Divine Chocolate Items Review
DISCLOSURE – THIS ITEM WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE THE REVIEWER’S OWN.
Reviewed by Helen O
I love chocolate. Just putting that out there! So, I am always looking on the look out to find new favourites. Therefore, I was really excited to be offered the opportunity to review some of the Christmas range from Divine Chocolate.
Divine Chocolate is a global, cocoa farmer-owned Fairtrade chocolate company, established in 1998. It is committed to paying the cocoa farmers a Fairtrade minimum price for their produce. In addition to being a Fairtrade company, Divine Chocolate is a certified B Corporation company, which is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
I received a package containing 4 different Divine Chocolate Christmas items for myself and my family to nibble our way through. This included a Joyful chocolate bar, a large milk chocolate coin, 1 bag of 70% dark chocolate coins and 1 bag of smooth milk chocolate coins.
Given that Divine are a Fairtrade and B Corp company, I had expected the products to arrive in recyclable packaging, however, they arrived in a standard jiffy bag and very loosely wrapped in a piece of bubble wrap. As such, the Joyful chocolate bar had snapped in half during transit, which was a little disappointing.
The Joyful chocolate bar is a limited edition smooth milk chocolate bar (for Divine’s 25th anniversary) the bar contains caramel, hazelnut and candied orange, with 45% cocoa. The bar is 180g in weight and wrapped in an attractively packaged outer paper wrapper, with a foil inner. The cocoa content is slightly higher than the average chocolate bar, but due to the addition of the caramel and candied orange, didn’t taste bitter. In fact, I thought the sweetness of the bar was just right. I really enjoyed the difference in texture of this bar to your average chocolate bar. The candied orange gave it a more chewy texture, which once you’d got used to it, after a couple of squares, was really pleasant.
I had a good sniff of the chocolate before I tasted it and it was really yummy. I thought all of the flavours were very subtle, with the orange coming through the most. If I hadn’t have known there was caramel in this bar, I wouldn’t have guessed there was any. It is perfect for a Christmas chocolate bar, with the combination of wintery flavours.
The RRP of this bar is £4.50, which on first glance appears a high price point, compared with a lot of comparable sized chocolate bars on the market. However, with Divine Chocolate, you need to factor in that this is a Fairtrade chocolate product. In saying that, if I had paid £4.50 for this bar of chocolate as a gift, I’d have been a little disappointed that it arrived snapped in transit. The Joyful Chocolate bar can be purchased from the Ocado website here.
For me, chocolate coins are a real sign of Christmas, growing up we always had a bag of them in our Christmas stockings; a tradition that I’ve carried forward with my own children. I received 2 different types of chocolate coins to try. I really loved the fact that Divine Chocolate produce 70% dark chocolate coins, which is the first time I’ve seen chocolate coins in a dark chocolate variety. The coins were individually wrapped in pale green foil (small coins) and red foil (larger coins), presented in a green net, weighing 65g for the pack. Although relatively thin coins, they still have a nice crack as you bite into them. I love the bitterness of dark chocolate and really enjoyed the fact that these coins were dark chocolate. They’re a perfect gift to give a dark chocolate lover and loved the festive colouring of the foil.
I also had the opportunity to try the smooth milk chocolate coins, with the small coins individually wrapped in more traditional pale gold foil and the large coins wrapped in an orangey gold foil, presented in a yellow plastic net (again 65g in weight). They had a nice snap as you bit into them and they were deliciously creamy, not to mention moreish! The pack didn’t last long, once opened.
Both packs of chocolate coins have an RRP of £2.50 each pack, which is the upper end of the scale for chocolate coins, so I would reserve these as a gift for adults who appreciate a fine chocolate. At the time of my review, they were on sale at Ocado and Amazon for £2 per pack. The 70% dark chocolate coins can be purchased from the Ocado website here, The milk chocolate coins can be purchased from the Ocado website here.
The large smooth milk chocolate coin was the perfect alternative to a chocolate bar. It weighs in at 58g and is wrapped in gold foil. It was absolutely deliciously smooth and creamy milk chocolate; which was just the right thickness to sink your teeth into. The coin has an RRP of £2.50, which is at the higher end of the price range, but again, taking in account that it’s a Fairtrade product, I don’t think it’s unreasonable, if purchased as a gift. The coin can be purchased via the British Red Cross here or on Amazon.
All of these items would make a great Christmas stocking filler or add-on Christmas gift for your loved ones, especially if they’re partial to chocolate, as our family are.
Rating: 4/5
RRP: Joyful Chocolate Bar – RRP £4.50, Divine Giant Chocolate Coin- RRP £2.50 each and Divine Dark and Milk Chocolate Coins (65g net) – RRP £2.50 each.
The whole Divine Chocolate range can be viewed here. You can receive 10% off your first order when signing up to their newsletter.