Lindt & Sprungli Excellence 70% €2.08 for 100g, €20.80 per kg Highs: This bar, from a well known company, looks very posh with its embossed foil wrapper concealing elegantly outsized chocolate squares.

It has a pleasingly bitter taste and the individual pieces are slender, which helps it dissolve in the mouth. It is made with 70 per cent cocoa solids (as is most of the competition) and natural bourbon vanilla beans, which sound a lot more impressive than the vanilla extract to be found in some of the other bars. It is also keenly priced - well, comparatively.

Lows: While it is undoubtedly nice, it lacks the rich texture and intense flavours of a really good dark chocolate. The vanilla flavour is perhaps a little over-pronounced and it's not as creamy as we would have hoped.

Verdict: Slimline and classy

Star rating: ***

Divine Chocolate

€1.75 for 100g, €17.50 per kg

Highs: This is made with 99 per cent fair trade ingredients, which lends it a certain feelgood factor the other brands haven't got. It's also the cheapest of the artisan-type bars we tried and has a nice blend of subtle flavours. While it doesn't have the real sharpness dark chocolate purists might be looking for, it is absolutely grand and leaves a lovely lingering chocolate taste. It is the creamiest chocolate tried and comes across almost as a hybrid of dark and milk varieties.

Lows: It lacks the complexity of some of the finest chocolates and is a little rough around the edges, but it is still head and shoulders above some of the brands on the market.

Verdict: Good for everyone

Star rating: ****

Valrhona Caraibe

€2.75 for 100g, €27.50 per kg

Highs: Smoky and intense flavours abound in this very rich bar of excellent chocolate. It comes from a company who make the finest dark chocolate you are likely to come across, is creamy and exquisitely smooth and absolutely gorgeous. It also tastes a whole lot more expensive than it actually is.

Lows: At €27.50 per kg, it is the most expensive option we tried. It is almost addictive, and while a square or two is said to be good for you, we're not sure an entire bar eaten while watching the telly is to be recommended either for the heart of the waistline. It can be hard to find and its price varies enormously; we found that the Lara Lu stall in the George's Street Arcade in Dublin was selling it at the lowest price.

Verdict: Top notch

Star rating: *****

Bournville

€1.77 for 200g, €8.85 per kg

Highs: This is the cheapest of the chocolates tried by a fairly substantial margin. It is also the most widely available brand and the one which introduced the vast majority of people in this country to dark chocolate decades ago. The bar we bought was enormous and it looked a lot like something you'd expect the Willy Wonka factory to have produced.

Lows: While this is not at all unpleasant - not much chocolate in it - it's not really in the same league as the more fancy brands which are now almost as easy to source. It is made with just 39 per cent cocoa solids, compared with closer to 70 per cent in the better brands, and the milk fat lends it an almost lardy flavour which was not entirely welcome.

Verdict: Cheap and familiar but ordinary

Star rating:***

Green & Black's

€2.55 for 100g, €25.50 per kg

Highs: This is possibly the most popular upmarket dark chocolate on the market and has done much for raising awareness of what a really good quality chocolate should taste like. It is organic - in fact, it lays claim to making the world's first organic dark chocolate - and has a nicely bitter flavour; a couple of the small squares every day are very pleasant.

Lows: It lacks some of the smooth creaminess that the Valrhona has and has a slightly robust, almost earthy flavour. While you'd never guess from the packaging, Green & Black's was swallowed up by confectionery giant Cadbury Schweppes more than two years ago which might, for some, rob it of its cachet. Like the Valrhona, its price fluctuates wildly.

Verdict: Rough and pleasantly bitter

Star rating: ***