Please wait

Contact

37-39 rue Boissière
75016 Paris
France

Phone : 01 41 40 99 80

GaultMillau © 2025 All rights reserved

Chocolatiers, bean to bar

Chocolatiers, bean to bar

Anne Debbasch | 3/28/22
Disable your adblocker

Of the 3,000 chocolatiers in France, less than 2% make their chocolate from cocoa beans, the vast majority using couverture chocolate to melt for their creations. But following in the footsteps of Bernachon, Pralus and Bonnat, young chocolatiers are once again breaking new ground. Zoom in on 5 chocolatiers who are putting the cocoa bean back in the spotlight.

Among the bean-to-bar pioneers are the Bernachon family in Lyon, the Pralus family in Roanne and the Bonnat family in Voiron. Families whose know-how has been handed down from generation to generation, always with the same passion and that unmistakable "chocolate" taste. Today, the new generation of chocolatiers is going back to basics: transformation from bean to bar. Many of them are self-taught, converted by passion to this time-consuming, gourmet profession. What drives them all: ethics, eco-responsibility, fairness and transparency in the cocoa chain, even going so far as to create the bean to bar France association in June 2021 to promote their values. Their work begins with the selection of beans, then their transformation (roasting, crushing, grinding, mixing and conching) until chocolate is obtained. The bars on offer are free from preservatives and additives, and are of course pure cocoa butter.

  • Ara Chocolat

6234542b234e7b7b306f2c73

Andrès Zakhour, a Venezuelan-born chocolatier, has fallen in love with pods, their diversity and the work of the growers. Setting up in Paris in October 2015 with his wife Sabrina, their bias is to work with beans from Latin America with 100% vegan production. "I work the beans by variety. Cocoa is seasonal, harvested at different times of the year, so our production follows the rhythm of arrivals. "

We rush off to discover the bars, including Chuncho 70%, an ancient Cuzco variety from Peru, with notes of cinnamon and caramelized pineapple, and Agua Viva Criollo 74% from Nicaragua, with aromas of walnut and caramel. And don't forget to try the vegan and gluten-free chocolate cake topped with the pure-origin chocolate being made.

54 rue de Dunkerque, Paris 9

www.arac hocolat.com

  • L'Instant cacao

62345529a3b37f02935f9747

Less than 20m2 for the laboratory and boutique in the heart of Paris. Yet here, chocolatier Marc Chinchole transforms his cocoa beans into chocolate."Working with couverture chocolates limits my tastes, I like sourcing and working with beans for the freedom it gives me, the aromatic palette of cocoas is incredible."

We're off to discover her bars, including the exceptional Bolivia, 2020 harvest, a creamy, unctuous chocolate with notes of flowers and nuts, and the Tanzania bar with 63% coconut milk. A true revelation for its sweetness and milky notes. You'll also want to try the Rochers maison and Florentins covered in their own slab of pure-origin chocolate.

3 rue des Petits Champs Paris 1

www.lins tantcacao.fr

  • 20° North, 20° South

623455ab9a607e72f54829ac

Until 2018, Mélanie Paulau didn't like chocolate. She finds it too bitter and greasy when it's dark, too sweet when it's milk-based, and above all not very virtuous. "It waswhen I tasted a rare cocoa that I had a revelation and discovered the true taste of chocolate. That's when I left everything behind to set up my own business and transform the beans into chocolate, while working for transparency in the cocoa chain."

Let yourself be carried away by the duos of pure-origin tablets available in dark and "dark milk" versions, a dark chocolate seasoned with a touch of milk. Discover the Kubaly bar from Nicaragua with its natural vanilla notes, the Paquibato from the Philippines with its fruity notes and the Anamalai from India with its spicy flavours, not forgetting the boxed set of Grands Crus ganaches.

11 Route de la Taillée, 85690 Notre-Dame-de-Monts

New opening in April 2022: 5 Place Aristide Briand, 85300 Challans

www.20no rd20sud.com

  • La baleine à Cabosse

6234548e34e4bc0e407963c1

It was during a trip to Colombia that Claire Hollender and Aurélien Ducloux discovered the taste of chocolate. This taste was to be a determining factor in their choice of life, as they devoted themselves to processing cocoa. Self-taught, they learned the gestures and stages of production before setting up shop in France in November 2017. "Being a bean-to-bar chocolatier allows you to discover the diversity of chocolate tastes in connection with the terroirs from which the beans come."

We go for the Mexico La Rioja 70% bar, a white Porcelana with tart raspberry notes, the Cordoba from Colombia 76% with woody, fruity notes. On the milk side, we taste the sobacha milk bar and the black milk bar, an Idduki cocoa from Kerala in India, very spicy and softened by the addition of a touch of milk.

