Everything you need to know about bean to bar chocolate

Bean to Bar, Direct Trade, Single Origin? If you are looking for really good chocolate, you often have to fight your way through a jungle of terms. We'll clean up and show what bean-to-bar means, why it's worth paying more money for high-quality chocolate. And we have 3 practical tips on how to recognize really good chocolate.

What does bean to bar mean?

Be an-to-bar is on everyone's lips right now. As the name suggests, bean-to-bar chocolate is made from a single source, from bean to bar. He describes a trading model in which the chocolate manufacturer accompanies the entire process. He buys cocoa beans directly from the farmer, roasts, refines and then processes the mass into the final product. To the chocolate that we are allowed to enjoy! Being responsible for the entire process is very time-consuming. The chocolate manufacturer has to provide equipment and expertise for each individual processing step. At the same time, bean-to-bar gives them the opportunity to control the taste and quality of the chocolate right from the start.
For comparison: other manufacturers usually buy in chocolate mass and then process it further. Of course, their treats can also be of high quality. But they are not from a single source and therefore not bean-to-bar. The manufacturer's creative design options are only limited to the later steps, such as the addition of other additives such as sea salt, hazelnuts, etc.
Each fruit is treated individually by the farmer ©Raaka Chocolate

Where is the trend coming from?

What are we actually eating? What is inside? And where does it come from? More and more people are questioning long lists of ingredients, opaque production chains and dumping food prices. Since the turn of the millennium, this trend has also caught on in the chocolate industry. Passionate bean-to-bar manufacturers stand for transparent trade channels, careful production and quality. Bean-to-Bar should be for connoisseurs who value taste, but also value the story behind the chocolate.

Is bean to bar chocolate always good chocolate?

So is chocolate that says bean-to-bar automatically high-quality? Unfortunately it's not that simple. For starters, bean-to-bar refers to the trading model, not a quality standard. As is so often the case, one should not be blinded by trendy terms. Instead, take a closer look at the ingredients and the manufacturer. Large companies that sell bulk chocolate at low prices also want to benefit from the trend.
The beans are dried under the sun ©Raaka Chocolate

Nevertheless, many manufacturers who produce everything themselves, from the bean to the bar, appreciate the transparency of the process and can thus ensure high quality. Customers need to differentiate between bean-to-bar as a marketing measure and bean-to-bar out of passion. We have 3 tips on how to make this distinction.

3 tips on how to recognize really good chocolate

1. What is inside? Sounds banal, but a look at the ingredients often provides clarity. Here you can see whether it is only advertised as bean-to-bar or whether it is really good chocolate in front of you. Because high-quality chocolate consists primarily of one ingredient: cocoa. Even milk chocolate can still have a cocoa content of around 50%. Sugar should definitely not be the main ingredient. So the rule of thumb is: bean-to-bar is great when the rest of the ingredients are carefully selected.
2. Who is behind the chocolate? It's worth looking behind the company's facade. The Berlin-based manufacturer Belyzium, for example, even produces tree-to-bar: from harvesting their own cocoa plantations in Central America, to fermentation, roasting, processing and pouring the chocolate mass. You can taste this love for chocolate.
3. Too cheap to be true? Quality chocolate comes at a price. Coming back to mass-produced, mass-produced goods, bars that cost less than €1 per 100 g may have their origins in the company's own plantations. In all probability, however, the focus is not on quality, but on quantity. So picking up some extra cash is inevitable. But honestly, there's no better investment than chocolate, right?

After fermentation, the beans are transported in sacks ©Raaka Chocolate

Snack, ready, go!

Even if the jungle of terms related to chocolate is reminiscent of the complicated vocabulary of a wine lover: Have the courage to try! Those who are real chocolate connoisseurs like to devote a little more time to the selection of the next bar. Bean-to-bar is a great way to enjoy transparent production chains, careful craftsmanship and good taste.
And we can promise one thing: good chocolate tastes even better when you realize how carefully and handcrafted it was made.
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