Grenada Chocolate Company 82%

Posted by in Chocolate Reviews on September 7 2010 | Leave A Comment

A few days after I picked this bar up in Waitrose, the lovely people at Chococo sent me another. As it only takes a single bar to write a review, I’ll be giving away the spare bar at the end of this post!

The Grenada Chocolate Company is something of a marvel. They are probably one of the best advertisements for how chocolate can be produced ethically from bean to bar in the world.

Not only do they make their chocolate in a factory on the island, but the cocoa is grown there organically by a co-operative of farmers. The other three ingredients in their bars (sugar, vanilla and the emulsifier soy lecithin) are all sourced from equally ethical, organic suppliers.

There are no fancy fair trade logos on the packaging, but there doesn’t need to be. This is about as fair as chocolate gets, and that makes me happy.

Another thing that makes me happy is the packaging. Underneath the simple, brightly coloured paper wrapper is a thick copper coloured inner wrapper that reflects the colour of the chocolate inside.

Unfold it, and the rich, intense aroma of the chocolate inside hits you.

The design of the bar is the same as the 71% version that Simon reviewed back in 2008. It’s smooth and glossy with a reddish colour and a nice firm snap.

The flavour is intense, with an initial bitterness that quickly gives way to something a little softer. There are distint fruity and citrus notes in there, but the intensity and earthiness never completely fade, and the result is that this is just a little too intense for my preferences. Serious dark chocolate fans will love it though.

Luckily for me, I also picked up a bar of Grenada 60% with nibs at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair on Sunday (photos of that event on our Facebook page), which I’m really looking forward to trying.

Win a bar!

Update: the competition is now closed: Congratulations to our winner Eryl!

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Comments On This Post

  1. Lisa Ellert

    I would like to win because whenever I have any chocolate in the house everyone steals it!! However I am the only one that likes dark chocolate so I woud be able to have it all to myself!! lol

  2. Joanne Rodgers

    I deserve to win because I’ve been following you for 3 years with emails, facebook & now twitter and I haven’t won as much as a Smartie from you in all that time.
    I want to lick the screen, it looks scrummy. Please stop all of this teasing & share nicely πŸ™‚

  3. Audrey Waugh

    I would like to win the yummy bar because it is not available here in Ireland. Boourns!Without Chocablog.com I’d never know such a tasty treat existed…so Thanks!

  4. SuzyG

    I should win because no-one else in the entire world can possibly love chocolate more than me!

    Thanks for the giveaway!

  5. I don’t deserve to win anymore than the next person, but I JUST LOVE CHOCCY!.

  6. cheryl hadfield

    I should win because after 7 long weeks of kids school holidays..i think i deserve some to celebrate that they have gone back to school lol

  7. wendy jamieson-price

    what a work of art to delight all the senses – almost, i did say almost too good to eat – but you would wouldn’t you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  8. Carol Peace

    I should win this bar because……. I love chocolate.

  9. Emma Reid

    Because im stupid and i dont read instructions!

  10. Amy

    mmmm, good review -this chocolate looks amazing!
    I deserve to win because I’ve been a bit poorly lately so I’m obviously in need of the antioxidants in the dark chocolate to re-store me to good health!
    πŸ˜‰

  11. Tracy Nash

    i8 deserve the bar of grenada chocolate as being diabetic the purer the chocolate the better it si for me, the sweet lesser choc is far worse for a diabetic

  12. Alison T

    I deserve to win because I would treat it with the utmost respect and love and savour every single bite of this delicious choccy.

  13. Lynn Doe

    I deserve a bar cos im a woman lol xx

  14. William Gould

    SWMBO deserves the chocolate for putting up with me!!!

  15. Emma Patterson

    I should win because otherwise I will be in a really, really bad mood. And you couldn’t put my children through that…

  16. I should win the bar because I love great, dark chocolate, but I love it even more when it’s organic and fair, and because this company’s products are not available in my country. Now that you made me really eager to enjoy this chocolate, you should also give me the possibility to do just that…

  17. Maria

    I’d love to win because i just love to try new chocolates… but i’ve already tried all the ones near me… πŸ™
    I need something new πŸ˜€

  18. This looks (and sounds) great! And that’s is almost enough why I should win, because I want to taste that bar! So, it would make me very happy.

  19. Alun Rundle

    I should win because i can think of very few reasons (mostly other people trying to win) as to why I shouldn’t win.

  20. Neva

    I deserve it because I read Chocablog every day! Also, I live way up here in Canada, and it’s harder to find good quality chocolate that’s not loaded with sugar.

  21. Sabrina F

    I deserve it because I am constantly breastfeeding my 15 day old baby and need somthing to keep me going!!

  22. meeyeehere

    Hey,I am a subscriber!I think of myself as somewhat an expert in the art of chocolate tasting,I taste chocolate all the time. I would love to win this bar so I can devour it and feel guilty because I did not eat it slowly.I’m not really an expert just an addict.
    expert sounds nicer.
    jacksoncrisman@yahoo.com

  23. Linda Arbuckle

    I deserve to win because I have just finished wrestling with my moggy trying to get him to have a tablet and not only have I succeeded, but I have
    survived with minimal injuries. For a chocolate fiend like me, this bar
    would make me very happy.

  24. Chelsea

    i am a subscriber & love your posts! i love chocolate of all kinda=s & would love to sample this bar!

