CBD Chocolate: Yes, It Exists & It's Just as Divine as it Sounds

What Is CBD Chocolate?

CBD chocolate is exactly what it sounds like — active CBD or full-spectrum hemp extract infused in either milk or dark chocolate. There’s a ton of variety in this category. You can find CBD chocolates with all sorts of unique flavors, combinations, and potencies.

There are two active ingredients in CBD chocolate:

• CBD (cannabidiol) — for those who don’t know already, CBD is the primary active ingredient in the hemp plant. It’s responsible for the relaxing, anxiolytic, analgesic, and mood-supportive benefits of cannabis.
• Cacao — Cacao is the seed of the Theobroma cacao tree. They provide the dark, bitter flavor characteristic to chocolate products. The active ingredients are a combination of powerful antioxidants, tryptophan, trace minerals, and a stimulating alkaloid very similar to caffeine called theobromine.

CBD chocolate is first made from a blend of the active cacao seeds with the oil extracted from the cacao pods, some dairy ingredients, sugar or other sweeteners, and various other herbs or flavoring agents. The more sugar and dairy added, the sweeter the chocolate.

Most of the health benefits of cacao and CBD chocolate come from the darker forms of chocolate — which have a higher concentration of cacao. These products are more bitter but offer substantially greater health benefits than sugary milk chocolate — which lacks many of the stimulating benefits, trace minerals, tryptophan, and antioxidants that make chocolate so healthy.

Chocolate is actually a perfect vector for CBD for three main reasons:  

1. Chocolate is high in fat — helping to improve the absorption of CBD through the digestive tract
2. Chocolate contains a mild stimulant closely related to caffeine (theobromine) — providing additional benefits for reducing mental fatigue and exhaustion
3. Chocolate flavor easily masks the grassy taste of hemp extracts — helping to hide the taste which some people find less than ideal.

What’s The Difference Between Milk Chocolate & Dark Chocolate?

Chocolate is highly bitter and unpalatable in its raw form. This is why most chocolate manufacturers combine cocoa butter (fat from the chocolate pods), sweeteners, dairy, and other flavoring ingredients to the mix to cut the butter flavor.

There are three main types of chocolate you’ll encounter:

1. Dark chocolate — (35–80% cacao) this form of chocolate is bitter but offers greater health benefits than the other forms.
2. Milk chocolate — (10–12% cacao) this form is made by adding various sweeteners and dairy to the blend to improve the flavor.
3. White chocolate — (does not contain cacao) white chocolate uses only cocoa butter, sweeteners, and dairy products.

If you’re looking to get the health benefits from chocolate, such as the stimulating, mood-supportive, or antioxidant benefits associated with chocolate products — it’s important to go for the dark chocolate forms only. Milk chocolate tastes great and is an excellent snack, but you’re not going to get all the benefits associated with chocolate from this form.

White chocolate contains no cacao whatsoever, so this form isn’t going to offer any of the characteristic benefits of cacao whatsoever. However, you’ll still get all the benefits associated with CBD with these products.

Will CBD Chocolate Make Me Feel High?

CBD itself is entirely non-psychoactive. Any CBD chocolate made from hemp plants won’t make you high, no matter how much you eat.

There are two forms of cannabis plants (hemp vs. marijuana) depending on their potential for psychoactive side effects:

• Hemp plants — these contain less than 0.3% THC by dried weight and have no psychoactive side effects whatsoever.
• Marijuana plants — these plants contain more than 0.3% THC and may have psychoactive effects.

Therefore, cannabis-infused chocolates that are made from marijuana could make you feel high.

Make sure you double-check the THC content of the chocolates you’re ordering because there are companies out there, such as Kiva Confections, that are making products that contain high concentrations of THC. It’s also common to find products that have a 1:1 ratio of CBD to THC that have psychoactive effects.

The threshold for psychoactive effects from THC is around 5 mg (up to 10 mg for some people). So if you’re eating chocolates that contain THC, keep this threshold in mind.

What’s The Dose of CBD Chocolate?

