At some point, give your guests
a little "Chocolate 101" course.

Light, Medium & Dark

Take time to give an overview about what your partygoers are tasting. Here's a short course: Artisanal, or small-scale, chocolate makers still follow the milk, semisweet, and bittersweet labeling that larger chocolate manufacturers use, but artisans also denote the percentage of cocoa and cocoa butter (or as they often label it, cacao) in the bar. The higher the number, the less sweet and the more bitter and intense the chocolate.

• Milk chocolate's cocoa percentage ranges from about 30 to 40 percent
• Semisweet chocolate's percentage ranges from 55 to 60 percent
• Bittersweet is above 60 percent cocoa and generally ranges from 65 to 80 percent
• Unsweetened chocolate is 99 percent cocoa

This milk chocolate
is 38 percent cocoa.

Offer two or three samples of milk chocolate from different makers, such as a 38- and 41-percent cocoa milk chocolate. Alongside, set out a tempting dessert.

Milk chocolate is notable partnering brilliantly with great flavors such as caramel, cream, soda-fountain chocolate malt, brown sugar, and vanilla.

This semisweet chocolate
is 60 percent cocoa.

When your tasting gets to midpoint, set up small plates with two or three varieties of medium chocolate. These are woodsy, nuttier, darker chocolates.

This dark chocolate
is 85 percent cocoa.

Now for the tasting finale. Bring out the stoutest chocolates of all -- the really dark chocolates. Offer samples of two varieties for tasting, followed by one last dessert.