Chocolate 101: A Beginner’s Guide

Chocolate begins as the seed of a tropical fruit — the cocoa pod. Those seeds are fermented, dried, roasted and ground into a thick paste called cocoa mass (or cocoa liquor, though it contains no alcohol). From that paste, and the cocoa butter pressed out of it, every chocolate you have ever eaten is built.

The main types

• Dark chocolate — cocoa mass, cocoa butter and sugar. The higher the cocoa percentage, the more intense and less sweet.
• Milk chocolate — the same, plus milk solids for a softer, creamier, sweeter bar.
• White chocolate — cocoa butter, milk and sugar, but no cocoa mass, which is why it is pale and very sweet.
• Filled and inclusion bars — any of the above with caramel, nuts, wafer, fruit or praline added.

What “cocoa %” really means

The percentage on a dark bar is the share that comes from the cocoa bean — mass plus butter — with the rest mostly sugar. A 70% bar is 70% cocoa and roughly 30% sugar. Higher is not “better”, just less sweet and more intense. Beginners often enjoy 45–60%; 70%+ is for those who like a bolder, more bitter cup.

How to taste

Let a small piece sit on your tongue and melt rather than chewing it. Notice the first flavour, how it changes, and what lingers. Good chocolate evolves — fruit, then cocoa, then a clean finish — much like coffee.