including familiar faces like Reese's, Krackle, and Almond Joy. Additionally, Hershey has seasonal chocolates and boxes that are hard to resist when any holiday strikes. Any day of the week or time of day, it's easy to find a Hershey's chocolate product that can curb our sweet tooth. Sure, the wrapping on Hershey products is neither fancy nor gold, but nothing satisfies quite like a Hershey's bar.

Godiva offers premium chocolates for a fairly reasonable price. Although affordable, these gold-wrapped, ribbon-tied packages radiate luxury, and each box contains great-quality chocolate. The Belgian brand started in 1926, and today, its global team of Chefs and Chocolatiers show no sign of slowing down; you can now get Godiva in over 80 countries.

Unlike other chocolate brands that may over- or underwhelm, we think Godiva's chocolate is the perfect amount of sweet and creamy. The brand uses premium ingredients, so you will never worry about its chocolates tasting fake, only rich and satisfying — and without the added preservatives.

While Godiva's chocolates can cost more than other brands we have outlined so far, the quality is worth the price. If you are looking to taste Godiva without the steep price tag, though, there are smaller boxes and individually wrapped chocolates for all to enjoy. However, this brand is definitely worth splurging on for the right occasion.

Theo chocolate bars are some of our favorites because they come in so many fun flavors. During the holidays, you'll find innovative bars like its milk chocolate gingerbread spice or dark chocolate nutcracker brittle, perfect for stuffing into stockings. Those who want something just a bit more traditional will likely love Theo's salted toffee, mint, and raspberry bars. Besides these snacking bars, you'll also find baking bars in both bittersweet and extra bittersweet, stuffed cups, and vegan chocolate. We love Theo because it has an option for everyone, and its bars are perfectly giftable for loved ones. 

Theo's chocolate is FairTrade and organic-certified, which undoubtedly means you'll pay a premium for these bars. You can purchase gift collections or individual bars online or use its chocolate finder to find a store near you that sells them. Since the brand is relatively niche, you won't be able to find it as readily as a product by Nestle or Mars, but the extra legwork to source one out is worth it. 

Visionary chocolatier Robert Linx created La Maison du Chocolat in 1977. La Maison du Chocolat crafts chocolate with a unique taste and elevated flair today. The brand sources and makes chocolate using rare and pure cocoa through an incredible chocolate-making process: All chocolates are hand-crafted outside Paris with extreme precision and care. We appreciate the time and effort the brand puts into every square piece.

La Maison du Chocolat is one of the fancier brands we ranked. If you are ever looking for a more sophisticated gift, look no further than a box of chocolates from La Maison du Chocolat. No matter the flavor combination, whether it be fruit-infused or nutty, the complexity and flavor of the chocolate itself still shines. While it is more luxurious and comes with a higher price tag, the company does offer small boxes, so you can still feel like royalty while enjoying your La Maison du Chocolat.

We bet you've never seen a more Instagrammable chocolate bar than Raaka. This deluxe chocolate brand is centered around organic, kosher, vegan, and non-GMO dark chocolate flavored with whimsical additions like bananas foster, green tea, and miso. In addition to these beautifully packaged bars, chocolate lovers can also purchase the brand's baking chocolate, waffle cone treats, hot chocolate, and cocoa mix spread. 

Raaka scored very high on our rankings because of its beautiful products, which are far more than just chocolate in a cool package. The flavors of these bars are innovative — like its mango mochi white chocolate, because who wouldn't want to try that? You wouldn't be having such a multifaceted eating experience with a boring Hershey's bar, that's for sure. Raaka would have surged to our top spot, but ultimately, chocolate from this Brooklyn-based company just doesn't have the same sublime texture as our top-performing brand.  

Don't get us wrong, we would never complain about getting chocolate from any of these brands as a gift or a gesture from a friend or loved one. However, there are some key factors that set some chocolate brands apart from others. The most important pieces of information we considered in building our rankings included how innovative and expansive the brand was based on the selections listed on its website. In other words, was the company offering anything different than what was already on the market, and did it provide more than just one chocolate product? We also looked for widely available brands (or as widely available as artisan chocolatiers could be) in stores or online shops. The last factor — and arguably the most important one — was based on taste. This is chocolate, after all.