Why we love Original Beans chocolate
Just in time for Christmas, we’ve just added Original Beans “The Story of Cacao in Four Bars” chocolate set to our shop window at Rosalind’s Kitchen. Yes, loads of people are pushing chocolate this time of year, but we thing these bars are truly special and that if you’re going to buy chocolate this season, Original Beans is a company well worth giving your money to.
The reason we love Original Beans so much is that they’ve got a fascinating history with impeccable eco-sustainable credentials, something that has been so important to us in the development of Cookery School (read our stance on sustainability).
Original Beans’ founder is Philipp Kauffmann, a conservationist/economist who previously worked for the United Nations and WWF. He set up Original Beans with replenishment of the rainforest his top priority. Hence the mantra: “the planet: replant it” on every bar. For each Original Beans’ bar sold, the company ensures one tree is replanted in the rainforest region of origin and this can be tracked on their website.
Of course, the important thing is, the chocolate is absolutely delicious – distinctive, intense, fruit-packed flavours with mesmerising mouth-feel. Here’s a little more on the specific chocolates that come in the set, for sale at Rosalind’s Kitchen at £3.99 per bar or £16.00 for all four:
- Cru Virunga 70% is the first ever cacao harvest from war-torn E Congo. Original Beans, the first “bean to bar” producer there work with 13,000+ farmers there, whose incomes have already doubled, and deforestation halved with more than 3 million trees planted. Cru Virunga is vibrant, earthy with notes of red fruit and tobacco.
- Esmeraldas Milk chocolate with a hint of fleur de sel from Ecuador 42% is a sophisticated milk chocolate resonant with salted caramel, honey with hints of summer red fruits and spice
- Beni Wild Harvest from the Bolivian Amazon 68% from wild cocoa trees on cocao islands which can only be harvested by boat when the Amazon basin floods. Beni Wild has distinctive raisin, cognac and honeyed tea notes
- Piura Criollo Porcelana Peruvian Andes 75% re-discovered by Original Beans, this is an ultra-rare “white” bean cacao. Elegant with well- balanced acidity: lime, apricot & toasted pecan notes
Category
Ingredients Sustainability
