There’s little better in life than delicious chocolate, and it’s even better if you’re the lucky one receiving it as a gift.
We love a chocolate gift (probably a little more than the next person) and have selected a range of gifts from our ultimate all-time favourite chocolate brands. These include British stalwarts, independent newbies and some from the best luxury department stores, all of who are experts in their craft.
So, what makes a good chocolate gift? Well, that depends on the eye of the beholder of course, but for us, it’s either a little luxury that you wouldn’t usually buy yourself, an all-out decadent hamper, or a subscription so the chocoholic in your life is never without their favourite thing.
Whatever it is you decide, chocolate is never going to be a disappointing gift.
How we tested
We’ve tasted our way through everything on the list, putting it through its paces to ensure it reaches our high standards. We were looking for good quality taste of course, but also where the chocolate is sourced from, ethics, good packaging – how much plastic it has and how easy to recycle it is – pleasing design, and last but not least, value.
Ultimately, we were looking for products that would make excellent gifts, whether that’s for a quick little thank you or a big gesture to your host to show your appreciation. These are our favourite chocolate gifts.
The best chocolate gifts for 2024 are:
L’Esterre Chocolate 72% sea salt buttons
Grown on Bobbie Garbutt’s family’s regeneratively run farm in Grenada, Bobbie makes the chocolate herself in her Cotswolds studio in small batches. It’s “tree to bar” chocolate, made with just two ingredients – cacao and organic cane sugar, with no chemicals or anything else added.
Though of course, the 72 per cent sea salt chocolate does include a touch of Maldon sea salt that’s added at the end and gives it that extra zing, which is our favourite chocolate of the range.
Using the brand’s own special recipe, the chocolate has notes of fudge, vanilla and caramel and gives a real sense of place, much like wine and oysters, replicating the terroir of the area. It’s excellent, high quality and decadent without feeling over the top. Chocoholics will love that they don’t need many buttons to get their fix, meaning it even lasts longer. A real bonus.
The supply chain is incredibly short and transparent, which Bobbie deals with herself and she spends a few months a year on the farm in Grenada where the cocoa is also roasted. The reusable and recyclable pot is great for gifting, and if you’re buying for yourself you can subscribe to the refills (£7, Lesterrechocolate.com) and come in compostable bags too.
Buy now £15.00, Lesterrechocolate.com
Simon Coll Sardinas chocolates
Who doesn’t love the classic tinned sardines? Paying homage to the recognisable Ortiz blue and red tin of tinned sardines, Spanish family-run chocolate company Simon Coll whose roots date way back to 1840 in Catalonia has created this fun riff, but in chocolate form.
With three foil-wrapped fish inside, underneath is milk chocolate that’s smooth and creamy with a hint of vanilla. They’re affordable and a fun stocking filler for kids, both big and small.
Buy now £2.25, Brindisa.com
Harvey Nichols the most chocolatey chocolate biscuits in tin
There’s chocolatey, and then there’s mega chocolatey which is exactly what these chunky biscuits are. They’re drenched in a thick coating of milk chocolate, covering a buttery chocolate domed-shaped biscuit that’s also made with chocolate chips.
Made by a family-owned biscuit company in Lancashire, which was so popular that the family stopped farming and only made biscuits, following their secret and guarded recipes.
We also love the reusable tin that looks great on the shelf, though we wish we were able to buy refills without having to buy the tin again too.
Buy now £12.95, Harveynichols.com
Rococo Chocolates Great Taste gift hamper
With more than 40 years of experience as one of London’s best chocolatiers, Rococo is one of our favourite brands. There are two physical shops, which feel like walking straight into a Willy Wonka-esque shop, with each wall adorned with chocolate in all shapes, sizes and flavours. The chocolate is made using single origin cacao from the Ivory Coast and is certified organic.
To get a real taste for the brand, its hampers are divine. Not only are the contents excellent, but so is the branding, which feels super luxurious, with the navy lid that’s embossed in gold branding and the blue and white patterned box featuring cocoa pods, and other non-chocolate related items like top hats, chickens and moons.
Inside contains its signature “thins” – elegant, round, thin discs of chocolate that are a perfect post-dinner party number (and will have you coming back to the brand for more), a honeycomb bar, a sea salt bar, chocolate-dusted scored almonds, pistachios covered with cardamom and rose white chocolate, and a mini box of fresh truffles.
Buy now £105.00, Rococochocolates.com
Farm Shop winter truffles and sparkling wine
From the best farm shop going, with incredible produce hailing from Somerset’s Durslade farm, the simply named Farm Shop has two outposts, one in Somerset’s Bruton and the other in London’s Mayfair.
This chocolate and sparkling wine gift set makes the ultimate thank you to your dinner party house. The truffles are made from dark chocolate and have a lightly spiced caramel middle, while the wine, Maid of Bruton sparkling rosé, comes from Durslade Farm’s vines in Somerset. Made from pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier, it has subtle berry notes and a real freshness that will go down well as an aperitif.
If you are going to the Mayfair Farm Shop, it’s an event in itself. Aside from picking up goodies (we also love the sour cherry and almond granola (£8, Farmshop.co.uk), and the dark chocolate honeycomb (£8.95, Farmshop.co.uk), there are mega toasties cooked to order from the counter and downstairs is an understated wine bar too.
Buy now £65.00, Farmshop.co.uk
Coco Chocolatier Mayan drinking chocolate
Supermarket-branded hot chocolates, which only require adding hot water, do not cut the mark when it comes to getting that luxuriously creamy and decadent fix at home. Instead, it needs real chocolate and full-fat milk, (or a creamy-like milk alternative).
