We Have A Problem With Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Options

Trader Joe's is the place to go to if you want an abundance of chocolate options. From hearty truffles filled with caramel to milky candies laden with crispy rice, there is something sweet at the store for everyone. While TJ's has many different variations of chocolate bars, especially, there is one option we recommend avoiding. Chowhound tried and ranked every Trader Joe's chocolate bar, and we found one common denominator with the dark chocolate options — most of them are not very good. 

Dark chocolate tends to have a more intense, bitter flavor than milk chocolate, but Trader Joe's versions taste almost universally sour. That overpoweringly bitter taste makes the chocolate taste nearly inedible. Dark chocolate's high percentage of cacao can make it taste exceptionally rich, or, "dark." To smooth out the taste, many brands add cocoa butter, but this ingredient was nowhere to be found in any of Trader Joe's bars. It's not often we'd call a chocolate bar unappetizing, but Trader Joe's dark chocolate bars did not leave a good taste in our mouths. Getting a 17-ounce chocolate bar for $8.99 might sound like a steal, but sometimes, you get what you pay for.

The flavor profile of dark chocolate can range from nutty, fruity, and even earthy, but all of these candies offer some bitterness, too, thanks to their heavy use of cacao. The issue with Trader Joe's dark chocolate is that the bitterness is the only prevalent taste. Good dark chocolate should be balanced out with other flavors. Ingredients like sugar or salt can help, but of course, these additions appeared in small amounts or not at all in most of Trader Joe's dark chocolates. There are certain ways to tell that you are eating a low-quality dark chocolate bar, and this retailer's bars check off almost all of those boxes.

While not all of Trader Joe's chocolates are a complete miss (their plain dark chocolate ranked pretty high on our list), the overall consensus is that this chain may not be the place to go to if you're searching for high-quality dark chocolate. There are many other store-bought dark chocolate bars out there that are surprisingly delicious, such as the Cadbury Royal Dark chocolate bar, which may be a better choice. (And if you're going to buy candy from Trader Joe's, we recommend sticking to the milk chocolate.)