  25. Jan Wolfe

    I deserve to win to save the world from my currently escalating stress levels. Even the thought of this chocolate can reduce them, so imagine what the real thing will do. Send me a bar and save the world!!

  26. Ms Jacky Westoby

    I would like to win because it’s my 48th birthday on September 10th-honestly, it is, I wouldn’t lie to you!-and I love my chocolate, but I’m on a strict diet at the moment-but you can’t diet on your birthday, can you? Just not right! So go on, go on, go on-help me break my diet on my special day, PLEASE!!!!!!! X

  27. Tim

    I should win because I might (!!) share the bar with my 5 year old daughter if I haven’t had to pay for it. I’m sure she’d enjoy some quality chocolate for a change! Or I might just eat it all myself!

  28. PATTY LYNN

    PATTY LYNN
    611 31st STREET
    ASTORIA, OREGON
    97103 USA

    I am new to your blog, I love it! I am trying to increase my chocolate knowledge and appreciation, and part of that is expanding into the world of dark chocolate. I would love to try the Grenada bar, thanks for the opportunity!

  29. nance moore

    I just moved and can’t find anything — even my chocolate!
    Seeing photos and reading about it just is not the same.

  30. Leizz

    I want to win because of the wish to try my luck. =) Plus I would like to see my mother enjoying her favourite dainty.

  31. Casey

    I. Want. This.

  32. Leizz

    And something else… I love feasting my eyes upon the fresh glossy chocolate!

  33. Lucy Taylor

    Yum yum. I can’t say that I’m a true chocaholic as I’ve never had anything posher than a Ritter Sport but maybe a bar of Grenada would help educate me?!

  34. jeannine m

    Love chocolate and this looks really good

  35. Eryl

    Would love to win and surprise my husband, he absolutely loves the high % cocoa bars, but they’re always an expensive treat!

  36. I’d love to win because my favourite show has just left the west end and my friends and I are in dire need of some choccy therapy to cheer us up and I’m sure this bar will do some damage…in a good way.

  37. I’d love to win ‘cos I love chocolate… What more need be said? That does look particularly scrummy, and I’ll probably have to scrounge out a bar anyway – so save me the cost, eh?

  38. iola jones

    I would love 2 win as I LOVE chocolate have never tasted this 1 before,and always up for trying anything that is fair trade and organic its better for us and better for the people making the chocolate. which always makes you feel that little better whilst eating. by the way fantastic review and great pictures i can almost smell and taste the chocolate! x

  39. Laura

    I should win the bar because thanks to reading the reviews every day, my level of English has improved! So I should celebrate it by eating that beautiful chocolate bar *_*

  40. I’d love to win because I’ve never seen this bar available in Australia, and I love earthy, bitter, too-intense-for-some 80%+ dark chocolate!

  41. rferne

    I deserve to win because I am not only a connoisseur of chocolate, but also of beautiful wrappers, and this is one of the prettiest and most colorful I’ve seen!

  42. Hmmm. i think they all said all the reasons why they deserve to win. Mine, hmmmmmm… because i can’t think of other reasons beside the one they created but i love choco =)

  43. Lilian Elliman

    Hello! My name is Lilian and I’m a chocoholic. Partly because of this I now have diabetes – but – I allow myself a piece of chocolate daily for purely medicinal reasons. I can’t think of nicer tasting medicine than a daily dose of Grenada chocolate. Mmmmmm chocolate!

  44. Magdalena

    I would like to win the bar because it is not available here in Poland! I wolud really like to smell it and try, how the realy good chocolate taste. I like dark chocolate, but I never had the chance to taste such a great bar made ethically from bean to bar. I have been following the chocablog for some time and I love your revievs.

  45. How could I resist. Small scale, chocolate, ethical and organic is what I’m about and as I’m still a bit tentative about dark chocolate (apart from baking with it), it would be good to try something different. Glad you seem to be covering more on the ethical side these days.

  46. Yaling

    I’d like to win because I’m a huge fan of well-made chocolate and would love to help out the economy by advertising fair-trade brands like Grenada via wide-eyed nomming.

  47. Pat Ray Dagapioso

    love, love, love.. and love chocolates…

    want to win this one, just to prove that chocolate love can bring dividends…

  48. Wow. That’s a lot of people wanting one bar. I don’t want it because I have enough chocolate to get through in my house (and you know I eat a lot of chocolate, Dom, so that’s a lot of chocolate in my house). I just wanted to share my excitement that I’m going to the factory in November!! (The other reason the bar should go to someone else, oh, and because you shared the one you did open with me. πŸ˜€ ).

    I’m scoping out Grenada and St Lucia for the first international tour that I WILL do next year. i can’t wait!! You’ll come on that one, right Dom?!!

    good luck to everyone. it is a very intense bar but very good too.

    Jen xx

  49. Stacey

    I should win because it’s my husbands 30th birthday later in the month, he is a complete chocoholic and would totally love this chocolate as a gift and love me (and you!) even more! πŸ˜€

  50. Dom (Chocablog Staff)

    Congratulations to Eryl, you’ve won the bar!

  51. nice to read all these great reactions on their amazingly great chocolate!! read more about the Grenada Chocolate Company and the first Fair Transport of chocolate on a sailing ship across the world, starting March 2012, very exciting adventure indeed…

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