A review of two Chocolate and Love bars. What they taste like, the quality of the chocolate and where it comes from are all covered.
Two very nicely wrapped 100g bars of dark chocolate arrived on my doormat. Er, quite some time ago now.
Chocolate And Love
Chocolate and Love is a small chocolate brand. It has an online shop which sells high quality chocolates which are ethically sourced from small producers.
As well as offering their own bars and those from Amedei and Beschle among others, they also sell more unusual items such as raw chocolate, cocoa nibs and chocolate tea. If you are a chocolate lover, their website is well worth a look.
Its always good to see another ethical chocolate product on the market and I was pleased to see that these own label bars are both organic and fair trade. I would have been even more pleased if they were Soil Association certified, but that’s one of my crusades. The cocoa itself comes from small scale farmers in Peru and the Dominican Republic.
The wrappers are gorgeous, colourful with a cocoa inspired motif. I particularly admired the orange flavoured one which had oranges peeping out amongst the cocoa pods.
On the reverse side of the wrappers, you’ ll find information about the co-operatives from where the chocolate is sourced.
The outer wrapper is FSC certified which is good, but I was rather disappointed to find that the inner wrapper was plastic. Plastic is not what I expect from a good quality product which claims to be ethical, apart from being non-recyclable, it also looks rather cheap.
Orange Mantra (65%)
cocoa mass, raw cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole cane sugar, natural orange oil, ground vanilla
Orange Mantra has a good snap and a pleasant melt in the mouth texture. It’s so easy to overdo orange flavouring in chocolate. This bar, however, has a very pleasant true orange taste which is not in the least overpowering.
It’s somewhat like a seville orange, bitter and marmalady. In other words, it tastes like real fruit rather than something synthesised in a lab. It’s not designed to be scoffed in large quantities, but savoured slowly. This can only be a good thing.
Coffee Affair (55%)
cocoa mass, raw cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole cane sugar, coffee, ground vanilla
CT, as the chocolate coffee lover in our household, got to try this one. Or at least the 20g he was allowed. I had designs on the rest.
Again this bar has a nice snap, a firm texture and is rather crunchy in the mouth as befits a strong, robust flavoured chocolate. CT reckons this is an Adult X rated product for those who enjoy strong flavours, not to be taken before bedtime.
The coffee flavour persists on the palate for quite some time. It’s delicious and not overly sweet nor cloying. It’s a wake up call rather than a comfort food and is best taken in small doses.
I used the remaining 80g in a coffee chocolate ganache to top the praline cake I recently posted about. As some of you may know, I am more likely to split my ganache than not, but this chocolate worked like a dream and I had no problems at all. Its powerful taste worked particularly well in this cake.
Plastic wrappers notwithstanding, I would be very happy to partake of both these bars again. And I’d like to try more Chocolate and Love products too.
Chocolate and Love Update 2016
It took a while, but I did eventually partake of some more Chocolate and Love bars. And in grand style too. You can read all about it in this Fairtrade Bonanza post.
Keep In Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you ever try any Chocolate and Love bars, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Have you any chocolatey top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like more chocolate reviews, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All deliciously decadent, of course.
Choclette x
Thanks to Chocolate and Love for sending me two of their chocolate bars to try. I was not required to write a positive review and as always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for your support of the brands and organisations that help to keep Tin and Thyme blithe and blogging.
Gina says
Yum! I have not heard of that store… I will have to look. Thanks
Sophie says
MMMMMM,..thsoe chocolates look so tasty!!
Margaret says
I’d like the Coffee Affair!
Choclette says
Celia – us chocoholics must sure be having a great time then 🙂
Celia says
It’s true what they say, hey, chocolate does really make you feel like you’re in love. 🙂
Choclette says
Anonymous 1 – I’m only aware of them being available online, but it’s probably best to ask Chocolate and Love themselves.
Kath – yes CT was rather taken with the coffee (the little he was allowed anyway).
CityHippy – I loved the outer wrappers and the chocolate was pretty good too.
Anonymous 2 – thanks
cityhippyfarmgirl says
That is kind of surprising about the plastic inside. The outside wrapper is very inviting looking though. I’d want to buy it 🙂
Kath says
They both sound right up my street. I love coffee chocolate, so that would be my first choice.
Anonymous says
These sound interesting. Are they only available online?