Aurora Grace Chocolates, photo courtesy of the source.

• Join Edible Philly for a Virtual Chocolate Tasting led by Estelle Tracy. November 17. Reserve your spot at ediblephilly.com/chocolate. Sponsored by Riverwards Produce. 

DURING MY YEARS AS A CHOCOLATE EDUCATOR, I’ve discovered that not all chocolate is created equal. Up until two decades ago, chocolate was made by large companies using commodity cacao beans. In the early 2000s, the availability of affordable cacao processing equipment lowered the barrier of entry for small-batch chocolate-makers willing to pay a premium for transparently traded, specialty beans.

The result? An explosion of choice for chocoholics like me.

Riverwards Produce is one Philadelphia retailer that carries this new generation of chocolate. The store caters to chocolate lovers who approach chocolate not as candy, but rather as a fine food. “Some customers come every six weeks and buy over $100 of chocolate,” explains Rebecka Helén-Wilson, the chocolate buyer for Riverwards. These aficionados are now reinventing how they consume and enjoy their favorite food.

A neurologist by day, Steven Factor is a modern chocolate lover. He regularly spends $10 per bar and favors dark chocolate. “The less sweet the chocolate is,” he explains, “the more layers of flavor there are and the more you appreciate it.” Factor likes sharing his chocolate stash with friends, comparing the ritual to “having a cheese plate for dessert.”

Others, like Isabel Soto, see parallels between fine chocolate and other foods. “I have a background in coffee,” says the former barista, “which helped me appreciate the terroir in chocolate.”

These days, you’ll spot fine-quality bars at the checkout line of coffee shops, on the shelves of specialty food stores and even at farmers’ markets. Picking craft chocolate can be intimidating if you’ve never ventured beyond the candy aisle. Thankfully, I’ve spent the past six years tasting my way through large quantities of it, so here’s a personal guide to chocolate-makers, chocolatiers and chocolate purveyors in Philadelphia.

MEET THE MAKERS

These Philly chocolate-makers are all about the cacao. They make chocolate from scratch, using transparently traded beans selected for their fine flavor. While their best-selling bars may be pretzel- studded, give their single origin ones a try to start your chocolate connoisseurship journey.

TRIANGLE ROASTERS

Frankford, Philadelphia

Founded by two couples with a background in international development, Triangle Roasters first started as a specialty coffee roaster. The company now also roasts cacao beans, then grinds them with cane sugar to produce chocolate. The line of 70% dark chocolate uses these two ingredients only to highlight the different flavors naturally found in each type of cacao. The Guatemala bar tastes like orange, the Nicaragua has a toffee finish and the Philippines boasts notes of marshmallow and caramel. Try all three side-by-side and you’ll do a double-take on the list of ingredients: The tasting notes you’ll pick up on don’t come from added flavor, but from the actual cacao beans.

Triangle doesn’t have a storefront yet, but you’ll find its colorful packages online and at one of the company’s 25 retailers in the Philadelphia area, including Di Bruno’s and Riverwards Produce.

ÉCLAT CHOCOLATE

West Chester, PA

Éclat Chocolate has long been known for its spectacular caramels, but it’s the First Harvest bar that chocolate connoisseurs covet. Hidden in an elegant black wrapper with golden details, this 72% dark chocolate is a delicacy best savored slowly. The star of the show? Nacional cacao from Peru.

Christopher Curtin, certified master chocolatier and owner of Éclat Chocolate, describes the rare beans as “delicate and full of flavor.” Their naturally high cocoa butter content also makes for an exceptionally smooth bar. The $18 price tag may shock you at first, but Curtin trusts the taste to do the convincing. “Once people try it, they understand,” says Curtin.

The First Harvest bar is available at several retailers in the area; head to the West Chester factory shop to discover the Nacional truffles, too.

SHANE CONFECTIONERY

Old City, Philadelphia

The oldest continuously operating candy shop in the country has added a chocolate chapter to its story. A few years ago, Shane’s created a chocolate mold based on the etching of an eighteenth century ad for Benjamin Jackson, one of the first chocolate-makers in Philadelphia.

In the Old City workshop, Kevin Paschall fills the pocket-size molds with chocolate made from Central American and Southeast Asian cacao beans. The House Dark Chocolate is surprisingly mild with a smooth texture, while the Benjamin Jackson bar is coarsely processed for a satisfying grit. Dark chocolate fans will delight in the 90% Tumaco bar; the natural sweetness of the Colombian beans makes for a chocolate that’s intense but not bitter. It’s a great breakfast food that pairs well with dark coffee or a chai latte.

LOCAL CHOCOLATIERS

As delightful as a dark chocolate bar is, there’s something fun and playful about a box of colorful chocolate bonbons from a talented chocolatier. Unlike a chocolate-maker, who makes chocolate from cacao beans, a chocolatier uses already-made chocolate known as “couverture” for melting and blending with other ingredients. These talented chocolatiers source their couverture chocolate from large, reputable makers to craft confections pretty enough to give as gifts (or treat yourself):

AURORA GRACE

Society Hill, Philadelphia

Stop by Aurora Grace’s booth at a farmers’ market, and you’ll notice macarons, marshmallows and, yes, chocolates. Tucked in clear boxes, the bonbons are bursting with contemporary fillings, such as liquid salted caramel, hazelnut praline crunch and salted honey tahini. Biting into a s’more bonbon, you’ll wonder how founder Aurora Wold put a whole marshmallow into that small bite.

