Weiss Chocolate: How to Choose Your Couverture

Dark, milk, white, blond, plant-based: Panier des Chefs stocks 26 Weiss couverture chocolates. To choose between them, the cocoa percentage is not enough. In its Livre du Savoir-Faire, the technical handbook it provides for professionals, the Weiss chocolate factory lists the cocoa butter and sugar content of each couverture, its fluidity and its recommended uses. Here is how to use this information to pick the right chocolate for what you want to make.

What is couverture chocolate?

Couverture is chocolate rich in cocoa butter. Once melted, it becomes fluid: it coats, it fills a mould and, when properly tempered, it sets with a glossy surface and a clean snap. It is the working chocolate of pastry chefs and chocolatiers.

All Weiss couvertures are made in Saint-Étienne, France, from bean to bar, with 100% cocoa butter (no other vegetable fat) and sunflower lecithin instead of soya. The company has held the French Living Heritage Company label (Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant) since 2014.

Reading a couverture: cocoa, cocoa butter and fluidity

• The percentage on the pack shows the total cocoa content (cocoa mass + cocoa butter). The higher it is, the less sugar the chocolate contains: Oricao 58% has 41% sugar, whereas Kacinkoa 85% contains only 14%.
• Cocoa butter gives structure. Two chocolates with the same percentage can contain different amounts, which changes the ratio in a ganache. We explain this in our article Weiss dark chocolate ganache.
• Fluidity, rated by Weiss out of 5, shows how easily the chocolate coats and fills a mould. It is the key factor for coating.

How to choose a couverture for each use

Blends or single origins: a question of taste

Eugène Weiss, a winegrower's son, founded the company in 1882 on the art of blending: combining beans from several origins, the way grape varieties are blended, to create a precise and consistent flavour. A few pointers from the Weiss tasting notes:

• Oricao 58%: mild at first, then clearly chocolatey. The everyday couverture.
• Galaxy Dark 67%: four terroirs, toasted notes and balanced bitterness. The most versatile.
• Acarigua 70%: very mild and fruity, with red berry notes. Created with Parisian chocolatier Michel Chaudun.
• Ebony (Ebène) 72%: pure and intense, with velvety tannins.
• Caramel Milk 38% and Caramelatte 35%: caramel, intense in the first, delicate in the second.
• Anëo 34%: a white chocolate with little sugar, fresh dairy notes and Madagascan vanilla.

Single origins, on the other hand, show the character of one terroir:

• Ceïba Dark 64% (Dominican Republic, organic and Fair Trade): powerful and oaky.
• Li Chu 64% (Vietnam): vanilla, dried fruit and liquorice.
• Santarem 65% (Papua New Guinea): smoky and untamed.
• Also Bassam (Ivory Coast), Mahoë (Grenada, in dark and milk) and Madalait (Madagascar).

Weiss couvertures at a glance

Data from the Livre du Savoir-Faire: cocoa butter and sugar content, fluidity out of 5 and the uses recommended by Weiss. The links take you to the product pages.

Dark chocolates

Milk chocolates

White chocolates

Specialities: blond, plant-based, inclusion

• Tevenn 36%, a blond chocolate and one of the latest Weiss creations. Very fluid, it works as well for decorations and ganaches as for mousses, glazes and ice cream.
• VAO Organic 35% and VAO Organic 42%, 100% plant-based organic couvertures. Milk is replaced by plant ingredients (coconut milk and rice flour in VAO 35%), for vegan or dairy-free creations that keep the smoothness of a white or milk chocolate.
• Ybokawo 55%, an inclusion chocolate, designed to be mixed into a preparation rather than worked on its own. Rounded and without bitterness, it gives a deep colour to sponges, ganaches and batters.

From 1 kg bags to 10 kg buckets

For home use or a trial, several chocolates come in packs of 4 x 1 kg bags: Altara, Galaxy Dark, Ebony, Li Chu, Galaxy Milk, Nevea and Anëo. Most couvertures are sold in 5 kg buckets, and ten of them also come in 10 kg buckets for large volumes. Ativao and Whole Milk from France are only available in 10 kg.

FAQ

Which couverture chocolate should I start with?

Galaxy Dark 67%: versatile and very fluid, it suits every use and comes in 1 kg bags. For milk chocolate, Galaxy Milk 41%; for white, Nevea 29% or Anëo 34%.

Do I need to temper couverture chocolate?

Yes for coating, moulding and decorations: tempering gives gloss and snap, and lets the chocolate release from the mould. No for a ganache, a mousse or ice cream, where the chocolate is mixed with other ingredients.

How should I store couverture chocolate?

Weiss recommends a dry place, below 60% humidity, between 16 and 18°C, away from light and odours. Avoid the fridge: moisture makes chocolate turn white.

Can I eat couverture chocolate as it is?

Of course. It is real chocolate, just richer in cocoa butter than a bar. Tasting the buttons is in fact the best way to choose.

Find out more

• Weiss Dark Chocolate Ganache: Recipe and the Right Ratio for Each Chocolate
• Tempering the Weiss way (coming soon)
• All Weiss couverture chocolates, pralines and specialities and cocoa ingredients

Source: Chocolaterie Weiss, Le Livre du Savoir-Faire 2024-2025 and the company's tasting notes. Are you a professional and would like a copy of this technical handbook (in French)? Contact us.

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