Top Ten Craft Chocolate Makers in the Rest of the World
This is the top 10 craft chocolate makers list for the Rest of the World — the very best bean-to-bar chocolate makers based outside the UK and USA.
These views represent personal viewpoints only.
This page honours bean-to-bar craft chocolate makers from the rest of the world — the companies who take raw cacao through to a finished chocolate bar, under their own roof, rather than working with chocolate someone else has already made (couverture). Below is our top ten list, the very best working internationally today, followed by a wider field of companies working alongside them.
You may differ on the rankings, but probably agree on the list.
- Marou — Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — marouchocolate.com — Founded by Samuel Maruta and Vincent Mourou, a former banker and a former filmmaker who met on a jungle trekking trip and stumbled onto cacao growing wild and largely unused in the Mekong Delta. What started with a blender, an oven and cake tins in Maruta’s kitchen became Vietnam’s first bean-to-bar maker, and arguably the brand most responsible for putting Vietnamese cacao on the world map. Their province-labelled bars carry real terroir distinctiveness, and the company has grown into one of the most polished operations in the region, with around 20 stores across the country. That scale and polish come at a cost: some longtime fans feel Marou’s early scrappy character has given way to a more conventional premium-brand playbook, particularly since a private equity investment in 2021. Samuel Maruta passed away in 2021, and Marou continues under Mourou’s stewardship. Founded in 2011.
- Soma Chocolatemaker — Toronto, Canada — somachocolate.com — Founded by pastry chef David Castellan and his wife, architect Cynthia Leung, out of a tiny corner of a former whisky distillery in Toronto’s Distillery District, at a time before the term “bean-to-bar” existed and only a handful of small chocolate makers existed anywhere in North America. Soma has picked up multiple International Chocolate Awards gold medals, including for best plain dark bar in the world, and remains one of the genuine pioneers of the modern craft movement. The range has grown well beyond bars into gelato, confections and baked goods, giving Soma a more eclectic, café-driven feel than some of the purists on this list, but the chocolate itself — made from just cacao beans, cane sugar and cocoa butter — remains the main event. Founded in 2003.
- Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé — Budapest, Hungary — rozsavolgyicsokolade.hu — Founded by the husband-and-wife team of Zsolt Szabad, a mechanical engineer, and Katalin Csiszár, a graphic designer, who started making chocolate confections from their garage kitchen in the Rózsavölgy quarter of Budapest, reportedly the first new chocolatiers to open in Hungary after the fall of the Communist government. They later switched from working with bought-in couverture to bean-to-bar to gain more control over flavour, sourcing beans from Åkesson’s Madagascar estates and the Franceschi family’s Venezuelan Chuao plantations. The bars, moulded to resemble traditional Hungarian fireplace tiles and hand-wrapped in artist-designed craft paper, are as recognised for their design as their taste, and several incorporate Hungarian ingredients like paprika and lavender. Zsolt roasts lightly, so even the darkest bars stay on the subtler, gentler side, which won’t suit anyone looking for a punchier, more intense chocolate. Founded in 2004.
- Paccari — Quito, Ecuador — paccari.com — Founded as a family business by Santiago Peralta and Carla Barboto, built around Ecuador’s native Arriba Nacional cacao and an organic, biodynamic, direct-trade model that pays farmers well above market rate. Paccari has become arguably the most-awarded chocolate company on earth, with several hundred international medals, and its flavoured range, built around Ecuadorian ingredients like lemongrass and Andean salt, is genuinely distinctive rather than gimmicky. That scale of production and breadth of flavours (over 70 varieties) means Paccari reads more like a confident, well-run confectionery brand than a small artisan operation these days, and the sheer volume of awards can make it hard to tell which bars are genuinely their strongest work. The brand was known as Pacari (single C) until a 2024 rebrand to Paccari, marking its 20th anniversary — the same company, just a spelling change. Founded in 2002.
