Gourmet Chocolate That's Way Overpriced

If you want good chocolate, you'll likely have to splash the cash. Although cheap chocolate is everywhere, the premium stuff usually commands a premium price, largely due to brands using high-quality ingredients and sustainable farming practices. Seasonal differences can also affect the price of chocolate, with supply shortfalls as a result of poor harvests having a knock-on impact on cost for the customer. The good news, though, is that paying higher prices for chocolate usually results in a better flavor — but that's not always true, and some companies really push things further than they should. There are plenty of examples out there of gourmet chocolate products that are wildly expensive, and while the chocolatiers who make them try to justify this in various different ways, it's hard to see how it's worth paying full price.

This is particularly the case when super-expensive chocolate just doesn't taste that good. Some of the most famous pricey chocolate products, which can cost thousands of dollars per pound, have been criticized for their underwhelming flavors. When you compare that to candy producers like Lindt, which sells its famously tasty truffles for just over $15 per pound on average, you see just how much these companies are putting cost over function. Let's check out some of the most eye-wateringly expensive items in the chocolate world.

There's pricey chocolate, and then there's To'ak chocolate. This Ecuador-based company stemmed from a forest conservation project, and it puts sustainability and quality at the core of its offering. Its cacao is bought directly from the cacao growers it works with, and it pays a high price per pound, ensuring quality and helping the cacao industry meet new standards.

These worthy business practices don't quite justify the cost of some of To'ak's chocolate, though. Take its Masters Series Enriquestuardo chocolate. There's no denying that this product is impressive. The chocolate is matured for nine years, and in addition to the chocolate itself, buyers receive it in a one-of-a-kind Spanish Elm wood box containing a handmade etching adorned with gold leaf from Ecuadorian artist Enrique Estuardo Alvarez Cruz, aka Enriquestuardo. Each box also comes with a bronze tasting plate and utensil, as well as an ancient national cacao bean.

However, for the full thing, you'll pay an eye-watering $490. Even when you take into account the other extras and their approximate price, this chocolate is very expensive. We would understand this more if the chocolate were also the best in the world flavor-wise. Unfortunately, though, it isn't. Folks who have tried To'ak chocolate state that it's pretty underwhelming and that it's not worth the price. We admire Toak's mission, but we're also sure that there are other businesses out there doing great, sustainable work that aren't charging this amount.

Italian chocolate producer Amedei isn't afraid to charge a pretty penny for its products. Like other gourmet chocolate producers, it operates with a combined commitment to quality and attentiveness to the environmental impact of its items. However, where it differs is in the sheer cost of its chocolate. Its Amedei Porcelana, a 70% dark chocolate, will set you back $23.70 per bar. That may not sound like a lot, but each bar is only 50 grams; if you work that out to the cost per pound, it's around $215.

Although you may feel like a splurge in this case is worth it, it kinda isn't. Reviewers have noted that Amedei Porcelana has a strangely artificial flavor, despite the company's clear focus on championing natural, well-sourced ingredients. Some tasters have also pointed out how overpowering the vanilla notes in this chocolate can be, and how the cacao flavor itself retreats into the background. While some people are fans of this product, it's not the kind of chocolate that gets consistently brilliant ratings. For the price the company charges, you'd expect it to be way more solid than it is.

Here's the thing: We're huge fans of novelty products. We think that buying something that's a bit out of the ordinary is a great way to brighten your day. However, if we're doing that, we want to make sure we're not putting a dent in our finances — and that's exactly what will happen if you buy the Compartés Luxury Grandmaster Chocolate Chess Pieces Set. As its name indicates, this chocolate product consists of an ornate chess board that comes in a smartly printed briefcase with 32 fully edible chess pieces. Half of them are dark chocolate, and half are made of white chocolate. Oh, and it'll cost you $299.95 to purchase it.

We know that there might be a market for extravagances like this ... but let's be real here. You're paying $300 for chocolate pawns (note that the total weight of the chocolate is not specified). It may be fun, it may be a talking point, and the chocolate may taste good — but it's also a product that's far beyond the reach of a lot of people. Plus, you'll either quickly find that you can't play chess anymore (because you've eaten the pieces), or that the chocolate developed fat bloom and became unappetizing because you waited so long to eat it. Either way, it feels like it's got a relatively short shelf life for a chess set, right?

You've probably figured out that although chocolate truffles get their name from the similarity in their appearance to mushroom truffles, they don't actually contain any of that pricey fungus. Well, most of the time, anyway. When it comes to La Madeline au Truffe, it does, and you'll pay through the nose if you want to try it. Knipschildt's La Madeline au Truffe encases a rare French Perigord truffle in a luxurious chocolate ganache. It then covers that in 70% Valrhona dark chocolate and rolls the construction in cocoa powder. To try it, it'll cost you $250.

Okay, so you get a little more for your cash than just the chocolate truffle here. Each one is packaged in an elegant-looking gold box and rests on a bed of sugar pearls. However, the chocolate is the main attraction here. It's larger than most other truffles — it measures about 4 inches across. And while we're sure it tastes out of this world, it's hard to deny that this is a product designed for the super-rich. It may scream luxury, but it also screams excess.

