Top-Shelf Chocolate Brands Perfect for Masterful Tempering

Tempering chocolate is a critical step for anyone looking to create beautifully glossy and professional-looking chocolate treats. The quality of the chocolate used can significantly impact the outcome, making it crucial to choose the right brand for this culinary endeavor. Some of the most respected brands for tempering chocolate stand out for their consistent excellence and ease of use, making them favorites among home and professional chefs alike. If you're curious to discover the top brands that can guarantee the best results, take a look below.

Illustration of chocolate for tempering

Best brands of chocolate for tempering in 2025

Valrhona

Valrhona is renowned as one of the best producers of chocolate for tempering, particularly with their high-quality couverture chocolate that contains at least 31% cocoa butter, making it ideal for achieving the perfect temper. Founded by Frederic Bau, who also established L'Ecole Valrhona, Valrhona's chocolates are favored by professionals for their rich flavor and excellent handling properties. Their chocolates, such as the Mangari 64% Madagascan, are known for their consistent flavor, taste, and finish. Valrhona's tempering methods, including the bain-marie, seeding, and tabling techniques, are well-documented and highly regarded. With over 25 years of consistent quality, Valrhona remains a premium choice for chocolatiers. For detailed insights into their tempering techniques, visit their chocolate tempering guide.

Callebaut

Barry Callebaut is renowned as one of the best producers of chocolate for tempering, known for its high-quality couverture chocolates that contain at least 31% cocoa butter, making them ideal for professional chocolatiers. They produce 1,000 tonnes of chocolate every day and approximately 350,000 tonnes annually, catering to both large multinational brands and small artisanal chocolatiers. Their chocolate callets, introduced in 1988, have revolutionized the way chocolatiers work by making dosing, melting, and tempering easier. Callebaut's chocolates, such as their Dark 54.5% cocoa content and Milk 30.5% cocoa content, are highly regarded for their balanced flavors and medium viscosity. The company also adheres to strict quality and sustainability standards, having been the first chocolate manufacturer to obtain the ISO-9002 certificate.

Guittard

Guittard Chocolate Company, with 150 years of experience, is renowned for producing high-quality chocolate ideal for tempering. Their process involves meticulous steps from roasting and winnowing cocoa beans to grinding and conching, ensuring the development of full flavors and consistent quality. The tempering process at Guittard involves precise temperature control, with chocolate heated, cooled, and reheated to achieve the optimal beta V cocoa butter crystallization, resulting in a glossy finish and a satisfying snap. Their chocolates, such as the Extra Dark Chocolate Baking Chips, are highly regarded by home bakers and professional chocolatiers alike. Guittard's commitment to maintaining high standards in every step of the chocolate-making process makes their products a favorite among those who demand excellence. For more information, visit their chocolate tempering guide.

Lindt

Lindt is renowned as one of the best producers of chocolate for tempering, thanks to its meticulous processing techniques. The company's unique roasting and grinding process, refined over decades, ensures an extremely fine texture that contributes to the smooth, melt-in-the-mouth experience of their chocolates. Rodolphe Lindt's invention of the conching process in 1879 revolutionized the industry, creating a fine-melting texture that has become a hallmark of Lindt chocolates. Their Excellence Dark Chocolate, available in various percentages such as 70% and 85% cocoa, is a testament to their commitment to quality and craftsmanship. Despite recent concerns over heavy metal content, Lindt's dedication to using high-quality ingredients and precise manufacturing methods remains unwavering. For detailed product specifications, you can access the media document on their website.

Belcolade

Belcolade, a renowned Belgian chocolate brand, is highly regarded for its superior quality and ideal properties for tempering, thanks to its high cocoa butter content, typically above 31%. With over 25 years of expertise, Belcolade chocolates are made from carefully selected cocoa beans and produced using traditional Belgian processes that have been perfected over time. The brand offers a range of chocolates, including dark, milk, and white, as well as specialty varieties like single-origin and sustainable Cacao-Trace™ chocolates. Belcolade's chocolates are known for their exquisite taste, glossy finish, and crisp snap, making them a favorite among chocolatiers and bakers. Their commitment to quality, innovation, and sustainability has earned them a strong reputation in the chocolate industry. For more information, visit their Belcolade product page.

