Craft Bean-To-Bar Chocolate
Single-Origin Dark, Milk, & White Chocolate
For flavoured bars visit this page.
Geoseph’s Curated Collection
Need help deciding? Please don’t hesitate to contact me and ask. As a professional chocolate sommelier, it’s my job to help you. I will respond as soon as possible.
Enjoy my growing curated collection includes exquisite chocolate bars I use in my tastings to showcase the wide range of fine chocolate from around the world.
+ What does "single-origin" mean?
Here it refers to plain dark, milk, and white chocolate, where all the flavour you experience comes only from the cocoa bean itself, and not from other flavours or ingredients added.
Dark chocolate here contains only cocoa bean, sugar, and sometimes cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is optional, and is simply the fat pressed from the cocoa bean.
Milk chocolate here contains **cocoa bean, sugar, milk powder, and cocoa butter. **
White chocolate here contains non-deodorized cocoa butter. That is, unflavoured white chocolate where all the aroma comes from the non-deodorized cocoa butter. Non-deodorized cocoa butter carries the natural flavour of the cocoa beans it was pressed from.
Generally people use single-origin only to refer to dark chocolate, but I use it to refer to milk chocolate as well. Think of dark chocolate like a fine black coffee or espresso, where the flavour comes only from the coffee bean. Milk chocolate is equivalent to a latte or cappucino where the flavour of the bean still comes through, but now is married with milk chocolate.
The bars on this page, both dark and milk, are a reflection of the diversity and variance in flavour of the various cacao from around the world. Each bar has its own unique distinct flavour true to the cocoa bean itself. Even chocolate bars of various makers using the same cocoa bean can varry as well due to the manufacuturing process such as roasting temperatures and refining/conching time.
+ Where do you ship?
Across Canada & USA, as well as many other countries worldwide (Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Middle East, Brazil, and more).
If you are unsure if I can ship to your country, please contact me to ask! I will be happy to look into it for you and let you know if I can ship to you.
Shipping rates are fair, as I absorb part of the shipping cost billed to me by the courier.
For more information on shipping and to learn how you can qualify for free shipping, click here.
+ Shipping In Heat
**Temperatures headed above 22 Celsius or 70 Fahrenheit is entering the risk zone for chocolate bloom or melt. **
I have had an extremely high success rate shipping bars to hot US States, Middle East, Australia, and Asia without product melt or bloom.
I pack orders with heat protection during summer months, or to hot destinations.
** It's always helpful for me if you let me know in the "notes" section during checkout if temperatures in your region are headed above 22 Celsius or 70 Fahrenheit where you are. It's also recommended you choose expedited shipping if you know temperatures are quite high.**
I often don't ship these orders out before the weekend (to avoid packaging sitting in hot warehouses over the weekend). I also may suggest to delay your package if need be during extreme hot weather conditions. As well, during very hot summers I only allow for expedited shipping (no standard) until temperatures drop.
+ Best Before Dates On Bars
Keep in mind best before dates you see on some images do not necessarily reflect bars in stock. Images of bars are not replaced with each new batch, therefore best before dates reflect when the image was taken.
If you need a list of Best Before Dates, check this list.
Also keep in mind that solid chocolate does not expire if stored properly. So if you purchased chocolate bars here that you took a while to get to, keep in mind they may be perfectly fine to eat!
Solid chocolate is a low-risk non-perishable food, and have best before dates, not expiry dates. There is a difference. Just like wine, if kept sealed and stored well, solid chocolate can be enjoyed well beyond the best before date. No need to throw away perfectly wonderful chocolate bars when past their best before dates. To learn more, check out this blog post here.
+ Are these fairtrade? Organic?
The cacao used here is above fairtrade, transparently traded, and in some cases directly traded. Read more here. Simply put, the cacao used to make these bars is superior quality to Fairtrade certified chocolate brands. This high quality cacao is paid for at much higher costs than even Fairtrade certified cacao which is used for the chocolate brands you find at most grocery stores or health food boutiques. Keep in mind fairtrade is not synonymous with quality, so Fairtrade certified chocolate bars are almost always alwaysthe same bulk quality used for all your non-fairtrade chocolate.
Many bars use organic certified cacao when possible, as well as other organic ingredients. However, not all bars use certified organic cacao and ingredients. If you wish to purchase bars made with only organic cacao, select "Organic Cacao" in the "Ingredients" category. Read more here.
+ What is your criteria for selecting bars?
I select brands and/or bars based on quality craftsmanship and overall flavour. Factors such as trends, popularity, pretty packaging, and awards do not influence my choices. The reason being, using those as filters do not always allow one to reach the "cream of the crop" when it comes to chocolate. Therefore, I chooose to look beyond appearances when it comes to deciding on quality.
Other factors such as "fair trade" and "organic" and others are important as well. However, these buzz words can be misleading, and are often not synonymous with quality. My mission is to highlight choclate makers who are doing wonderful work in regards to chocolate.
Keep in mind this is not an all-inclusive collection of the best bean-to-bar makers from around the world, but rather a small sampling of them. There are many brands who are doing a beautiful job, but I either do not carry them at this time or simply cannot due to logistics. There are also brands who make well crafted chocolate better than industrial chocolate, but not quite what I look for.
+ Favourites of Geoseph
I created a filter called "favourites of Geoseph". People constantly ask me what my favourite bars are as a guide for their choices. I understand that question, but I don't like it. Why? I teach people to learn how to discern for themselves rather than make a decision based on what other's, including myself, think. Although quality is less subjective, preference for overall flavour is quite subjective.
I only carry bars which I am proud to sell. This does not mean I don't appreciate or love bars or brands you don't find here. Quite the contrary! There are many reasons why I do not carry many more incredible brands here in this shop.
I enjoy every single one of these bars in the online shop, but this filter was created to highlight bars which I would say at the top of my list (a difference of say a 9.8/10 vs 9.4/10. These are bars I tend to crave more often because the flavour profiles really resonate for me. This list also keeps in mind what might appear to most beginner tasters. There are some favourites of mine that are too strange for most people - so I don't include these.
