Chof

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Chof Monthly

September 2026

August was a good month for us. Chof turned up on Reddit, on LinkedIn, in a few newsletters and blogs, and in Google search, which keeps compounding and growing month after month. Our plan for Chof stays the same: be worth finding, and be worth something to visitors and to makers. All to discover better chocolate.

The Chof catalog crossed 2,000 bars in August and finished the month at 2,319, which is incredible I think. Chof started as my own collection, and I want it to hold far more than that, so what I liked most about August was discovering things I would never have found on my own, including a beer-infused bar from an Indian maker called BAR that scored 95 (Chof Score).

It is still a fraction of what is out there. If you know a maker we are missing, tell me. If you have a bar we are missing, scan it, and keep rating the ones you already own. That is the one thing I cannot do alone.

At the close of August 2026, Chof held 2,319 bars from 387 makers, across 51 cacao origins, carried by 15 shops. That month added 556 bars and 87 makers.

Chof passed 2,000 bars in August 2026.

New bars worth finding

Of the bars added in August 2026, these 6 scored highest.

New makers on Chof

Of the makers added in August 2026, these 5 came out on top.

Maker to know

This month: ZOTO.

ZOTO logo

ZOTO

Belgium · Bean-to-Bar

Carried by Chocoladeverkopers (Netherlands)

Ten from the Philippines

Chof holds 50 scored bars from the Philippines. These ten score highest.

Read the Philippines origin guide

On record: 2026 golds

30 bars in Chof took gold in 2026. These 5 scored highest.

Shops added

11 shops joined Chof in August 2026. Each has a page listing the makers it carries. The other 5 are on the site.

What changed in Chof

The work behind the catalog in August 2026.

Favorite and rate a bar before you make an account

The heart and the stars used to be locked behind signing up, which meant the two things worth doing first were the two you could not do. Both now work without an account, and what you saved is carried across the moment you make one.

Search opens on the whole catalog

Opening search with an empty box used to show a placeholder screen. It now lists every bar Chof holds, best first, with sort and filters over it.

A bar picker on the website, with no account needed

Say what you have liked and the picker works through the catalog with you until it has something to suggest. It is free, it needs no login, and it reads the same Chof Score the app does.

The scanner says when something is not a bar

Chof is bars only, so a box of pralines or a filled bag was always going to be turned away, but the message read as though a better photo would have fixed it. It now says plainly that it will not. The camera also dims everything outside the frame it actually keeps, and on iPhone you can tap to focus.

558 bars re-checked against their sources, 2,329 Chof Scores recomputed, and 138 maker locations verified.

Learn

One thing worth knowing before your next bar.

Dutch-Processed Cocoa

Dutch-processed cocoa is cocoa treated with an alkalising agent to reduce acidity and darken the colour.

Which maker or bar are we missing? Reply with a name.

Reply to the email, or write to felipe@chof.nl. I read every one.

Chof is independent: makers and shops cannot pay for a place in this issue, and nothing here is an affiliate link. Selections are made by Chof Score, sourced medals and how complete a record is. How Chof rates chocolate.

Chof Monthly

One email a month: the bars and makers added to Chof, the highest Chof Scores among them, and where to buy them.

More about it

Scan the bar in front of you

The app identifies a bar from its wrapper and shows the maker, the origin and the Chof Score behind it.

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play