Most people go for around 20 to 40 mg of CBD per dose — this can be repeated 2–4 times per day.

A word of caution: avoid eating dark chocolate too late in the day — the stimulating components in chocolate can interfere with your ability to sleep later on.

The dose of CBD is different for everybody. Factors like your weight, your individual sensitivity to CBD, and the intensity of effects you’re looking for will all influence the ideal dose for you.

For a customized dose of CBD based on your weight and level of intensity, check out our CBD dosage calculator. This will give you the dose in milligrams of CBD to start with, but you may want to play around with this dose once you’re familiar with how it affects your body individually.

The dose of CBD in a chocolate bar can vary significantly. You may see products that contain doses as low as 40 mg per bar or others with as much as 300 mg per bar. Obviously, the amount of chocolate you should consume to reach your ideal dose will vary depending on the strength of the chocolate bar you’re using.

The best way to find the dose is to calculate the amount of CBD per piece. If a chocolate bar contains 200 mg of CBD and has 10 pieces of chocolate — each piece will deliver around 20 mg of CBD (200 mg/10 pieces = 20 mg/piece). If your goal is to take 40 mg, just take two pieces. If you want 30 mg, take one and a half pieces.

What Are The Benefits of CBD Chocolate?

The benefits of using CBD chocolate come from a combination of both active ingredients — cacao and CBD.

Chocolate itself is an excellent stimulant. It’s much milder than coffee but provides a consistent, low-grade increase in mental and physical energy. Chocolate is also a potent source of antioxidants and micronutrients such as zinc, magnesium, and B vitamins — but only if you’re using dark chocolate. Dark chocolate also contains a rich source of tryptophan, which is thought to be the primary ingredient responsible for its powerful mood-supportive benefits.

Milk chocolate doesn’t offer many benefits (aside from being absolutely delicious).

CBD primarily works as a painkiller, anxiolytic, and stress-reducer. It also helps to offset some of the negative side effects that come from the stimulating effects of the chocolate — especially dark chocolate — without negating its benefits on boosting energy and enhancing focus and concentration.

The Benefits of CBD Include:

• Alleviates pain & inflammation
• Reduces anxiety & stress
• May offset some of the side effects of cacao
• Supports heart, brain, kidney, & skin health
• Supports focus & concentration

The Benefits of Dark Chocolate Include:

• Supports cardiovascular health
• Protects the brain and nervous system
• Improves focus & concentration
• Supports healthy mood
• Facilitates creative flow states
• May lower blood pressure

Can I Use CBD Chocolate in Recipes?

CBD chocolates are great to use with other recipes. They can be baked into cookies, used to make brownies, or melted and mixed with water and other ingredients to make your own hot chocolate.

Typically, “baking chocolate” is unsweetened, but you can use any chocolate in baked goods if you’d like. Just remember to account for some of the added sweetness if using milk chocolate. You may want to cut back on some of the sugar or other sweeteners in the recipe.

You can even use CBD chocolate for cacao ceremonies if you want (more on this in the next section).

There isn’t anything special you need to do in order to use CBD chocolate in baking aside from being aware of the dose you’re using.

CBD & The Cacao Ceremony

Raw cacao is often consumed for its potent stimulating, and energizing effects. This practice involves a very high-proof cacao product (no cocoa butter, sweetener, or dairy), which is mixed with water and other herbs (optional). It isn’t consumed for its taste — this form of cacao is highly bitter and is a bit of an acquired taste.

Instead, this practice is done for two reasons:

1. Health benefits — cacao is considered a superfood, offering an impressive array of health benefits on its own (neuroprotective, cardioprotective, immune-supportive, and more).
2. Stimulating effects — cacao is used to promote deeper states of meditation and to make it easier to reach productive flow states while at work or while engaging in creative endeavors

In this context, Drinking cacao usually involves taking fairly high doses — between 20 and 50 mg of raw cacao. The most common side effect is jitteriness and anxiety due to the stimulating alkaloids present in the cacao seeds.

