Daytona Beach, Fla. Sage Friedman and Karlo Flores share a fascination with chocolate. While one man's company celebrates the cocoa bean's rich tradition, the other is looking toward chocolate's bright future.

Friedman, a chocolate sommelier and vice president of Chocolat Michel Cluizel's New York City operation, said he eats about an ounce of 73 percent cacao chocolate every day.

"Although certainly I enjoy a Twix bar once in awhile," he said.

Though American chocolatiers are innovative, focusing more on intense and unusual flavors — some American companies now flavor their chocolate with chile, jalapeño and other spices — "our chocolates are French, and the French palate is a little more traditional," he said.

But he believes individual preferences should dictate chocolate choice.

"You might love M&Ms," he said. "If it's what makes you happy, that's what you should eat."

Canadian Karlo Flores, a fifth-generation chocolatier who owns Terra Nostra Organic chocolate, said he developed an organic product when his first child was born.

"I decided to do something within my realm and my capacity to leave a better world for him," he said.

Terra Nostra uses cocoa beans from specially contracted farmers who grow their crops without petrochemicals, fungicides or pesticides. The milk powder in their milk chocolate comes from cows who were never fed growth hormones. They also sell a milk chocolate made of rice milk, for people with milk allergies, and chocolates that are wheat- and gluten-free.

By doing so, he's tapping into the organic food trend, which has grown 20 percent each year over the past five years, and occupying the cutting edge of chocolate's future.

Chocolate's popularity is booming. The trend-watching firm Datamonitor called chocolate "the new coffee," and named it among the top 10 trends to watch. According to Mintel International, sales of dark chocolate increased 40 percent from last year to this year.

One possible reason is the flood of reports on chocolate's health benefits. Flores says their testing shows organic chocolate contains more flavinoids and antioxidants than the kind made from conventionally grown cocoa beans.

"By weight, our 73 percent (cacao) chocolate has 10 times the antioxidants as fresh blueberries," Flores said.

He said the future trends in chocolate include new flavors. Terra Nostra will offer a truffle in the country's most up-to-the-minute flavor: pomegranate.

Another trend will be "single-origin chocolates," which are made from cocoa beans grown in a specific country. Many consumers find that, like wine, chocolate flavor is determined by conditions specific to where its cocoa beans were grown.

So if beans from Madagascar best match your taste, for example, you'll be able to buy chocolates made from just Madagascar-grown beans.

The experts agree: Chocolate occupies a rare place in the food world. It is one of the few good-for-you foods that most people really enjoy eating.

"It's a pleasurable, sensual food," Flores said.

Friedman said cacao contains more than 300 chemicals that affect your brain, including a stimulant, a feel-good serotonin-booster and an antioxidant.

So chocolate keeps you wide awake, happy and healthy — what's not to love?

"It is high in fat," Friedman cautioned, "so you want to get some of your nutrients from broccoli."

One sommelier's guide to chocolate

Chocolate sommelier Sage Friedman of Chocolat Michel Cluizel in New York said if you try one of each of these chocolate categories, you will notice the difference in flavor and texture immediately. He breaks chocolates down into these three general categories:

• Candy: This would include chocolates readily available at grocery stores, such as the candy bars Cuizel said he sometimes eats. They commonly contain up to about 30 percent cacao (the raw, unsweetened, unprocessed chocolate). Everything in this category probably would cost less than $30 per pound.

• Good chocolate: High-end, widely available chocolates that contain considerably more cacao. When you get a box of fancy chocolates as a gift, they're probably in this class. Friedman says these can cost $30 to $60 per pound in urban markets; the price may vary where you live.

• Great chocolate: Premium chocolates containing up to 99 percent cacao — the kind Friedman calls "narcotic grade." "Great chocolate tends to start at about $60 per pound," he says, but you can pay up to $140 per pound in some areas. Michel Cluizel chocolates average about $85 per pound.

Chocolate Tasting 101

Chocolate experts suggest these steps for enjoying a premium chocolate:

• Smell and snap: Enjoy the scent of the chocolate, then break it apart. It should have a good snap.

• Melt: Let the chocolate melt in your mouth for a moment before you start to chew.

• Savor: Enjoy the creamy texture, as well as the taste of the chocolate and any flavors that have been added. "The flavoring has to dance properly with the chocolate," said Sage Friedman of Chocolat Michel Cluizel. "You want to have a sense of the symphony between the flavors."

• Wait: Let the flavor linger and enjoy the aftertaste. A great chocolate might still be delicious a full two minutes later.

CHOCOLATE'S POPULARITY is booming. The trend-watching firm Datamonitor called chocolate "the new coffee," and named it among the top 10 trends to watch. According to Mintel International, sales of dark chocolate increased 40 percent from last year to this year.