Gentleman thief. Opens stealthily with a lock-pick of roasted cocoa before spinning the tumblers with woody roasted notes and nuts. Leaves you a calling card of tannins and tobacco.

Short story: Made from cocoa we grow ourselves in St. Lucia. We restored the 250-year-old Rabot Estate and its unique varieties of Trinitario cocoa back into a working cocoa plantation in 2005. This bar is an expression of the estates lush and exceptional terroir.

Quite the character; behaves like an 80%. A subtle earthy aroma cleverly translates into the opening flavour notes, before transforming into bold notes of burnt sugar and treacle. This rough diamond emanates hints of freshly roasted coffee.

Short story: We proudly present our second 'single côt&e' chocolate, created from cocoa grown and harvested only on a single section of Rabot Estate, our 250-year-old cocoa plantation in Saint Lucia. The 15-acre Pépinière côte is the largest of our 16 côtes, bordered by riverbeds on the slope of a volcanic basin beneath the spectacular Piton Mountains and blessed with fabulously rich and fertile soil.

Deep and broodingly powerful, this chocolate appears under a veil of respect. The older brother of La Pepiniere, you can expect a couverture that hints of antique oak and roasted cocoa, developing bold notes of burnt caramel with a peppery long finish.

Short story: Not just single origin (from one country), or even single estate, we've gone deeper into the world of cocoa and produced single côte. From our own plantation in Soufriere, Saint Lucia, the cocoa has been kept separate as it is picked and fermented from each côte (terroir section) within the estate. This particular côte, Marcial, is a beautiful part of the estate near the Rabor lake, with a mix of grizzled 80-100 year-old trees and fresh new trees planted as seedlings, all bearing the rare Trinitario bean unique to the Rabot Estate.

A live-wire charmer. Opens with warming roasted notes, steps on the gas with a flourish of raspberries and cherries, before leaving you with an encore of roasted nibs and a whisper of coffee.

Short story: The beans we use are from the Somia Plantation in the Sambirano district, where the mineral-rich red soil and rain flowing down from the Tsaratanana mountain ranges provide the ideal cocoa conditions. Many growers insist that the fruit trees that once grew, and the prominence of vanilla, pepper and bay rose nearby, have superbly enhanced the flavour of the native cacao.

Flavour profile: Chardonnay, oak, butterscotch.

The long lost brother of Cienaga, Aracataca has an outburst of grapefruit and dried raisin with undertones of woody acidity finishing with a hint of roasted notes and a trill of coffee.

Short story: These Colombian beans are from the Northern part of Colombia on the coast of the Caribbean Sea. The Sierra Nevada is the world's highest coastal range creating fertile valleys to grow the Aracataca beans.

Smooth, elegantly balanced profile with irresistible depth. Our solid chocolate baton was carefully designed to be the perfect way to experience the tasting notes of all our chocolate grades. Its elegant size and smooth curves make it ideal for nibbling, savouring and sharing.

An elegant and fruity dark chocolate with a clean delivery and multilayered flavours of red berries, raisins, vanilla and coconut. Lightly acidic with floral notes.

An extra long 120-hour conching time makes this a less powerful, more subtle chocolate than the 96-hour version. A quick and intense flavour burst slowly opens up to reveal multilayered notes of raisins, figs, tobacco, honey and grapefruit. A hint of wildness about this chocolate.

Initial red fruit flavour notes slowly diminish to reveal oaked wine, citrus and a hint of spices. Rated as our best cuvée yet from Rabot Estate, the beans benefited from a lower temperature roasting and avoiding the midday sun whilst drying. 120 hour long conch.

A quick and intense flavour burst slowly opens up to reveal multilayered notes of raisins, figs, oaked wine, tobacco, honey and grapefruit. There's a hint of wildness about this chocolate, which we wanted to retain. Conching for 96 hours enabled us to do this. Our 120 hour conch version of this recipe makes an interesting comparison.

We managed to get hold of some of the most prized cocoa on earth! The Criollo beans give mellow flavours of roasted nuts, cream and caramel, raising and malt.

The holy grail of chocolate - nothing added to get in the way of the real thing. Pure cocoa mass gently conched for an extraordinarily long time to achieve a satisfying mellowness. Made with organic beans from Gonzalo Martinetti's impeccably run plantation of nacional arriba cocoa trees in the Los Rios province of Ecuador. Immediately fills the mouth with extremely deep classic cocoa flavours. Dried fruit and herb flavours also present. A small pieces is long lasting in the mouth. Aromas of roasted nuts.

Made with organic beans from Gonzalo Martinetti's impeccably run plantation of nacional arriba cocoa trees in the Los Rios province of Ecuador. Pink peppercorns from nearby Peru and piri-piri chilli from Madagascar add the piquant notes. With 72% cocoa, the Hacienda Iara chocolate gives a sustained delivery of deep chocolaty notes, amongst which the piquant spices intermingle.

In the Sambirano valley in the north of Madagascar lies the plantation called Menavava where prime Trinitario cocoa trees grow amongst coffee, black pepper and vanilla plants. This 72% cocoa recipe allows the characteristic 'fresh' taste of the Madagascan bean to really come through. Lively in the mouth with fruity sourness and herbal tones.