Heat it low and slow, and it’s the ultimate way to warm up after autumnal walks. Made from Colombian cocoa, the brand helps keep more money at source by starting the making process there too. It’s then finished off in Edinburgh and turned into this fine powder that makes it easy to whip up a decadent hot chocolate quickly. It also warms you up in more ways than one as it’s made with delicate Mayan spices – think a touch of cloves, cinnamon and vanilla.
Also proving the point that chocolate is an art, Coco Chocolatier loves to wrap its products in art too, which also makes them hard to recycle so we find new uses for the boxes, from coins to spare keys. This design was created by Mexican artist Hola Lou and is appropriately named “ice skating”.
Buy now £13.95, Cocochocolatier.com
UP UP Chocolate milk chocolate trio gift box
A rather under-the-radar chocolate brand, UP UP first got our attention in a farm shop for its bright and contrasting-coloured branding. However, after unwrapping it, the contents of the bar lived up to our high expectations too. Each flavour we’ve tried is rich and intense, while the chocolate is velvety and high quality.
In this set, each bar is made using single estate 35 per cent cacao sourced from a farm in Colombia. Our favourite flavour is the super smooth candied orange, while we’re also fans of the brand’s lime and sea salt creation too.
The brand prides itself on its very short supply chain (only going between the plantation, the processing site and the factory) and also makes big claims that it’s totally child-slavery-free. Of course, it’s hard to truly verify this claim, but it’s the only chocolate brand using certified cacao, sourcing its cocoa within the slavefreetrade.org framework, which includes being free from human trafficking, fair pair and hours and a transparent supply chain. It also wins more brownie points for its plastic-free packaging using recyclable paper and foil. We think the set makes an ideal gift for the conscious chocoholic in your life.
Buy now £18.50, Upupchocolate.com
Love Cocoa best of Love Cocoa luxury chocolate gift box
The art of chocolate making runs through the veins of Love Cocoa, which was created by James Cadbury, the great, great, great-grandson of John Cadbury, the founder of the eponymous namesake brand.
Though James has modernised his vision of what a chocolate brand should be: all packaging is plastic-free, it’s free from palm oil, the chocolate is made in the UK using ethically sourced cacao, it’s part of the 1% for the Planet non-for-profit which supports porting reforestation projects and plants a tree for every purchase made, which has reached over the one million mark.
The chocolate is delicious with excellent flavours such as billionaire milk chocolate and specialises in truffles where our favourite are the milk de champagne truffles. This hamper is one of the best value we’ve come across, with four bars and three full-size boxes of truffles. We also love that you can add a card to go with your gift and send it straight to your giftee.
Buy now £47.95, Lovecocoa.com
Fortnum & Mason Christmas coal
Getting coal in your stocking has never been so chic thanks to Fortnum & Mason who excels at making gifting so special. Of course, it’s not real coal, as where’s the edible fun in that? Instead, it’s made up of huge chunks of handmade cinder toffee-flavoured honeycomb that’s been dipped in dark chocolate and then, to give an extra F&M pizazz, it’s then covered in black sherbet, giving it an almost glittery look to the coals. They’re crunchy and chewy lumps, with a sweet tang from the sherbet and make a fun little gift for honeycomb lovers.
Buy now £13.95, Fortnumandmason.com
Chococo 12 days of Christmas gift box
If you like the idea of an advent calendar, but don’t need the gimmick of opening doors, this hamper is the answer. With an array of the brand’s best festive offerings brought together in a reusable hamper box, it includes a large jolly gonk shaped chocolate as well as a Santa, three bars including chai spice, hand-cut slabs of different flavoured milk chocolate (our favourite is the indulgent triple chocolate bar), a nine-piece little chocolate box and dark chocolate sardines. No judgment if you (or your giftee) can’t quite make it last the full 12 days though.
Everything is handmade by Chococo, which was founded by a husband and wife team in Dorset, who pride themselves on their British-made chocolates, using single-origin cocoa and local cream from Weymouth. It also claims to be slave-free, as well as not using palm oil. There are also four Chococo chocolate shops across the country to try before you buy at Exeter, Winchester, Horsham and Swanage.
Buy now £95.00, Chococo.co.uk
Russell & Atwell limited edition Seville orange fresh chocolates
Using the term “fresh chocolates” may sound a bit vague, but what it actually means is that they don’t contain any artificial preservatives or palm oil to extend their shelf life. They also don’t use artificial colours or flavours. They’re also made in the UK, and the brand says to keep them chilled and take them out of the fridge five minutes before eating. With a slightly rougher 43 per cent milk chocolate outer shell (that’s been finished by hand), the chocolate inside is silky smooth, which has a real tang of festive orange that feels appropriate for the season, and let’s face it, far beyond too. You might recognise them from BBC’s Dragon’s Den from 2022, where they gained investment from two wise dragons, who clearly liked them as much as us.
Buy now £8.50, Russellandatwell.com
The verdict: Chocolate gifts
For us, there’s little better than a gift that keeps on giving, which is exactly the benefit of a subscription. L’Esettere Chocolate’s 72% sea salt chocolate buttons are divine, with such an intense fruity taste, plus it’s a transparent supply chain and female-owned and made with incredibly admirable sustainability credentials.
We also love Coco Chocolatier Mayan drinking chocolate for a perfect winter warmer, and Farm Shop’s winter truffles and sparkling wine gift set that’s the perfect thank you gift and really shows your appreciation to your dinner party host.
For more sweet treats, read our review of the best hampers for luxury gifting
