Cocoa beans are the seeds of cocoa fruit. Cocoa butter and cocoa mass, which are essential parts of chocolate production, are made from them. It is only by roasting cocoa beans that they acquire the typical taste desired in chocolate production. Because cocoa beans contain theobromine, an alkaloid similar to caffeine, they have a lightly stimulating effect.

Cocoa beans are divided into two categories: consumer cocoa and fine cocoa. RITTER SPORT uses specified blends of both these kinds, depending on the kind of chocolate being produced. RITTER SPORT chocolate squares are made with selected varieties of the best quality beans from West Africa, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, and Ecuador.