Officially, there are three kinds of chocolate: dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate. 

Dark chocolate contains cocoa mass (also called cocoa liquor), cocoa butter and sugar. The content of cocoa solids – that is the dried fraction of all cocoa substances – varies between 35 and 70% or more. The higher the cocoa content, the more bitterness you will experience. To real chocoholics, there is only one real chocolate: very dark, bitter chocolate with a very high cocoa content. 

Milk chocolate contains the same ingredients as dark chocolate, with milk powder added to give the chocolate a lighter brown color and a creamy texture and taste. For certain recipes, Barry Callebaut even selects special milk powders that develop a caramel kind of flavor. 

White chocolate contains milk, sugar and cocoa butter but no cocoa liquor (cocoa mass). That explains the pale, ivory color of this sweet chocolate. 

Couverture is a chocolate with a high fat content of at least 31% and mainly produced for bakers, pastry chefs and chocolatiers. This means at least 31% cocoa butter in dark chocolate, and 31% of cocoa butter and milk fat in milk chocolate. This gives the chocolate an extreme richness and “hardness”, and the ability to create astonishing pralines with a very thin yet crunchy chocolate layer! Mmmmmm...