Ruvido: two ingredients, 1,000 bars, no repeats
At a glance
Ruvido makes 75% dark chocolate from just two ingredients, in small hand-numbered batches, in the Milan area.
In the bar
- Two ingredients, nothing else. Cacao beans and cane sugar, with no added cocoa butter.
- Vegan by ingredients.
- Single origin, never blended. Each bar comes from one farm or cooperative and one lot of beans.
- Small batches. About 1,000 hand-numbered bars per batch, and never more than 4,000.
- Dark but not bitter. A light roast keeps the bean’s natural fruit.
Who stands behind it
- Organic, fair-trade cacao in Malmö, from a cooperative of about 500 farmers in Peru.
- Growers paid above market. Scarlett’s 5,000+ smallholders in Uganda earn 10–30% above local prices.
- Heirloom-designated cacao in Spark, recognised by the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund in 2018.
- A coffee-trained palate. Co-founder Mattia Intorre is a coffee roaster and Q Grader who has judged dark chocolate at the European Bar Awards.
- Sold well beyond Milan. Specialty coffee shops across Italy, a stockist in Switzerland and an online shop in Canada.
- Seen at WeCoffeeClub, Milan’s specialty coffee summit, in October 2026.
Meet Ruvido
Ruvido is a bean-to-bar chocolate brand from the Milan area, founded in February 2025 by Mattia Intorre and Giulia Mandalà. The name is Italian for “rough”, and it describes the bars: slightly grainy, on purpose.
Bean-to-bar means they start from whole cacao beans and decide how each one is roasted and refined, instead of remelting chocolate bought from a factory. Every collection is limited, and the line-up changes each time. The fifth collection launched in late September 2026.
What makes it special
Ruvido’s whole idea is to change the bean as little as possible, so each bar tastes of the place it was grown.
Two ingredients, no added cocoa butter
Every bar is 75% cacao beans and 25% cane sugar. Adding cocoa butter would make the chocolate easier to produce, but Ruvido says it would dilute the flavour of the bean.
Rough on purpose
The chocolate is refined less than the market standard, so it feels slightly grainy on the tongue. The shorter refining keeps more of the aroma, and it gave the brand its name. Canadian retailer Science of Chocolate said the texture goes further than other textured chocolates, and that it works.
Dark, but not bitter
A light roast keeps the fruit and acidity the bean has naturally. Ruvido argues that the bitterness people expect from dark chocolate comes mostly from industrial processing, not from the cacao.
Always 75%
Every bar has the same ratio of beans to sugar. So when Orbit tastes of grapefruit and Malmö of cinnamon, the difference comes from the bean, not the recipe.
One farm, one lot, one batch
There are no blends. Each product is a single batch of about 1,000 bars made from one sack of beans, and Ruvido plans never to go above 4,000. Bars are numbered by hand, and nothing stays in the range for good.
Growers with names
Every wrapper names the cooperative or estate, with details of the harvest, fermentation and drying. The beans come through specialty importers such as Silva Cacao and Crafting Markets. Mattia says they cost about twice what supermarket chocolate pays for its beans.
A coffee taster’s palate
Mattia is a professional coffee roaster and a Q Grader, a certified specialty coffee taster. He trained as a chocolate taster with the International Chocolate Academy and has judged the dark chocolate category at the European Bar Awards (Comunicaffè).
Heirloom cacao in Spark
In 2018 the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund designated the beans of Madagascar’s Bejofo estate as Heirloom, a recognition for rare, fine-flavour cacao. Those beans go into Spark.
Every wrapper is an artwork
Each bar has a cover by a different artist, in colours that echo its tasting notes. Spark’s cover is by Venice photographer Lucia Buricelli. Scarlett’s is by Milan florist Ambrogio Fiori with photographer Luca Grottoli.
The bars
Six single-origin 50 g bars are on Nuar, and four of them also come as drinking chocolate. Tasting notes are Ruvido’s own.
Orbit · Peru
White flowers and grapefruit. The beans come from the Pangoa cooperative in Junín, about 700 smallholders farming at 700–1,200 m. Part of the current fifth collection, and also available as drinking chocolate.
Scarlett · Uganda
Black cherry and custard. Grown in Bukonzo, in the Rwenzori mountains, by more than 5,000 smallholders who sell through Latitude Trade and earn 10–30% above local market prices. Fifth collection, also as drinking chocolate.
Spark · Madagascar
Mandarin and roasted cashew. From the Bejofo estate in the Sambirano Valley, founded in 1924, whose cacao carries the Heirloom designation. Fifth collection, also as drinking chocolate.
Malmö · Peru
Cinnamon and ginger. From Cuencas del Huallaga, about 500 organic and fair-trade farmers along the Huallaga river in San Martín. Fifth collection, also as drinking chocolate.
Afterhours · Costa Rica
Plum and liquorice. From Finca Tres Equis near the Turrialba volcano, where cacao grows among more than 37 species of shade and fruit trees. From the third collection.
Tombola · Mexico
Rum and raisin. From the Agua Escondida estate in Tabasco, with fermentation by Revival Cacao. Originally the Christmas bar of the fourth collection.
Drinking chocolate
The 160 g tins use the same beans and the same two-ingredient recipe as the bars. Ruvido says it works hot or cold, with milk or with water.
The people behind it
Ruvido is two people. Mattia Intorre makes the chocolate; Giulia Mandalà runs the brand and its communication, after a career in advertising.
Asked how their chocolate differs from the supermarket’s, they answered: “How much time do we have? Basically everything.” No permanent products, micro-lots only, the bean selection, the ingredient list, the roast, the process, “and above all the obsession behind it.”
They want you to know two things: dark chocolate shouldn’t be bitter, and chocolate doesn’t taste of “chocolate”. Their favourite part of the job is the “wow” in someone’s eyes the first time they taste a bar.
And something you wouldn’t guess: until three years ago Giulia bought her chocolate at the supermarket, and Mattia didn’t know what print-ready artwork was.
Good to know
- Diet: vegan by ingredients.
- Allergens: made in a facility that also handles milk, soy, nuts and gluten, so traces are possible. Not suitable for people with coeliac disease.
- Storage: keeps at least 12 months. Store it cool and dry, at or below 18 °C, in the pantry rather than the fridge.
Order on Nuar
Ruvido’s bars and drinking chocolate are now on the Nuar app. Order there, then pick up your chocolate at Le Polveri, Via Vespri, on Thursday 22 October, 17:30–18:30.
Order on Nuar: https://links.nuar.app/offer/30d4faf4-db48-4a1f-b269-f254e4dd5439