The specialist boxes are where the good ones are. Bird & Blend and Pact both print their lists and both undercut the department-store food hampers; Grind's pods fit any Nespresso machine; Ankerkraut's lighthouse is the best-looking box in the whole catalogue, and half its doors are refill sachets. Where a maker will not say what is behind door nine, the page says so, and the score reflects it.
Chocolate is the one category where the supermarket is the right shop. Cadbury and Kinder Bueno are the 10 GBP supermarket boxes; Hotel Chocolat's five boxes run from 13.95 to 80 GBP and are the ones to buy for an adult.
Step 01
Read the weight before the door count
Twenty-four doors can weigh 180 g or 850 g, and nobody on a food shelf prints a valuation, so grams per door is the figure that separates a box of mini balls from a box of bars. The calendar pages print the weight where the maker does; a 24-door box under 200 g is a taste a day, over 500 g is a real piece.
Step 02
Prefer a printed list, or know why there is none
143 of the 143 here come with the maker's list of what is behind the doors — Ahead 2026, Ankerkraut Deluxe 2026 and Ankerkraut Gewürz 2026 among them; 0 do not. Where a maker will not say what is behind door nine, the page says so, and the score reflects it.
Step 03
Compare the price per door
Across the 143 here with a list price, a door costs from about $0 to about $19, and the median is about $1.29. A chocolate door under a dollar is a mini ball; a door over three dollars should be a bar or a named praline. How the door price is counted →
Step 04
Start from this season's, from the ones we have opened
143 of the 220 on this page are 2026 editions and every one carries a verdict from us. The earlier editions stay listed for the record; the grid puts this season first.