- Åkesson’s Organic — Madagascar — akessons-organic.com — Bertil Åkesson didn’t set out to be a chocolate maker: his family has grown cacao on plantations in Madagascar for generations, and for years he simply sold his beans to other well-known makers, including Dandelion and Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé. It was only relatively recently that Åkesson’s own name went on the wrapper. His Sambirano Valley Madagascar beans, prized for their bright citrus character, are a genuine benchmark other makers are judged against, and the plantation-to-bar control he has — he owns the trees, not just the beans — is rare on this list. The company’s most distinctive line pairs chocolate with pepper grown on the same estates, which is a genuinely acquired taste and not for everyone reaching for a straightforward bar. The exact year his own-branded chocolate line launched isn’t clearly documented; the plantations themselves date back generations. Founded (own chocolate brand) around 2013.
- Zotter — Riegersburg, Austria — zotter.at — Founded by Josef Zotter, a former chef and baker whose confectionery business nearly went bankrupt before he retreated to his family’s farm and started experimenting with hand-scooped, layered chocolates in a converted cowshed. Zotter has since become one of the largest genuinely bean-to-bar operations in Europe, and one of the strangest: over 500 flavours, an “Edible Zoo” farm attached to the factory, and combinations like cheese and mango chutney sitting alongside more conventional single-origin bars. That sheer scale and playfulness is the whole appeal for some, but it also means the quieter, more serious single-origin side of what Zotter makes can get lost under the theatre and novelty flavours. Josef’s daughter Julia Zotter took over as managing director in March 2026, so this is another one where new leadership is worth keeping an eye on, even if the transition is a planned family succession rather than an outside sale. Founded in 1999.
- Original Beans — Amsterdam, Netherlands — originalbeans.com — Founded by Philipp Kauffmann, a former UN conservationist who spent years financing biodiversity projects before deciding a chocolate company could do more for rainforest preservation than a development agency. Original Beans sources some of the rarest cacao varieties on earth from remote, biodiverse regions, plants a tree for every bar sold, and publishes an “impact tracker” showing exactly what each purchase has funded. The mission is genuinely substantial rather than marketing dressing, but it also means the chocolate is sold as much on its conservation story as on flavour, and the premium pricing that funds it puts Original Beans out of casual, everyday reach for many buyers. Founded in 2008.
- Cacaosuyo — Lima, Peru — cacaosuyo.pe — Founded by Eduardo Lanfranco and Samir Giha, who set out to prove that Peru, home to more native cacao genetic diversity than any other country, deserved recognition on its own terms rather than as a footnote to Ecuadorian or Venezuelan cacao. Cacaosuyo classifies its beans by strain and region — Piura, Cuzco, Amazonas, Junín — and its 2025 El Ganso 70% bar was named the world’s best dark chocolate at the International Chocolate Awards, the clearest possible validation of that approach. The bars are released fresh rather than aged, which some tasters find gives them real vibrancy and others find slightly unsettled compared with a more conventionally rested bar; either way, this is one of the most technically serious makers on this list. Founded in 2012.
- Minimal — Tokyo, Japan — mini-mal.tokyo — Founded by Takatsugu Yamashita in Shibuya, Minimal built its name on a distinctly washoku approach to chocolate: strip everything back, use only cacao beans and unrefined sugar, and let subtle differences in origin and roast do the talking, in the way a good bowl of dashi relies on restraint rather than addition. The stark, monochrome branding and single-origin cards handed out with each bar have made it one of the most recognisable names to come out of Japan’s fast-growing bean-to-bar scene, and its Arhuaco 67% bar was named world’s best in its category at the 2023 International Chocolate Awards Asia-Pacific competition. The company has expanded well beyond bars into patisserie, gâteau and full tasting menus across five Tokyo stores, competing with Dandelion Chocolate in Japan, which is a genuinely interesting direction but does mean the pure bean-to-bar chocolate is no longer quite the singular focus it was at launch. Founded in 2014.
