Fourteen prominent cocoa varieties commonly cultivated in the central highlands of Vietnam were characterized based on their physico-chemical properties. The mass ratio and bean size (value index), as well as proximate composition (total protein, ash, moisture, and lipid content) of the dried fermented cocoa beans, were measured using the AOAC methods. The results showed that cocoa bean variety TD8 recorded the largest size (1.5 g of mass, 25.02 mm of length, 14.28 mm of width and 7.96 mm of thickness). The moisture content of the sampled cocoa beans was in the range of 5.64 and 6.99 (%wb) and the ash content measured between 3.67 and 2.47 (%wb). Noticeably, the fat content of seven (TD1, TD2, TD5, TD11, TD12, TD13, TD14) out of the fourteen beans sampled was over 50%. Thus these varieties have great potential for industrialized cultivation and cocoa breeding projects.