These are the top 7 chocolate makers in the world that you should try.
Presented in alphabetical order
The companies in detail
Craft chocolate has no shortage of makers chasing the same story — direct trade, single origin, small batch. What separates the best from the rest is simpler and harder to establish: does the chocolate itself hold up? The seven makers on this list show incredible skill and knowledge. From a former physicist’s high-altitude factory in the Utah mountains to a Danish chef’s awards obsession, each has built a genuinely distinctive style of chocolate-making, and each produces bars that reward slow, deliberate tasting rather than a quick bite. This is not sponsored — it is a hand-picked selection of makers whose chocolate we think earns its place among the very best being made anywhere in the world today, presented alphabetically.
Amano Artisan Chocolate
Amano focuses on flavour first — sourcing distinctive cacao, making chocolate in small batches, and taking the time needed to develop texture, aroma, and balance. And this is the secret as to why their chocolate tastes so good – they do not set a clock to the chocolate they make, batch by batch, it’s done, when it’s done.
Founded by physicist-turned-chocolate-maker Art Pollard, Amano was the first American chocolate maker to win a Gold award at the UK’s Academy of Chocolate Awards for a bean-to-bar dark chocolate, and its high-altitude Utah factory is credited with helping deepen the chocolate’s character during conching. Independent reviewers describe a firm, brittle snap giving way to a rich, layered flavour — strong cocoa notes threaded with blueberry and plum, deepening into a soft molasses finish. Origin bars range from the bright citrus lift of Madagascar to the smooth, wine-like complexity of Venezuela, each showing the kind of clarity that only comes from patient, small-batch conching. This artisan company sets a very high benchmark in chocolate-making craft — Amano consistently sells out of each limited batch it makes, so you have to be quick to secure a bar, but the chocolate really is that good. Amano
Askinosie Chocolate
The single-origin bars, mostly made from cacao coming from Tanzania, the Philippines and Ecuador, are very well made and consistent – and the packaging stands out as unique, in a style that has yet to be copied or bettered.
Founded in 2005 by Shawn Askinosie, the Springfield, Missouri, micro-factory buys whole harvests directly from named farmers, keeping every batch traceable to a single farm and consistently well-made. Reviewers repeatedly single out the chocolate’s ultra-smooth, velvety melt — and its layered fruit character, with the Tanzania bar’s notes of strawberry, blueberry and graham coming through against a creamy backbone. The bars are prized for a clean snap and a finish that lingers, a texture and depth that punch well above their simple two-ingredient recipe. Askinosie’s chocolate is ethically and transparently made, creating real change for people at the bottom of the value chain — that alone would be enough to earn a place on this list, but the chocolate itself also shows real craft and skill in the making. Askinosie
Dandelion Chocolate
Dandelion’s bean-to-bar signature discipline — just cocoa beans and organic cane sugar, nothing else, not even added cocoa butter or vanilla — is a philosophy that they have had since the company was founded. Their single-origin chocolate bars, they are exceptional in terms of character, and the people behind the sourcing and making of them show an incredibly knowledge.
Their signature Madagascar bar is prized for its intensely fruity character — bright strawberry and cherry notes that shift with each year’s harvest — while newer origins reveal deeper stone-fruit and cocoa-forward complexity finishing on a distinctive woody, earthy note. Reviewers consistently praise the clean snap and smooth melt that come from Dandelion’s practice of hand-sorting every bean before roasting, rejecting anything imperfect before it ever reaches the grinder. The result is chocolate praised for translating each origin’s terroir with unusual clarity, in the same way a good single-vineyard wine reveals its soil. Dandelion is considered one of the best craft chocolate makers for a reason — the people who make it show real passion for their products. They also sell products made in the USA and ones made in Japan, highlighting regional differences in chocolate making. It is well worth seeking out both. Dandelion
Dick Taylor
Their two-ingredient, single-origin bars, have long carried a reputation among chocolate insiders as some of the most consistently well-made in the USA. It’s a small operation on the Humboldt County waterfront, and the focus stays narrow — mostly plain bars and a few inclusions.