CBD is a perfect addition to raw cacao drinking (referred to as ceremonial cacao) because it directly counteracts these side effects without affecting any of the other benefits of the practice.

Many people choose to mix CBD oil with their cacao as they prepare the blend to prevent these side effects.

I’d recommend mixing about 20–40 mg worth of CBD in the form of an oil with your cacao as you prepare it.

What To Look For When Shopping For CBD Chocolate Online

There are lots of different companies selling CBD chocolate. I usually recommend ordering from large, reputable brands to avoid ordering impotent or overpriced CBD products. However, in the CBD chocolate space, most of the top-quality brands are small, family-owned companies.

With that said, there are some factors you should look for before deciding to buy from a particular company:

1. Is It Milk Chocolate Or Dark Chocolate?

As I’ve already covered in this post, there’s a significant distinction between dark chocolate and milk chocolate. If all you’re looking for is a nice treat infused with CBD for yourself or to use as a gift, milk chocolate is the way to go.

If you’re looking to use CBD chocolate as a health food, you’re going to want to go for dark chocolate instead. The higher the cacao content, the better, but as long as it has 50% or more, you’re going to get the majority of the health benefits associated with chocolate.

Best CBD Milk Chocolate — Grön CBD Milk Chocolate

Best CBD Dark Chocolate — Grön CBD Dark Chocolate w/ Sea Salt

2. What’s The Potency of CBD & What Type of Extract Is It?

The next thing to consider is the potency of the chocolate. This is important because it determines how much chocolate you should use and gives you an idea about how strong it’s going to be.

Lower potency bars are cheaper but aren’t going to be very strong (obviously). For example, the cheapest CBD chocolates usually contain around 40 mg of CBD — which is enough for just one or two doses. More expensive chocolates may contain up to 200 mg of CBD total — which is about 4 to 8 doses in a single bar.

Strongest CBD Chocolates — Grön CBD Chocolates (20 mg/piece)

The other thing to consider is the type of CBD extract in the bar. There are three main types of CBD — isolate (pure CBD), full-spectrum extracts (contains all cannabinoids), and broad-spectrum (contains all cannabinoids in the extract except THC).

In general, full-spectrum hemp extract is considered the best, but all forms will have a similar effect. Many of the other cannabinoids in hemp support the effects of CBD to make it even stronger. The main adjunctive cannabinoids include CBG, CBN, CBC, and THCV.

1. Best Full-Spectrum CBD Chocolate — Kat’s Naturals Hemp CBD Dark Chocolate
2. Best Broad-Spectrum CBD Chocolate — Grön CBD Dark Chocolate w/ Sea Salt
3. Best CBD Isolate Chocolate — Green Roads CBD Chocolate Bar

3. Is The Chocolate Sustainably Sourced?

There are a few significant issues with the chocolate industry as a whole. Chocolate only grows in tropical rainforest environments. It needs very high humidity, consistent day-lengths, and shade from other canopy trees to thrive. 

Many countries where cacao trees grow have a high rate of poverty. Farmers growing cacao work long, grueling hours yet make very little profit from their crop. Large corporations like Nestle have been called out for underpaying workers and even promoting child labor.

Other companies have reportedly been chopping down large swaths of diverse rainforest, only to replant the area with cacao trees — destroying large areas of critically important rainforest in the process.

There are a few products where it’s truly important to look for brands that take sustainability and humanity seriously — chocolate is one of them.

Most Ethical CBD Chocolate Brand — Grön CBD Chocolates

Final Thoughts: What’s The Best CBD Chocolate Brand in 2021?

CBD chocolate is an easy sell — it’s delicious, it offers plenty of health benefits.

While CBD chocolate it’s the cheapest way of taking CBD on a daily basis, it’s a great option to shake things up a little bit. CBD chocolate also provides additional health benefits from the chocolate itself. 

This is a great snack to use at work now while you study and offers a unique gift idea for the CBD-lover in your life.

Overall, my favorite brand across the board is Grön. But if you’re living in Europe, you’ll probably want to check out the selection offered by local brands like Naturalis London instead.