Chocolate Review – Origin ‘Bolivia’.

Welcome to a new section of my Reviews! These reviews are where I let my passion for chocolate run free and hopefully inspire you to make better choices when buying that brown stuff sold as chocolate. As, quite honestly, a lot of the stuff sold as chocolate is about as close to being real chocolate as I am to being a supermodel. Yeah, not even close! 🙂

Most of my reviews will be in relation to my life long search or a decent “supermarket grade” chocolate.

Just so you know, what I call “supermarket grade” is – you guessed it – chocolate like products that can be bought at the supermarket. This is in comparison to when I go to a speciality artisan chocolatier’s place and grab something from them.

And what I mean it being decent is a chocolate that tastes great, is good quality and created/ sold ethically. So, yeah, my hunt is long and hard. Not that I really mind being forced to only buy chocolate from a decent, local chocolatier… it is sometimes just nice to be able to grab some while at the supermarket as it’s more convenient… and I’m less likely to spend half my food budget on a couple of hundred grams of artisan heavenly, chocolatey goodness. 😉

So, here we go with my first chocolate review. There will be more! And please feel free to suggest some to me too! Or, if you make your own and sell it in supermarkets – send me some to review. Yeah, I know… like that’s about to happen. I can but try!

Brand name: Origin ‘Bolivia’.

 Certified Organic: Yes, Australian Certified Organic.

 Fair trade: Yes, and their website states they give 2% of their profit back to Fair Trade Australia.

 Rainforest alliance friendly: Yes, and their website states they give 2% of all profits back to the Rain Forest Alliance.

 Palm oil free: Nowhere on their website or packaging does it state they are palm oil free, but from what I can tell I’d say they probably are.

 Dairy Free: Yes, and soy free too!

 Grain/gluten free: Their website states they are gluten free, but from their ingredients list I would up that to being grain free too.

 Blend or single origin: Difficult to say. I, personally, think it tastes like a blend, but I couldn’t tell from what they say on their websites.

 Contains nuts: As far as I can tell, from the ingredients list, it is nut free. But they do include the generic warning that their product may contain traces of nuts.

Any plastic in the packaging: No! And I love their packaging! 100% biodegradable! Absolutely kick arse packaging, wax paper surrounding the chocolate and then popped in a study paper pouch.

Net Weight per package: 100 grams.

Owned and made in: They’re Australian folks!

Where I bought it: Klose’s Foodland, Littlehampton, South Australia.

Website: www. Originchocolate.com.au

Review:

 5 out of 5 stars.

The flavour I tried today is ‘Bolivia’ and so my review is based purely on this one flavour. If I get to try other Origin chocolates, I may add reviews for those different cacao flavours.

I discovered Origin Chocolate today when doing the weekly shop and decided to add it to my search of a decent “supermarket grade” chocolate.  I was not disappointed.

It comes in cute (and 100% biodegradable) packaging so a big tick there. It’s made in Australia; another positive – as I do like my food to be made in the same country I live in. And it was gluten and dairy free – another big bonus. Pretty sure it’s vegan too, and I do like my chocolate to be vegan as it means it’s more traditionally made.

Although it doesn’t say as much on the packaging (but I found out by going to their website), they are Fair Trade and Rain Forest Alliance supporters too. And good on them for giving some of their profits back!

As to the flavour, you can tell it’s a decent blend of just cacao and a bit of real sugar – no added bits! It has a glorious, creamy texture. Packs a HUGE wallop in the cacao/ chocolate taste and has a nice dark/ bitter undertone without it becoming too over powering and face sucking bitter – like eating a lemon. 😉

Would I recommend this chocolate to others? Yes I would. I know it won’t be to everyone’s taste as some are more used to the synthetic crap sold as “milk chocolate” at the supermarket. Plus they’d never see the point in spending the same amount for 100g as they could for a kilo of said chemical rubbish also sold as chocolate. But lovers of REAL chocolate will love this.

Would I buy this chocolate for myself? Yes, oh hell YES! It tastes great, ticked all my “hippy dippy” boxes of being good for the workers, environment, etc. and came in brilliant packaging that meets my zero waste ideals. I really want to try melting some and dipping my local “spray free” strawberries in it. Talk about a heavenly summer delight!

In summary: If you truly care about your chocolate, its origins, how it is grown and harvested – this is the chocolate for you. It’s made in Australia, they’ve taken care and respect of where they’ve sourced their products from and they’ve even thought about the planet when it comes to packaging. Add to this it tastes sooooo good and you’ve got a winner here. Seriously, go out and buy/try some today. Definitely worth a taste.

Until next time,

Janis. XXOO