Scharffen Berger

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker is renowned for its high-quality chocolate, particularly in the realm of tempering, thanks to its stringent "from bean to bar" process. Established in 1996 by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg, the company is known for its dark chocolate varieties with high cocoa solid content, such as its 62% Semisweet Dark Chocolate and 70% Bittersweet Dark Chocolate. The company's commitment to quality is evident in its careful selection of cacao beans and meticulous production steps, including roasting, conching, and tempering. Scharffen Berger was the first American chocolate maker to prominently feature the cacao content on the label, a practice now common in the industry. The company's focus on maintaining high-quality processes ensures a consistent and superior product. For more details, visit their official website.

Cacao Barry

Cacao Barry, a renowned brand under the Barry Callebaut group, is highly regarded for producing high-quality chocolate ideal for tempering. Known for its high cocoa butter content, Cacao Barry's couverture chocolate is favored by chocolatiers and pastry chefs due to its excellent workability and flavor profile. The brand's chocolate, particularly the 'Finest Belgian Chocolate,' is produced in 5kg blocks or callets, which were introduced in 1988 to ease dosing, melting, and tempering processes. Cacao Barry's chocolates often contain a higher percentage of cocoa butter, such as 35%, which enhances their fluidity and tempering capabilities. This brand's commitment to quality and innovation has made it a trusted name in the chocolate industry since its merger with Callebaut in 1996. For more details on their premium chocolate products, visit the Barry Callebaut website.

Michel Cluizel

Michel Cluizel is renowned as one of the best producers of chocolate for tempering, known for its high-quality, bean-to-bar chocolates made with pure cocoa butter, bourbon vanilla beans, and no soy lecithin or artificial flavorings. Founded in 1948 in Damville, Normandy, the company has maintained a commitment to excellence, earning the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label in 2012. Michel Cluizel chocolates are crafted from single-origin cacao beans, such as those from the Mangaro plantation in Madagascar (65% cocoa) and the Vila Gracinda plantation in Sao Tome (67% cocoa), ensuring unique and nuanced flavor profiles. The company's meticulous tempering process involves precise temperature control, such as heating dark chocolate to 55-58°C (131-136°F) and cooling it to 28-29°C (82-84°F) before reheating to 31-32°C (88-90°F). With over 70 years of expertise and a strong presence in both France and the United States, Michel Cluizel continues to innovate and set standards in the chocolate industry. Discover more about the art of tempering chocolate.

Felchlin

Felchlin is renowned as one of the best producers of chocolate for tempering, with over 100 years of tradition and expertise in crafting exceptional chocolate products. The company uses high-quality raw ingredients, such as cacao kernels from specific regions like Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ghana, ensuring a minimum of 73% cocoa content in some of their dark chocolate couvertures. Felchlin's traditional longitudinal conching process, which can take up to 72 hours, releases the hidden flavors of the chocolate. The company's commitment to sustainability is evident in their long-term contracts with cacao farmers and the substantially higher than fair trade prices they pay. This dedication to quality and sustainability makes Felchlin's chocolates a culinary delight for confectioners worldwide. For more detailed product insights, view their Felchlin Fine Selection Brochure.

Ghirardelli

Ghirardelli, one of the oldest and most renowned chocolate companies in the US, founded in 1852, is highly regarded for its high-quality chocolate ideal for tempering. The company controls every aspect of its chocolate manufacturing, rejecting up to 40% of the cocoa seeds to ensure only the highest quality is used. Ghirardelli's chocolate is ground and refined to a precise 19 micrometers, making it perfect for achieving the stable Form V crystals necessary for well-tempered chocolate. Their strict quality control and precise processing make Ghirardelli chocolate bars, such as their baking bars, a favorite among chocolatiers. With its long history and commitment to quality, Ghirardelli remains a top choice for tempering chocolate. Discover more about their fine chocolates on the Ghirardelli website.