- Naive — Užugriovis, Lithuania — chocolatenaive.com — Founded by Domantas Užpalis, who returned to Lithuania from a master’s degree in London straight into the 2008 financial crisis, bought a tonne of cocoa beans with his last savings, and moved to the countryside to teach himself chocolate-making from scratch. Naive has become one of the most awarded small chocolate makers in Europe, known for genuinely unusual flavour pairings — porcini mushroom, kefir, durian — built from freeze-dried local and wild ingredients rather than flavourings, and for packaging that’s won awards in its own right. The flavour experimentation is the whole draw for adventurous buyers, but it also means the plainer, cacao-forward bars can feel like an afterthought next to the more theatrical releases. What stops Naive climbing higher in this list is the price of the bars, compared to other high-end craft chocolate makers, who are just as meticulous, and the smaller physical weight of what you are buying. Founded in 2010.
Honourable Mention
A couple of names dropped out of the top ten for now, not because the chocolate has changed, but because ownership has. It’s the same pattern seen with Blue Bottle Coffee, Le Labo, Hotel Chocolat, or Green & Black’s — once an independent company or its founder loses ultimate control, it takes time to properly evaluate what that means for the product. We’ll revisit once the picture is clearer:
- Friis-Holm (Herslev, Denmark — friisholmchokolade.dk) — many would expect Friis-Holm to sit in the upper half of the top ten above. In 2023, though, the family behind the Danish ice cream brand Hansen Is took a majority stake in the company. Mikkel Friis-Holm remains involved, but it’s too soon to say what that ownership change means for the chocolate long-term — we’ll re-evaluate once things settle. The company is known for single-origin bean-to-bar chocolate with real depth and thought behind it, built on single-varietal cacao and backed by multiple awards wins. We hope the new bars still carry the same DNA.
- Domori (Turin, Italy — domori.com) — one of the most credible custodians of rare Criollo cacao anywhere, through its Hacienda San José project in Venezuela, but it’s been owned by the Illy coffee group since 2006, and founder Gianluca Franzoni stepped back from day-to-day involvement in 2017. Worth watching to see how the brand develops under that ownership before ranking it against founder-led independents.
- Omnom (Reykjavik, Iceland — omnomchocolate.com) — Created by two friends in Reykjavík, Iceland, in 2013, Omnom is led by passionate chef Kjartan Gíslason and entrepreneur Óskar Þórðarson. Omnom produces small-batch, bean-to-bar chocolate, using some of the finest cacao beans sourced worldwide, and packaging it in great designs. This company is very close to making the top 10 list, and Omnom should be looked at as a very serious contender.
- Slok Chocolate (Hong Kong — slockchocolate) — Slok was born from passionate chocolate fanatics, and they have emerged as award-winning bean-to-bar chocolate makers. Handcrafted in Hong Kong, they specialise in single-origin chocolate bars using innovative flavour combinations. For the adventurous chocolate enthusiast.
Other Notable Craft Chocolate Makers
Here is a list of other bean-to-bar chocolate makers from around the world.
| Name | Location | Website |
|---|---|---|
| Amedei | Pontedera, Italy | amedei.it |
| Blanxart | Barcelona, Spain | blanxart.com |
| Bonnat | Voiron, France | bonnat-chocolatier.com |
| Casa Bosques | Mexico City, Mexico (also operates out of Brooklyn, NY) | casabosques.com |
| Chocolatemakers | Amsterdam, Netherlands | chocolatemakers.com |
| Fu Wan Chocolate | Pingtung, Taiwan | fuwanshop.com |
| Hogarth Chocolate | Nelson, New Zealand | hogarthchocolate.co.nz |
| Ki’Xocolatl | Yucatán, Mexico | kixocolatl.com |
| Luisa Abram | São Paulo, Brazil | luisaabram.com |
| Sirene Chocolate | Victoria, Canada | sirenechocolate.com |