Luxury Fairtrade and Organic Chocolate from Chocolate and Love*

The one thing I enjoy more than any other sweet treat is chocolate. I like all different kinds of chocolate so when I was offered the chance to review a brand I’d never heard of before, Chocolate and Love, I said of course! How could I resist?

Chocolate and Love is a luxury Fairtrade, organic chocolate brand set up by husband and wife team Richard and Brigitte O’Conner. The collection includes seven different flavours so you can indulge every day of the week! The flavours include Coffee, Creamy Dark, Rich Dark, Mint, Orange, Panama and the popular Sea Salt and Caramel. Ingredients include cacao sourced directly from Peru, The Dominican Republic and Panama, cane sugar from Paraguay and Costa Rica, and bourbon vanilla from Madagascar.

I received four of the seven flavours in Sea Salt and Caramel, Panama, Orange and Rich Dark. Each bar has more cocoa and less sugar than most other bars on the market and has the added benefit of being gluten free, GMO free and contain no additives. Apart from the Creamy Dark and Sea Salt variants, the rest of the bars are also dairy free making them ideal for vegans.

Firstly I tried the Panama flavour, with single sourced cocoa from Panama (80%). This rich high percentage dark chocolate is very rich and incredibly smooth. I was surprised that this was not at all bitter considering the high cocoa content and very easy to consume.

The second bar, Sea Salt and Caramel was my absolute favourite of the lot. I love salted caramel and find that a lot of bars in supermarkets are either too salty or you cannot taste the salt at all. The caramel and salt in this bar was perfectly balanced and the combination between the sweet and the salt is absolutely divine. So far the company has won a staggering 15 awards for the range so far, this bar in particular has won Gold 1-star award in Great Taste Awards 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The third bar I tried was the Rich Dark flavour. This bar contains cocoa from Peru and The Dominican Republic (71%). It also contains refreshing hints of red berries naturally coming through the cocoa. I love dark chocolate and this one is delicious and something I would definitely reach for over other brands. The chocolatey finishing notes are welcoming and this does not leave a bitter aftertaste in my mouth.

Finally I tried the Orange which really did not disappoint. Chocolate and orange is a delicious combination and the zesty flavour comes from natural cold pressed oil from real oranges. The flavours in this bar are well balanced and complement each other beautifully. I also thought I would mention the packaging which really did catch my eye. The designs are bespoke and hand painted, I think they are lovely and would make the perfect gift.

Chocolate and Love is available to buy in Whole Foods Market, Planet Organic and Amazon. The seven flavours will be launching in Sainsburys online and in store from the end of February.  Each 100g bar retails at £3.00. For more information head over to the Chocolate and Love website.

*I received these items free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not influenced in any way.

Planete Chocolat Handmade Truffle Review*

I am a huge fan of chocolate, what girl isn’t? I love luxurious rich tasting chocolates. I received a delicious box of Handmade Belgian Chocolate Truffles from Planete Chocolat and this was exactly what I needed and craved whilst settling in to watch a film when relaxing in the evening. 

The box arrived beautifully packaged. It was wrapped in thick bubble wrap casing to fully protect the parcel and I was astonished when I opened the box to see a gorgeous suede bag with a greetings card in the front. You can have any message you like customised in the card so it makes a lovely gift.

The assortment of 21 truffles comes beautifully presented in a box specially made for them and costs just €44.90. This box could be the perfect gift for someone you love. The truffles follow the traditional recipe based on a mix of cream, vanilla and cocoa powder with the addition of some intense flavours such as coconut and pistachio ganache. You can even add an extra layer of truffles for €22.45 if you are feeling even more generous.

Planete Chocolat offers the best quality Belgian chocolate possible and all of their products are made from 100% pure cocoa butter. They offer free delivery within 24hrs to Belgium, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, Denmark and Monaco. My parcel arrived promptly and I received text updates from the courier when it was on its way.

My favourite truffles were the coconut and white chocolate ones. They were so rich and creamy with the perfect coating of coconut goodness around the outside, I have never tasted a truffle so divine in my entire life. All of them were delicious in their own way. The pistachio truffle was rolled in crushed pistachio flakes and tasted different to any truffle I have tasted before. The unique flavours are what made these really special.

Head over to Planete Chocolat to purchase the box I received and browse many of the other options available. They made my night all the more special!

*I received these chocolates free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not influenced in any way.

Hello Lindt!*

About a year ago now I signed up to a website called BzzAgent which is a word of mouth website where you can sample their products in exchange for a review. When I signed up, I completed all the surveys and unfortunately none of the campaigns were suitable for me to test, and I kind of forgot about it... Until now.

I couldn’t have possibly received a more apt product! 5 100g bars of the Hello Lindt chocolate in flavours Strawberry Cheesecake, Caramel Brownie, Salted Caramel, Crunchy Nougat and Cookies and Cream, plus 2 39g Treat Bars for me to sample at my own leisure.

I have never been happier to receive a sample in my life. Especially a full sized sample at that! Of course, for research purposes I had to try all of the products out (what a shame hey!) I immediately thought that my favourite would be the caramel brownie flavour as I am a HUGE brownie fan, and although this was amazing, the salted caramel topped the lot as it had that extra edge and wasn’t too sickly. These bars have the creamy taste of Lindt with the added extras of the other flavours. I was in heaven! 

I literally cannot fault these bars. I’ve always been curious about trying them and I am glad I have had the opportunity. I LOVE every flavour!

If you would like to sign up to BzzAgent, click this link. 

Remember to fill out the surveys and maybe you too will be sampling some products very soon..

*I was sent these products for the purposes of a review. This post represents my honest opinions.