William Dean Chocolates has been ranked among the top chocolates in the world.
Author Georg Bernardini sampled chocolates from more than 500 companies from 38 countries for his book Der Schokoladentester, which translates from German to “The Chocolate Tester.”
The research took two years. A wide variety of companies and products have been introduced into the market during the recent chocolate boom, and Bernardini provides an objective overview of the chocolate scene by testing chocolates from all over the world.
The book rated artisan chocolatiers as well as chocolate manufacturers. And the cocoa beans awarded by Bernardini can be compared to Michelin stars. William Dean Chocolates — headquartered in Belleair Bluffs, Florida — was rated with the maximum number of six cocoa beans. Apart from William Dean, only 10 other artisan chocolatiers worldwide obtained the highest mark.
Although the chocolate world has long been dominated by France, Belgium, and Switzerland, the Top 11 chocolatiers had an international flavor with Japan, France, England, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, The Netherlands, and the United States represented.
The author first encountered William Dean chocolates at the 2010 New York Chocolate Show, one of the largest chocolate shows in the world.
In his words, “The biggest discovery, without doubt, was William Dean Chocolates. The confectionery is colorful and elegant…Visually, the confectionery is on par with the flavor class. The confectionery deserves nothing less than the distinction ‘World Class’….”
In the book, Bernardini gave an overall rating in cacao beans but further broke down each confection with a rating on a 100 point scale. William Dean’s house selection of chocolates scored an average of 90.18, the fourth highest rating of any chocolatier in the world.
In addition to the high scores for the chocolates, William Dean’s Dark Chocolate Fruit & Filbert bar was rated as one of the Top 10 in the world with a 95.10 score.
Bernardini is a trained confectioner and co-founder of the chocolate company Coppeneur from Germany. After having managed the company successfully for 18 years, he left the company in 2010. He has 27 years of experience in the field and uses his extensive knowledge, experience, and information for analyzing the worldwide chocolate market.