It's important to use the best chocolate possible when you're baking, taking into consideration elements like the cacao percentage and the sourcing of your product. However, that doesn't mean you have to spend the earth on premium products. If you're on a budget, then it's perfectly fine to go with the best you can afford and to not be tempted by ultra-expensive options, such as Scharffen Berger's cooking chocolates. The farm-to-bar chocolate producer may create luxurious, cacao-rich products, but its prices are wild: A sample pack of its baking chocolate varieties costs $24.99 for three 4-ounce bars.

At just over $33 for a pound of chocolate, this option is far from the most expensive out there, at least when it comes to this list. However, we want to be very clear here: This is marketed as an ingredient, not as a chocolate bar in itself. We get that you want to put the best items in your food, but when you consider that you can get quality baking chocolate for half the price, and that any nuance in the chocolate itself may well be diminished by the other ingredients, you should really consider saving your money.

What's better than cracking open a box of chocolates? Well, we have the answer to that: cracking open an absolutely enormous box of chocolates. This question-and-answer exercise is likely what led Charbonnel et Walker to create its Boite Blanche. A chocolate box of massive proportions, it weighs a hefty 2 kilograms and contains a collection of dozens of different types of milk and dark chocolates. All of that candy will cost you, though. A single Boite Blanche from Charbonnel et Walker is priced at £300, which as of this writing converts to just over $400. Per pound, it's roughly $100 or so.

With that in mind, what you're really paying for here is history. Charbonnel et Walker is Britain's oldest chocolatier, having operated on Bond Street in London since 1875. Charbonnel et Walker may make great chocolate, but you're buying more into a brand than an experience. That brand may be impressive, but when you consider how many independent chocolate makers out there are producing incredible products for a fraction of this price, is it really worth it? We would much prefer to seek out up-and-coming chocolatiers that need the help, as opposed to throwing our money at a company that's clearly pricing its products too high.

Since when did chocolate boxes become collectors' items? We thought that they were just meant to house handfuls of delicious candy, not to be bespoke items in and of themselves. That's why we were so surprised when we found out about DeLafée's Gold Swiss Chocolate Box. Founded in 2004, the Swiss company specializes in creating custom items with edible gold and silver and charging top dollar.

The Gold Swiss Chocolate Box is perhaps the height of excess: Each one costs 570 Swiss francs, which equates to around $713 as of this writing, and contains just eight chocolate truffles. Every one of those truffles is encased in 24-karat edible gold. If you buy this product in Switzerland, you'll find a Swiss Vreneli Francs 10 gold coin placed in the middle of the ring of truffles, a collectible denomination of the Swiss currency, with each coin dating from 1911 to 1922.

All of this sounds very fancy, and it certainly is — but when you break down the cost of things, the chocolate is still pretty expensive. At the time of writing, the Swiss franc coin is worth around $322. However, that still makes each piece of chocolate roughly $49 apiece. If you purchase the product outside of Switzerland and without the coin, it'll cost approximately $188, working out to over $24 per piece. Whether you're buying it with or without the coin inside, though, there's no denying that per bite, this product is expensive.

Godiva is a chocolate brand that is simultaneously fancy and accessible — or so it seems. Founded in Brussels, the company has been producing Belgian chocolate for 100 years and has successfully expanded its reach enough to be placed in some of the major supermarkets around the world. That includes Costco, where you can find a box of Godiva's Gold Collection chocolates for $54.99. On Godiva's website, the same product (albeit with a slight aesthetic difference, adorned with a pink ribbon instead of a gold one) will set you back $75.

Although every box of the Gold Collection contains 36 pieces of chocolate, it's important to assess this one by weight. No matter which retailer you buy it from, this chocolate box weighs just under a pound, and that breaks down to each chocolate piece costing either $1.52 or $2.08, depending on the source. That's very expensive when you consider that this is an accessible brand, despite Godiva's attempt to still appear exclusive. It may taste good, but it's hard to get past the feeling that you're paying for that Godiva name, and we're certain you can find a similar product for half the price.

Although we're reluctant to criticize a chocolate product that's so darn cute, we kinda have to. The product in question is MarieBelle's Chocolate Pet. Each of the pets in this collection (and there are a few of them, including a Persian cat, a Pomeranian, a pug, and a schnauzer) is a gorgeously ornate sculpture made from 55% dark chocolate. Visually, they're showstoppers — but the problem is that each pet costs $87 and measures just a few inches high and wide (the inside is hollow).

Founded by Maribel Lieberman and operating since 2002, MarieBelle has chops in the chocolate world. There's no denying that. However, it's difficult to get past the fact that these products aren't really about the chocolate at all. They're about the craftsmanship that goes into making each chocolate animal — and although that may be impressive, it's really more of an art piece than an edible treat. Plus, they're available only in person from the company's Soho location in New York. For our money, it's difficult to stomach paying almost $100 for something that looks so good, but that ultimately is perishable and can be eaten in a few bites. We'd rather buy a regular sculpture or one of MarieBelle's other products.