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. As for chocolate makers, as with any food product, some brands are killing it in this space, while others aren’t quite living up to the top 10 worst candy bars. Our Tasting Table taste testers hit the ground running to round up 20 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 listicle. According to Esthechoc, a healthy outside starts from the inside. We definitely agree with this statement, so we dove into the chocolate to see if its aesthetic wrapper had the deliciousness inside to match. Think of Esthechoc as a food supplement made from 72. While Esthechoc’s website states all the positive benefits of consuming chocolate, including support of skin metabolism and antioxidants, we are most concerned about the taste of the products. So is beauty chocolate also delicious chocolate? Compared to the other chocolate brands on this list, Esthechoc missed the mark for us.
This chocolate tasted healthier but was not the first chocolate we would reach for when heading back for seconds. Next on our list is family-crafted and New Zealand-based Whittaker’s Chocolate. 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 are able to swing it.
The only reason Whittaker’s landed lower on our list is due to the price to ship for consumers outside of Australia or New Zealand. Cadbury started making chocolate over 200 years ago and continues to invent and inspire today’s industry. Cadbury Dairy Milk products — a practice Cadbury has proposed to do for all its products by 2025. You may recognize the name Cadbury from its popular Easter commercials highlighting the famous Cadbury Creme Eggs. This product contains a milk chocolate shell with a soft fondant center that melts in your mouth.
While we believe the Cadbury Creme Eggs are pretty delicious, the other products do not quite compare in our taste test. We feel like other chocolate brands are better tasting and affordable, hence our lower ranking of Cadbury. Russell Stover has been an American favorite since 1923. It’s known for its assorted chocolate boxes that grow in popularity around the holidays, like Valentine’s Day, as they make easy gifts that anyone will enjoy. Overall, we feel like Russell Stover is just OK. The fillings are a little too sweet, in our opinion, and are covered by a thin layer of chocolate.
This brand does not scream luxury chocolates, but they are still a welcomed gift. One thing we can appreciate about Russel Stover is its extensive product offerings, including a wide range of sugar-free chocolate options. 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.