The Best High-End Chocolate Makers
If you are tired of eating typical, sugary chocolate bars, and are wanting to make a switch to fine, high-end chocolate, keep reading. We have a list of the best high-end chocolate makers that you need to try!
Omnom Chocolate Reykjavík
OmNom is a small-batch, craft chocolate maker based in Reykjavík, Iceland. The chocolate maker was founded in 2013 by childhood friends Kjartan Gíslason and Óskar Þórðarson. Kjartan worked as a chef across Europe for two decades before discovering the amazing world of chocolate. Óskar worked in the fishing and start-up sector before launching OmNom. The company started as an experiment to see if the two friends can master how to make chocolate. From the start, they received positive tasting feedback. After receiving positive feedback, they set up a small chocolate-making lab inside a converted gas station and launched. OmNom's mission is to make the best chocolate possible using the highest quality of ingredients.
Marou, Faiseurs de Chocolat
Marou was one of the first bean-to-bar makers in Asia. When Vincent Mourou left his advertising career in San Francisco, he moved to Vietnam to find himself. This is when Vincent met Samuel Maruta, a banker from France living in Saigon with his wife and two kids. The two had nothing but a blender, an oven, cake tins, and Sam's kitchen. Samuel and Vincent continue to work with a tight network of small farmers who they buy the best quality beans from.
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Akesson's Organic Chocolate
Akesson's Organic Chocolate is the first "tree-to-bar" chocolate maker. The Akesson family started with a single plantation in Madagascar. Today, Bertil Akesson has expanded the company's cacao network with plantations in Madagascar, Brazil, and Indonesia. If you have tried craft chocolate or world-famous chocolatier chocolate, it is likely that it came from one of Akesson's cacao plantations. Akesson's Organic Chocolate bars have won a multitude of awards and is regarded as one of the best craft chocolate bars on the market.
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Blanxart
It was in April of 1954 when the master chocolatier Francesc Agrás embarked on a long journey through the best patisseries and confectioneries in Europe. His passion for excellence in artisan confectionery was the seed that led to the founding of one of the most renowned Catalan chocolate factories: Bombons Blanxart. It all started in a modest workshop in the neighborhood of Les Corts (Barcelona), feeding a dream - bringing the best cocoa beans from Ghana, Congo, and Guayaquil to chocolate.
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Raaka
Raaka is devoted to making uncommonly delicious chocolate that captures the brighter, bolder, and fruitier side of cacao. They make every bar from scratch with unroasted cacao beans, sourced from growers they trust and admire. The unique flavour of their unroasted chocolate is part place, part process. They craft their bars in celebration of each cacao origin's unique character. Their chocolate making process values the community of growers, producers, and makers whose livelihoods depend on cacao and chocolate. All of their chocolate is made from scratch, bean-to-bar, in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
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Amano Artisan Chocolate
Amano Artisan Chocolate is a small-batch, craft chocolate maker based in Orem, Utah. Amano is an award-winning maker, and they make all their chocolate on vintage equipment. Their small batch process allows Amano to control and observe flavor development, making each batch of chocolate not only delicious but unique.
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Dick Taylor
Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor have always loved crafting. With a background in woodworking and boat building, they have always worked with their hands. Craft is a guiding principle in their lives. After hearing about the craft chocolate movement in the late '00s, they saw similarities in woodworking and craft chocolate making. They became fascinated with the idea of the chocolate experience and in 2010 bought their first chocolate-making equipment. Their chocolate captures and highlights the subtle flavour nuances in the cacao they source from around the world, with the goal to make an enjoyable chocolate experience for us.
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Luisa Abram
Luisa Abram is a chocolate maker from Brazil. Much could be said in praise of Luisa Abram‘s chocolate, from the rarest, wild-harvested cacao she taps, to the slow-churned fermentation, small-batch micro-lot production techniques, and so much more. However, none of that can quite convey how singular the taste is. The notes of cacao are direct, clear, and pure but also arresting in just how unique they are compared to any other chocolate.
Goodio Chocolate
Founded in 2015, Goodio is a food pioneer with a big heart. The story started with a question: “What if there was a food brand you could trust?”. Goodio was created on the principles of sustainability, well-being, and transparency. It's a vision to bring Nordic-inspired flavors to a chocolate brand for the global consumer. They select organic, nutritious ingredients, and fuse them with unique flavors, such as wild blueberry and sea buckthorn to give you a delicious one-of-a-kind treat. All their bars are made with raw cacao, which is high in antioxidants and classified as a superfood.
To get started with craft chocolate, start with our Kekao Box. We search the world for the finest chocolate bars and bring them right to your doorstep monthly.
From rich dark Peruvian chocolate bars to new start-up chocolate bars on the come up, you never know what you’ll get inside the box!
Each month we will curate 4 to 5 premium specialty crafted chocolate bars.
Have someone who you appreciate? It also makes as a great gift!
If you want to just try a couple of bars, check out our online chocolate shop. It's a selection of what we have curated in our past boxes.
If you have any questions regarding this blog, our Kekao Box, or premium specialty crafted chocolate bars, feel free to contact us! Keep up with us by subscribing to our newsletter or following us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
