Not every brown diamond qualifies for the stringent standards that Le Vian sets for Chocolate Diamonds. So what sets Chocolate Diamonds apart? Le Vian arms its trained diamond buyers with a list of criteria used to source only the best brown diamonds, including considerations such as color, clarity, size, and cut. The strength of color is one of the most important factors in determining the value of a natural color diamond. Chocolate Diamonds must have a certain hue, tone and saturation, rating between C4 and C7 on Argyle’s color scale. Brown diamonds within that range are the richer, deeper champagne colors, and correspond to the fancy dark browns on the Gemological Institute of America’s color chart.

The richer the color saturation and the darker the tone of color of the natural brown diamond, the more rare that diamond is considered. Chocolate Diamonds must have a clarity of SI or higher — Slightly Included means it’s “eye clean,” so that inclusions aren’t visible to the naked eye. Note that fewer than 5% of the diamonds from the Argyle mine meet these standards. Stones larger than 20 points (1/5 carat) are the top 5% of those, and Chocolate Diamonds of one carat or larger are 1 in 10,000 — almost impossible to find. Of course, once the Chocolate Diamonds® are sourced from the mine, they are then cut to Le Vian’s exacting standards.