Wold takes pride in sourcing couverture chocolate from ethical makers like TCHO in California and Felchlin in Switzerland to make her products. “I try to educate customers about the sourcing of the raw materials down the supply chain, but getting some people to absorb the reality of the industry at large can be challenging,” she says.

If shopping for yourself, stock up on the chocolate barks, which come in flavors like raspberry-pistachio and, my favorite, black lava sea salt—cashew, made in collaboration with Di Bruno’s.

GOOD GOOD CHOCOLATES

Philadelphia, PA

A pastry chef and owner of Good Good Chocolates, Lisa Schoenbeck uses couverture chocolate from Valrhona, a certified B Corp, to create confections that manage to be both elegant and whimsical. Her brightly colored, intricate creations are edible pieces of art, so much so that the Philadelphia Museum of Art commissioned Schoenbeck to craft an exclusive nine-piece bonbon collection for its gift shop.

This holiday season, Good Good Chocolates will be releasing a collection of colorful chocolate ornaments filled with house-made hazelnut praline toffee, feuilletine (baked crêpe shards) and candied hazelnuts, as well as a chocolate “snowfriend,” whose head you can pop off and melt into hot milk. Don’t wait to treat yourself to a bestselling Philly Bar, which blends dark chocolate with stout caramel, salty pretzels and peanut butter crunch.

“Some customers come every six weeks and buy over $100 of chocolate,” explains Rebecka Helén-Wilson, the chocolate buyer for Riverwards Produce.

CHOCOLATE PURVEYORS

Ready to expand your chocolate horizons? These retailers curate some of the most creative bars from around the world. There’s a good overlap in the curation across these shops, so you’ll soon be familiar with the tea-infused creations from Fossa Chocolate (Singapore), the Middle Eastern flavors of Mirzam (Dubai) and the interesting inclusions of Naive Chocolate (Lithuania).

DI BRUNO’S

Multiple Locations

Di Bruno’s chocolate selection is extensive enough to be exciting but not so large that it’s overwhelming. At the new Wayne location, you’ll find chocolate bars from regional makers as well as some from acclaimed international companies.

I’m partial to the shiny, super smooth bars of Pennsylvania-based Moka Origins, which highlight the work of African cacao farmers. If you spot Fruition Chocolate’s 85% Tumaco bar, snag it! It’s a new American classic crafted in New York’s Hudson Valley. Cover your Italian chocolate basics with Amedei Tuscany’s collection of award-winning bars.

RIVERWARDS PRODUCE

Fishtown, Philadelphia

Rebecka Helén-Wilson has fun curating Riverwards Produce’s chocolate shelf, and it shows. The enthusiastic buyer changes the chocolate display frequently and puts the bars of a new maker on sale every month. “It’s a good way to make the bars more [financially] accessible,” she says. True to her Swedish roots, she has a soft spot for Scandinavian brands and inclusions. Licorice and sea buckthorn chocolate, anyone?

If unusual flavors aren’t your thing, try some of the store’s best-selling bars, like Omnom Chocolate’s Caramel & Milk, as well as the several dairy-free bars made with either oat milk or coconut milk.

HERMAN’S COFFEE

Pennsport, Philadelphia

Housed in a former car repair shop, Herman’s Coffee may be the last place you’d expect to find fine chocolate. And yet, the coffee shop offers a selection so large, it’s now a destination for the most devout chocoholics.

Steven Factor claims he’s tried every single bar from the three chocolate fridges sitting by the entrance. His most memorable bites? Chocolate Naive’s Golden Berry & Banana, as well as Qantu’s 70% Morrópon dark chocolate, which “tastes like dark cherries,” and the Goat Milk bar, which feels like “it’s infused with goat cheese.”

Don’t leave without Marou’s Mekong Kumquat dark chocolate, Fossa Chocolate’s Duckshit bar (which is flavored with Oolong tea) and pieces of Cuna de Piedra’s Mexican-inspired collection.

Embarking on a flavor journey can be thrilling and, at times, confusing. The world of fine chocolate asks us to rethink what chocolate should cost and taste like. You may be tempted to return to safe favorites, but Factor encourages you to push through. “If you don’t like the first [bar], try the second,” he advises, “it’s a small tragedy if you’ve never had really good chocolate.”

CHOCOLATIERS

AURORA GRACE CHOCOLATES
517 South 5th St.
Philadelphia, PA
auroragracechocolates.com

GOOD GOOD CHOCOLATES
goodgoodchocolates.com

CHOCOLATE MAKERS

TRIANGLE ROASTERS
triangleroasters.com

ECLAT CHOCOLATE
24 South High St.
West Chester, PA
eclatchocolate.com

SHANE CONFECTIONERY
110 Market St.
Philadelphia, PA
shanecandies.com

CHOCOLATE PURVEYORS

DIBRUNO BROS.
Multiple locations
dibruno.com

RIVERWARDS PRODUCE
2200 E. Norris St.
Philadelphia PA
riverwardsproduce.com

HERMAN’S COFFEE
1313 South 3rd St.
Philadelphia, PA
hermanscoffee.com