The Ocumare 61 is a renowned and unique species of the criollo cocoa tree. Renowned because of the exceptionally rounded flavours it delivers. The Ocumare valley is on the Venezuelan coast and this region is home to the best of Venezuela's cocoa. Very rounded flavours underpinned by good acidity. Look out for red fruit flavours and an earthy spiciness.

The Ocumare 61 is a renowned and unique species of the criollo cocoa tree. Renowned because of the exceptionally rounded flavours it delivers. The Ocumare valley is on the Venezuelan coast and this region is home to the best of Venezuela's cocoa. Chilli and cocoa is a combination from Aztec times which really works. Very rounded flavours underpinned by good acidity. Look out for red fruit flavours, an earthy spiciness and of course the slow burn of chilli warmth. The cocoa nib pieces give flavour bursts as well as nutty texture.

Cherries and cranberries are the first flavours to reveal themselves, followed by figs. The middle of the tasting experience is a chocolaty phase with roasted cocoa and some coffee. The finish shows a nice increasing bitterness with notes of liquorice and red wine tannins in a show of power and length.

Rabot Estate is Hotel Chocolat's own 130 acre cocoa plantation. The prime trinitario cocoa trees are rich in criollo genes and grow at high altitude in rich volcanic soil with plentiful rainfall. The Caribbean sea is visible from the estate slopes, nestling between the statuesque twin Piton mountains. A deep mahogany colour with initial red fruit flavour notes slowly diminishing to leave Shiraz, black olives and spices. Exceptionally long in the mouth.

An instant, refreshing tang bursts on you, then morphing to clear red fruit and passion fruit flavours. Next come light roasted notes for a long and elegant finish.

Tsáchila means 'the true people' and the people of this indigenous group have preserved their unique identity by keeping themselves to themselves on their 17,000 acre section of Ecuador. The men shave the sides of their heads and use red wax to dye and shape the remaining hair into a distinctive cap. They collect the cocoa from wild growing nacional-arriba trees scattered across their land. A flowery aroma suggests the unique flavour notes within. A light acidity and a strong, steady cocoa flavour fades to leave flavour tones of jasmine.

Sao Tomé and Principe is an island nation in the Gulf of Guinea off Africa. Cocoa was brought here in the late 1800s, the first to reach Africa. The historic Uba Budo plantation is in the Água Grande region and has a reputation for high quality. Normally forastero is seen more as a bulk cocoa but the best Sao Tomé beans have long been considered rather special. Immediate flavour burst of red fruit with later tones of spices and wood. Leaves a fresh finish.

A charmer with impeccable manners. Nothing to ruffle the feathers here. A mellow and creamy beginning cedes to roast cocoa and purple plums. Short story: The battle of the cocoa bean is ongoing in Ecuador. The less flavoursome but easier-to-grow CCN-51 variety has been taking over from the delicious and indigenous Arriba Nacional, the one used here.

A charmer with a smouldering intensity. Quickly floods the mouth with super-mellow but deep cocoa, roast nuts, vintage leather and cream. Harvest 2012. Roast 40 mins @ 130°C/266°F. Refining and conching 72 hours. Chocolatier Olivier Nicod.

Polished, with an undercurrent of wildness. Mellow cocoa notes welcome you in, gradually building in intensity before a surprising floral flourish at the peak. Gently subsiding to a clean cocoa, Bordeaux-wine finish. Short story: Made from a lovely batch of cocoa we bought from the Trinidad Cocoa Association. Well-fermented, high quality Trinitario beans, from the island that gave them their name.

Prima Donna with talent. She's good and she knows it - an interplay of cream anad caramel with malt and raisins, roast nuts and plenty of elegant pose. Short story: With only a small annual tonnage produced, fought over by rival chocolatiers, the name Chuao has attracted a certain cachet and a ramping of cocoa prices.

Take a holiday on a red fruit farm. A gentle warm-up from roasted olives and brown bread before the red cherries, redcurrants and raspberries open up with gusto. Finishes with tannin and tobacco. Short story: The chequered modern history of Vietnam is echoed in its cocoa - grounds for huge optimism now.

We managed to get hold of some of the most prized cocoa on earth! The Criollo beans give mellow flavours of roasted nuts, cream and caramel, raisins and malt.

Beans from the crucible of chocolate, Central America, where the Mayans first tasted cocoa in 250AD. They didn't add milk to their xocolatl, and we've skipped it here to elevate notes of red and purple fruits.

We love these beans, from northern Colombia where the Sierra Nevada Mountains meet the Caribbean Sea, for their notes of white-grape raising and apricots.

Genuinely savoury cocoa is an unusual find. This one was influenced by Saint Lucia's unique volcanic terroir.

A head-turner, Ecuadorian beans are usually led by notes of roasted nuts, but our 90% allows delicate floral and fruity notes to blossom.

A savoury banquet. Fresh-pressed grassy olive oil flavours hover around the central notes of bone-dry aged red Burgundy and fermented cocoa. Clean, tannic finish. Short story: Cocoa grown by our 150 Island Grower partners, fermented centrally at Rabot. Saint Lucia cocoa is now enjoying an award-winning resurgence, with the first origin bar made by us in 2005.

Look for red fruit flavours then tobacco and leather in this powerful dark chocolate, made without vanilla to allow the true cocoa nib flavours to come through.