Spicy

Cinnamon, clove, pepper. Almost always either an added ingredient or a fermentation product, and rarely varietal.

Spice character in chocolate is most often exactly what it appears to be: an added ingredient, and one with a long history — Mesoamerican chocolate was routinely prepared with chilli and other flavourings, and Mexican drinking chocolate is still commonly made with cinnamon.

Where no spice has been added, warm spice notes are generally fermentation products, and phenolic or peppery character can also come from long fermentations.

Descriptors used: cinnamon, clove, black pepper, nutmeg, chilli warmth, anise
Desirable?: Traditional in Mesoamerican preparation and increasingly common in craft bars. Neutral as a quality signal.

Where it comes from

More than one route produces this note. Each entry says how to tell it apart from the others.

From an added ingredient
Recorded
Spices added during or after conching.
How to tell: It is on the ingredients list. This is the common case and worth checking first.
Source: ChocolateHQ
Created during fermentation
Inferred
Long fermentations produce phenolic compounds that read as clove-like or peppery.
How to tell: Fermentation-derived spice is diffuse and integrated rather than sitting on top of the chocolate, and no spice appears on the label.
Source: Wiley-Blackwell

Pairing

The family with the widest pairing range: works with rum, spiced tea, aged cheese and red wine alike.

Origins known for this

VietnamThe spiced depth that accompanies the fruit is one of the origin's more distinctive characteristics.
Trinidad and TobagoOften associated with the full, spiced and molasses-like character the trade historically attributed to Trinitario material.
GuatemalaCriollo-descended Mesoamerican material, often associated with nutty and spiced notes at modest acidity.
MexicoReported often enough in this origin's material to be characteristic, though fermentation and roast decide whether it survives into a given bar. Cinnamon, clove, pepper. Almost always either an added ingredient or a fermentation product, and rarely varietal.

Pairings built on this flavour

CocktailsBitters and spirit-forward drinks carry aromatic spice that meets chocolate's own without the acidity a shaken sour would bring.
SpicesSpicing chocolate is the oldest pairing there is — Mesoamerican preparations were spiced long before they were sweetened.

Developed during

FermentationThis stage is where the note is created, amplified or destroyed. Cinnamon, clove, pepper. Almost always either an added ingredient or a fermentation product, and rarely varietal.

Sources

ChocolateHQ editorial synthesis — ChocolateHQ(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)
Chocolate Science and Technology — Wiley-Blackwell(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)