Choosing Your Cacao Percentage
What 55%, 70%, and 85% actually mean, and how to pick the right number for your origin, recipe, and palate.
Percentage is the ratio of cacao (mass + butter) to sugar. Higher percentage means more bitter intensity and less sweetness. The right number depends on the origin's natural body and acidity, what you're making it for, and your own palate. 70% is a useful default. Start there and move in either direction once you understand the origin.
What percentage actually means
In a single-ingredient bean-to-bar chocolate, percentage refers to the combined weight of cacao mass (the ground nibs) and any added cocoa butter, as a fraction of the total recipe. Everything else is sugar. An 80% bar means 80g of cacao-derived ingredients per 100g of chocolate, and 20g of sugar. A 55% bar has 55g cacao and 45g sugar.
Percentage does not tell you about flavor quality, origin, fermentation, or roast. A 70% bar made from poor-quality commodity beans is not better chocolate than a well-made 55% bar from exceptional single-origin cacao. The number describes a ratio, not a grade.
The ratio of cacao mass to added cocoa butter within that total cacao percentage also matters for mouthfeel and flavor intensity, a bar with extra butter added flows more easily and has a creamier texture but less intense flavor per gram of chocolate. Two 70% bars can taste very different based on this internal ratio.
What each range tastes like
More sugar than cacao. The sweetness acts as a softening lens over the origin's flavor, high notes come through clearly but the bitter backbone is subdued. Texture tends to be smoother and more yielding. Accessible to people who don't normally eat dark chocolate.
When to use it: origins with high natural acidity (Madagascar, PNG) where the raw brightness might read as sharp at 70%+. Milk chocolate-style bars without actual milk. Ganaches and truffles where sweetness is part of the application. Sharing with a general audience.
The most common home maker starting point for good reason: enough sugar to round the bitterness without suppressing origin character. The flavor is forward and the finish is clean. Works with a wide range of origins. Sets and tempers predictably.
When to use it: whenever you're unsure. As a benchmark for a new origin, make a 70% batch first to understand the origin's character before pushing to extremes. Any application where you want the cacao to speak clearly.
Very little sugar. The cacao's tannins, bitterness, and acid are fully exposed. Rewards complexity; punishes defects. Under-fermented beans taste harsh and unpleasant at 85%. Well-fermented beans with natural sweetness and body, Criollo, Nacional, can be extraordinary.
When to use it: when you have beans that genuinely support it. Not as a health or virtue signal. As a deliberate flavor choice. Best suited to origins with natural sweetness and low astringency: Venezuelan Criollo, Nacional Ecuador, certain Colombian highland lots. Avoid with naturally acidic or tannic origins unless that intensity is intentional.
How origin interacts with percentage
Origins vary in their natural sugar content, acidity, and body. These properties change how a given percentage reads on the palate.
High natural acidity. 70% will read slightly tart, which is often a feature. At 85%, the acidity is forward and the bar reads sharp rather than bright, not for everyone. 60–70% is the sweet spot for most makers.
Lower acidity, natural sweetness, floral character. Supports higher percentages gracefully. 72–78% lets the floral notes breathe without the sweetness dominating. 85% works with quality beans.
Classic cocoa character, low acidity, earthy base. Forgiving across a wide percentage range. 65–72% is the standard range; the earthy depth holds up at both ends without tipping into harshness or blandness.
Naturally low tannin, high intrinsic sweetness. Designed for high percentage. The wine and caramel notes intensify at 75–85% rather than becoming harsh. A rare origin where 85% is not a challenge.
Variable. Chuncho and Piura lots with clean, complex profiles benefit from 68–75%. Commodity Peruvian lots are safer at 60–68% where the sugar cushions any defects. Traceability tells you which category you're dealing with.
A practical starting point
Make your first batch with any new origin at 70%. This gives you a neutral reference point: you'll understand the origin's character, the natural bitterness level, and how the flavor reads before you've biased it toward sweet or intense. From that reference, you'll have an instinct for whether this origin wants more sugar (go to 62–65%) or can handle higher intensity (try 75–80%).
The number that tastes best is the right number. Not the highest one.
Log your percentage alongside your origin and tasting notes. Making the same origin at different percentages is one of the most instructive experiments in bean-to-bar work.
Log a Batch →