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# What Doesn’t 70% Indicate?
- URL: https://thechocolatelife.com/seventy-percent-cocoa-content-myths/
- Published: 2021-02-23T13:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2021-02-27T20:33:19.000Z
- Description: Taking on misconceptions about chocolate one topic at a time in 200 words or less.
- Author: Clay Gordon
- Tags: Shorts, Ask TCL

### TL;DR

***Not*** what you have probably been led to believe. 

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The *only* somewhat reliable indication 70% cocoa content provides is the amount sugar in the chocolate: \~30%.

Cocoa content is a **quantitative** measure, **not* a qualitative measure*. Cocoa content does not tell you anything about the beans used to make the chocolate, how well the beans were treated post-harvest, how they were roasted, or total fat content – because added cocoa butter is included in the calculation of total cocoa content.

### Raining on the Cocoa Content Parade

Contrary to popular belief, cocoa content is also **not** a reliable indicator of bitterness, which is the result of a complex interplay of the bean varietal, fermentation, roasting, and other processes. 

- A chocolate made from perfectly fermented and roasted Porcelanas with no added cocoa butter will not be bitter at 70%.
- Over-roast those same beans – *a travesty to be sure* – and the same recipe will likely turn out bitter.

![](https://thechocolatelife.com/content/images/2021/02/mitodru-ghosh-YfveMgXSWkc-unsplash960x360.jpg)

Raining on the cocoa content parade. Original image by [MItodru Ghosh](https://unsplash.com/@wrik2493?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/rain?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText).

### The Bitter Truth

Cocoa content tells you **nothing** about how a chocolate will taste *or* potential health benefits, which are also affected by alkalization.

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Listing image credit: Original by [Brett Jordan](https://unsplash.com/@brett%5Fjordan?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/void?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText)

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