Ah do you have good taste - these are my two favo(u)rite places, and I long to return (it has been a few years now).

May I suggest for your tasting pleasures: Sheer Bliss's Pomegranate with Dark Chocolate Chips. IT COMES IN NEAT METAL CANS-at better food stores.

sheerblissicecream.com

So much for the taste test.....
 

I'm afraid my good intentions for taste comparing the Godiva and Double Rainbow ice cream fell apart in a typically chocoholic sort of way......;) I can't seem to not have some for dessert every night......I've decided the Double Rainbow is very delicious, but I'm not sure the texture is the same as Glacier Ice Cream-I'll just have to get back there to refresh my memory.

Ah well, I'll just have to try the Sheer Bliss (or Godiva) NEXT time...The metal containers are VERY cool looking. After all, Pomegranate is an amazingly healthful fruit. ;)

Earlier in the thread I noticed a post about Lindt Excellence 85% cacao bars. I was amazed to find them and Ritter Sport at Target over the weekend. Yum!

The February 2007 issue of Vogue (U.S. Edition) has an excellent article by Jeffrey Steingarten re: chocolate. Unfortunately, the article does not appear online.
After many taste tests conducted with the co-founder of Scharffen Berger, the author concluded that these were the world's finest:
Eclat Chocolate (liquid caramels)
Enstrom's (almond toffee)
Guido Gobino (Tourinot Ginadujotto)
La Maison du Chcolate
L.A. Burdick
Pralus ("Pyramide" Chocolate Square stack)
Recchiuti (Burgundy Box)
Valerie

I recommend the article for all chocolate lovers. Title of article is "Dark Victory."

A chocolate taste test at another Conde Nast publication:

http://www.epicurious.com/gourmet/fe.../tfp_chocolate

This is coming a bit late as I assume Costco only had their Neuhaus chocolates for the holidays, but I just did a side-by-side comparison of the Costco Neuhaus and the regular Neuhaus (thank you lala :) ) - most definitely the same.

My favorite gelato place, Ciao Bello in San Francisco's Ferry Building had three fine chocolate gelatos and I was trying to determine the differences between them, but they were all delicious. There were Scharfenberger, Valrhona, and Nero. I think they got darker as it went. I'd say the Valrhona was the best, but all exquisite.

That is a toughie! I would give the slight edge to the Swiss.

Oh, I absolutely love Sharffen Berger chocolate company in Berkeley. You can take a tour- it smells so good there. The chocolate is divine, too.

The best chocolate
 

The best chocolate I have ever tasted to date is in St. Maarten (dutch side) at a store called The Belgian Chocolate Shop in Phillipsburg, St. Maarten.

Phillipsburg is a major shopping area and the store will typically have a line streaming out of the door. When I was there in November, I just got in line because I wanted chocolate, but after tasting it, I can understand why I was waiting an hour to get it.

They will (apparantly) ship your chocolate to your cruise ship (I wasn't on one) and they do ship to the US. It wasn't cheap, but even my husband who isn't huge on sweets said it was "pretty incredible tasting".

I am partial to lindt. I found a wonderful gelateria in Firenze, Italy right near where they play the football game once a year.

My latest favorite is Knipschildt.

Beautiful packaging envelopes lovely truffles.

$15 for a box of 9 at Whole Foods. They also have boxes of 4.

What attracted me was that they use heavy cream instead of the usual milk powder.

yum. time to go grab some from my stash...

Just discovered just about one of the very best: German-will post exact name and website.

My favorite truffles by far are those from our local chocolatier, Joseph Schmidt. The store is not too far from my office, or at least it is worth the trip. The amaretto is the best in both white and dark chocolate. I have a feeling I'll be going there very soon now.

Please try:

Leysieffer.de
Have one at the Haupbahnhoff in Frankfurt.
They only seem to sell them in their own stores.