Reviewers repeatedly praise the chocolate’s ultra-smooth texture and clean, extended melt, alongside a complexity that stays approachable rather than austere — one taster describes layered notes of coffee, roasted nuts and ripe persimmon in a single square. Origin bars are singled out for a bright, fruit-forward character, especially the Madagascar-based bars where citrus, berry and dried-fruit notes unfold in sequence across the melt. Founders Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor, both former boatbuilders in Eureka, California, bring the same exacting hand-craft standards from woodworking to their roasting and moulding, evident in the intricate, flawlessly tempered scrollwork on every bar. The pair have picked up multiple industry awards in the years since starting out, but it’s the sourcing that keeps insiders talking — Dick Taylor has sought out rare, previously unused cacao varieties from remote growing regions that few other makers have touched. One longtime reviewer summed the whole range up as the quintessence of chocolate: it melts cleanly, tastes complex without ever becoming challenging, and finishes so well that most people who try one bar end up working their way through the entire collection. Dick Taylor
Friis-Holm
Friis-Holm 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.
Friis-Holm has picked up gold medals at the International Chocolate Awards for ten consecutive years, an unusually consistent run that reflects Mikkel Friis-Holm’s exacting, single-varietal approach. His bars are prized for a pure, intense cocoa character — reviewers describe deep, layered flavour with a silky, harmonious texture even at very high percentages — and his practice of varying only the conching time across otherwise-identical bars lets tasters experience, square by square, how much that one variable can transform the final chocolate. The result is chocolate praised as bold and uncompromising yet never blunt, satisfying serious connoisseurs while still winning over casual chocolate lovers. Friis-Holm has a large international following, reflecting the brand’s hard work and dedication. However, of the seven makers on this list, Friis-Holm is by far the most driven by awards — it’s a genuine obsession, and the gold-medal streak is proof it’s paying off — in his own words, [he has] “a desire to become one of the top 3 chocolate makers in the world”. Friis-Holm
MayHawk
MayHawk’s single-origin, two ingredient chocolate bars are exceptional in terms of character and real nuance — instead of optimising for speed or volume, MayHawk prioritises the character of the origin and a clean, expressive finish. The chocolate lives up to their claims: precision as flavour, with nothing on the label that isn’t earned, nothing in the bar that isn’t necessary. Letting product execution do the heavy lifting.
The single-origin range spans from Peru to Madagascar to Colombia, each bar showing just how much flavour comes from origin alone once everything unnecessary has been stripped away. Alongside their plain bars they offer a wide range of ingredient pairings, and their inventive, limited-edition Studio Project bars consistently sell out. Tasting the range side by side reveals real nuance from bar to bar, with nothing added to blur the distinction between one origin and the next. National press reviews of MayHawk consistently reflect a view of the brand as a chocolate maker of real innovation and skill – and their near silence within the awards scene signalling a confidence other makers lack. MayHawk’s chocolate has also built a devoted following well beyond the UK, including a notably strong fanbase among chocolate enthusiasts in Japan, drawn by the same clarity and restraint that defines MayHawk as a British bean-to-bar brand. The packaging artwork and design have also drawn recognition of their own, among the most striking and innovative in the craft chocolate space. MayHawk
Pump Street Chocolate
Pump Street have a solid international reputation in the USA, where they are thought of as a first-class chocolate maker. Some of their milk chocolate range is excellent, and this is the company’s most distinctive line, showing that bakery and chocolate making can sit comfortably together. Pump Street started out life as bakers before moving into chocolate making, and their passion for both crafts comes through clearly, and the smooth integration between the two shows a genuinely well-thought-out collaboration.
Independent reviewers consistently describe the chocolate as smooth and elegant, taking the palate on a genuine journey rather than delivering one note — one reviewer traced a single milk bar’s melt from initial honeyed fruit through jammy prune and tangy pineapple to nutty, toffee-like richness at the finish. Its milk chocolate range draws particular praise for balancing high cocoa content with real creaminess rather than sweetness, and the bars have collected accolades from the International Chocolate Awards, the Academy of Chocolate and Great Taste. Bakery-inspired bars — folding in things like sourdough crumb or croissant — add texture and crunch without ever losing the clarity of the underlying chocolate, a genuine showcase of Pump Street’s dual craft. They have gained a solid following — their chocolate isn’t as inventive as some on this list, but it is made with an eye on using flawless techniques, with an “easy to eat” philosophy — and their new releases are eagerly anticipated. Pump Street