Experimental chocolate? My curiosity was sky high the second I saw a message from The Other Bar in my instagram messages.
Now, the chocolate itself isn’t experimental (more on that later) but the concept and ethos of this brand certainly is…

Backed by the UNDP and FairChain Foundation, when you buy a bar of chocolate from The Other Bar you’ll find a QR code token, scan that and you’ve just helped a farmer buy a cocoa tree. Each token is worth a quarter of a tree, so four tokens/bars of chocolate and you’ve bought a whole tree- what better excuse to buy and eat chocolate?

One tree can produce £19 worth of cocoa for a farmer, and unlike many brands where the farmer only gets 3% of the value of the cocoa, The Other Bar ensures farmers are paid prices that meet real income needs.

“We believe in a living income and a sustainable future for cocoa farmers. That’s why we give you the choice to spend your token on a cocoa tree.The Other Bar is produced in Ecuador at an independently-owned factory. By making the chocolate at source, we can increase the experiment’s impact.
Higher wages for farmers, more trees for the planet, more jobs, training, skills and opportunities for people. That’s radical equality in action.You don’t have to take our word for it, spend your token and see exactly how much the farmer was paid for the cocoa in your bar, and the exact GPS location of the cocoa tree that your token buys.”

Sounds good so far right? But how does the chocolate taste?

In a word…AMAZING! This is truly excellent chocolate, it really is. I’m not a massive fan of milk chocolate these days but this was delicious and the bar barely touched the sides (although I did have to share). The dark chocolate was all mine, and whilst I was able to ration this a bit more sensibly (each pack contains two 50g bars) it still didn’t last long!

As an added bonus, each tree planted absorbs and stores carbon dioxide, helping combat climate change.

Each 100g bar costs £2.99 from the website, and you can also buy a pack of four for just over £12.

You can keep an eye on these guys over on their instagram page– give them a follow and get involved!