Taste test: The best earl grey chocolate

This Friday is National Chocolate Day, so to celebrate we've partnered it with our favourite tea and put five artisan producers to the test

Eating chocolate is a world obsession that dates back to around 6000AD in Central America. Of course, it’s not what we would call chocolate today, as the ancient chocolately paste was mixed with water, honey and chilli to make a sort of early hot chocolate.

The first beans are thought to have been hauled back by Christopher Columbus in the early 16th century. And it was he and fellow explorer, Spanish Conquistador Don Hernan Cortes, we must thank for realising its commercial value, which has since spiralled into today's chocolate industry, where 660,000 tonnes of the stuff is sold annually in the UK. That’s an average of 11kg per person.

Sweets have come a long way from the timeless classics of Turkish delight and peppermint creams.

Don’t get us wrong, each has certainly got its place, but as with anything in the food and drink world – from beer to cereals – consumers have moved on from the go-to brands in a search for a more ethical, sustainable, organic and hand crafted product. Instead, bars are subtly flavoured with more modern ingredients including sea salt, gin or chilli, making a more refined bar that isn’t simply gobbled in one go. These bars, which are closer to their original state of cocoa, with vastly reduced amounts of sugar and milk – are to be enjoyed slowly, if you can.

So to celebrate, we are putting to the test some our favourite chocolate brands which have blended a quintessential tea – earl grey.

Coco Edinburgh: Earl grey tea and bergamot dark, £4.50, 80g- cocochoclate.co.uk

Based in Edinburgh, as the name suggests, the brand is one of Scotland’s first chocolatiers, opening in 2004. There’s just the slightest crunch in texture from the earl grey leaves and it has a very delicate floral taste. It's made with beans from the Dominican Republic, and is vegan and gluten free.. We particularly like that the chocolate is hand wrapped in paper, and the wrapper is the visual epitome of how earl grey would look, with a purple floral design, (and no plastic in sight). Luckily, it’s not only available in Scotland, (you can buy online and in some shops around the UK) as this one needs to be shared. But if you are in Edinburgh, one of the two shops does chocolate connoisseur evenings.

Rococo: Earl grey tea, organic dark chocolate artisan bar, £5.50, 70g – rococochocolates.com

Wrapped in an air-tight foil, this bar has a slightly heavier crunch and a gorgeous smooth aroma of earl grey. It uses ground tea – which accounts for the texture – as well as a more noticeable touch of citrus. The 65 per cent bar is rich, but not bitter, as there’s a little cocoa butter added in for to give it a silkier texture. The rather slight bar is split into horizontal sections – perfect for two bites. And the chocolate comes from their very own tree-to-bar farm, Grococo in Grenada.

Daylesford: Organic earl grey dark chocolate, 75g , £2.50 – daylesford.com

At 63 per cent cocoa, this has the lowest chocolate content, but the best flavour – it’s stronger in smell and taste, but is still not overpowering. Instead it has a light, musky scent of bergamot which is partnered with the smoothness chocolate. While the earl grey flavour is the closet to a cup of the real stuff out of the five tested. The award-winning Cotswolds farm’s bar is not too thin and is divided into very small segments, helping you savour the bar – and its flavour – as it should be.

Presat: Tea Time Frolics, 85g, £4.25 – libertylondon.com

As a milk chocolate, this one is slightly creamier than the others, but it’s still an excellent partner for the earl grey flavour. It has been infused with earl grey and adds a dash of bergamot oil. As part of one of the five Art Deco luxury bars, the Tea Time Frolics bar has been designed to celebrate a classic high tea. It's split into eight large sections, and has a velvety texture that's the milkiest of the lot, but still well balanced. It also has the strongest citrus taste of all the bars. Most of the chocolate comes from west Africa and all is fairly traded, where the Prestat’s own scheme gives farmers information on cultivation to help improve earnings.

Hotel Chocolat: Supermilk earl grey selector, £3.85 – hotelchocolat.com

The brand’s supermilk chocolate has all the pleasure of milk chocolate and the power of the dark as there's a drop more milk and 20 per cent less sugar. Despite being 65 per cent cocoa, this one is a little milkier and is one of the grittiest in texture. The flavour is also very subtle in this bar, which comes as two slabs in one clear plastic packet. This one would be better suited for people who prefer a more milkier chocolate with a fainter perfume.

Verdict – our favourite is the Daylesford, for its smoothness and taste which is closest to a cup of the real stuff. It’s also the cheapest too. It’s closely followed by the Prestat tea time frolics bar, which is an ever so slightly creamier option, better suited to people who aren’t such fans of dark chocolate.