213 rue Paradis, 13006 Marseille

www.laba leineacabosse.com

  • Encuentro

62345555e0291a29a172e2de

Candice and Antoine Maschi discovered cocoa 12 years ago in the Dominican Republic. Self-taught, they trained in the country and opened their first Manufacture. Back in France, they began working on their bars in a tiny, windowless laboratory in Montreuil. In November 2021, they moved into a 600m2 former Manufacture in Lille. "For us, tablets are the purest form of chocolate flavor expression. We don't mix crus, vintages or origins, and we only make dark chocolate."

Let yourself be carried away by the Pérou 70% bar, with its fruity, tangy, naturally buttery notes, and by the Congo 70%, very round, with notes of dried bananas, tobacco, cinnamon and no acidity. To make your choice, try the 5 origins box.

26 rue Félix Faure 59350 Saint-André-lez-Lille

www.choc olatencuentro.com

Chewy leaves

  • Bonnat CHOCOLATE

A journey to discover all the facets of the subject of chocolate: geopolitical, cultural, scientific, technical, historical and, of course, gourmet, with 80 recipes, including 30 from Maison Bonnat!

By Stéphane Bonnat, Julien Bouré, Elisa Montiel-Welti, Editions La Maison, 479 pages, 120€.

  • Chocolate according to Bernachon

The history of a family of chocolatiers and 80 emblematic recipes, including the famous Président.

By Stéphane Deligeorges, Editions Glénat, 248 pages, €45.50

  • Cacao et Vanille, Pralus

The love of an island: Madagascar, a story of scents and tastes, vanilla and chocolate and the Malagasy adventure of François Pralus and Laurence Cailler, vanilla ambassador, combined with 40 sweet and savory recipes combining the two ingredients.

By François Pralus, Laurence Cailler and Ingrid Astier, Editions Noesis Agnès Viénot, 222 pages, 29,90€.

Disable your adblocker

These news might interest you

Olivier Nasti organizes the first ever World Game Pie Championship
Craftsmen & Know-How
Olivier Nasti organizes the first ever World Game Pie Championship
An heirloom dish, three MOFs and an exceptional jury: on November 18, 2025, eight finalists compete in the first ever World Championship of Tourte de Gibier - Le Meilleur Pithiviers.
La Fête du Saint-Marcellin et de la Noix de Grenoble revient en juin
Craftsmen & Know-How
La Fête du Saint-Marcellin et de la Noix de Grenoble revient en juin
Cap sur Vinay pour un week-end 100% gourmand. Les 14 et 15 juin 2025, la Fête du Saint-Marcellin et de la Noix de Grenoble revient pour une deuxième édition placée sous le signe des savoir-faire et de la convivialité.
Armand Arnal & Thierry Dufresne: Cross-pollination
Craftsmen & Know-How
Armand Arnal & Thierry Dufresne: Cross-pollination
The former is the chef at La Chassagnette, in Arles, the latter a former luxury goods executive turned beekeeper-harvester, founder of the La Manufacture du Miel brand in 2010 and of the Observatoire français d'apidologie in 2014. Armand Arnal and Thierry Dufresne talk about their love of bees and the importance of protecting these garden sentinels. In the chef's hyper-pollinating kitchen garden, a flight from the Arles flamingo, we witnessed these two biodiversity enthusiasts foraging.
Le Saint-Honoré
Craftsmen & Know-How
Le Saint-Honoré
If there's a French pastry heritage, it's the saint-honoré, or "saint-ho" to its friends! Crunchy and creamy at the same time, it's a gourmet favorite in many hearts. Gault&Millau begins a series of sweet portraits with one that curiously doesn't honor the patron saint of pastry chefs, but rather that of bakers.
Rhubarb emerges from the shadows
Craftsmen & Know-How
Rhubarb emerges from the shadows
The queen of rustic pies and crumbles, rhubarb is best enjoyed as a fruit, whereas it is a vegetable. This original plant leaves behind its old-fashioned trappings to spice up the most creative dishes and awaken both sweet and savory palates. One of the first spring vegetables, but the most recent to hit our plates, it's making a name for itself time and time again.
The grater shows its teeth
Craftsmen & Know-How
The grater shows its teeth
Rubbing, reducing, seasoning, zesting, spicing... It does it all! But where does this utensil come from, that Gruyère cheese couldn't do without? Flat or bell-shaped, giant or miniature, this spiky accessory is capable of reducing to calibrated crumbs whatever you put in front of it.
Become Partners