If you’re looking for a fantastic bit of raw chocolate then look no further than this new bar from Conscious Chocolate. This is pretty much as perfect a blend of mocha as you’re going to ever come across. The raw coffee beans work really well with the raw chocolate to give you a delicious coffee taste with a zing of chocolate in it. My flatmate and I gobbled this bar up. Highly recommended.

And, like other Conscious Chocolate bars this one consists of cacao butter, cacao powder, wild carob, agave as a sweetener, coconut butter, spices, and Himalayan salt.

Further information:
Conscious Chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
Raw Intent chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
Conscious Chocolate (Official site)
What makes for good chocolate? (The London Reviewer)
What’s in raw chocolate? (The London Reviewer)

Before chocolate was available as a bar, truffle, cake or pastry, it was first created in Mexico as a hot, sugar free drink – ie hot chocolate. Originally ground from the cocoa pod and frothed into a fantastic, dark ambrosia, it was then seasoned with spices such as chili pepper, cinnamon or vanilla. And, still done today, one can even order street it from Mexican street stalls where it’s made by shaving off cocoa from a tablet that’s been mixed with almond and vanilla.

For those who have tried hot chocolate (or even a bar) with chili in it, they’ll know how wonderful the combination of the chili’s hot, spicy zing, coupled with dark chocolate can be. In fact, hot chocolate shouldn’t be mixed with milk because the cocoa has enough of its own fat to make it a rich flavour.

Where to find high-quality, hot chocolate & unique blends in London

And, now in London, chocolate connoisseurs who are looking for a good, dark hot chocolate fix can find such at several places:

• Taquiera in Notting Hill offers cocoa in the Mexican tradition – shaved from a cocoa tablet containing vanilla and almond.
  Venue details: 139-143 Westbourne Grove, London W11 2RS – map,
  Tel 0207 229 4734
  Opening hours: Mon-Thurs 12:00pm-11:00pm, Fri 12:00p-11:30, Sat 10:00am-11:30pm and Sun 12:00pm-10:30pm

• Paul A Young – a specialist chocolatier who serves hot chocolate with varying cacao contents (70, 68, 66 and 64) depending on the weather. Eg, for hot days they use 64% while in freezing weather they use 70%. They also do some really cool chocolate bars with exotic flavours such as cedarwood, sandalwood, lavender and lemon, and many more. (Can’t help naming a lot of them as I’ve never seen the combos done by anyone else).
  Venue details: Islington shop – 33 Camden Passage, London, N1 8EA – map
  Tel: 020 7424 5750
  Opening hours: Wed-Thurs, Sat 11am-6pm, Fri 11am-7pm, Sun 12pm-5pm
  Bank shop – 20 Royal Exchange, Threadneedle Street, London, EC3V 3LP - map
  Tel: 020 7929 7007
  Opening hours: Mon-Wed, Fri 11am-6.30pm, Thurs 11am-7pm

• Melt - at this chocolate shop, located in Notting Hill, you can get short shots of 100% dark chocolate, or you can have it served with Madagascan vanilla pod, which is infused with double cream.
  Venue details: 59 Ledbury Road, Notting Hill, London, W11 2AA – map
  Tel: 020 7727 5030
  Opening hours: Mon-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 11am-4pm

• William Curley – offers various types of hot chocolate, made from Venezualan cocoa with 70% solids in it, which can be spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and honey and a cocoa with 72% solids, which is offered ‘Aztec’ style with 72% cocoa solids.
  Venue details:
  Mayfair shop – 32-34 Sheperd Market, Mayfair, W1J 7QN – map
  Tel: 020 7495 0302
  John Lewis Foodhall Shop, Oxford Street, W1A 1EX – map
  T: 020 7514 5321

Further information:
Taquiera (official site)
Paul A Young (official site)
Melt (official site)
William Curley (official site)
Feature: what’s in raw chocolate? (The London Reviewer)

Having recently reviewed Conscious Chocolate’s raw, organic dark chocolate range (which is also vegan and uses the low GI sweetener agave, a fructose from cactus), I was so impressed with their environmentally and socially conscious approach to business, I thought they deserved to have a spotlight shown on them.

Not only does Emma Jackman’s company make healthy ‘sweets’, which are also rich in enzymes, magnesium and other nutrients that help brain function, this grass roots organisation is outstandingly ethical.

Here’s what I love about them (besides Emma being a great communicator with us Conscious Chocolate fans):

• all products are handmade
• all ingredients are bought from certified organic suppliers (and Conscious Chocolate hopes to get their certification soon)
• all materials (ingredients and packaging) are sourced only from companies who support ‘Fair Trade’
• all packaging is recycled and labelled by hand
• and of course, the end products are absolutely scrumptious

Further information:
Conscious Chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
Conscious Chocolate (official site)

A great bar with a lovely tang to it thanks to the grapefruit, orange, lemon and lime in it. However, gets a slightly lower rating than Conscious Chocolate’s Best Ever Essential Orange as the zests in the bar don’t blend as well as this citrusy essential oil does with the chocolate’s high cacao level content.

Nonetheless, like all of Conscious Chocolate bars, this is, as always glorious raw, organic chocolate, which is naturally sweetened with the plant sugar agave (cactus nectar), which is suitable for vegetarians due to its low glycaemic index .

Further information:
Conscious Chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
Raw Intent chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
Conscious Chocolate (official site)
What makes for good chocolate? (The London Reviewer)
What’s in raw chocolate? (The London Reviewer)

Wasn’t sure what to expect from this raw, dark chocolate bar, as I wasn’t too keen on the combination of spices in their Love Potion No 9 (also raw, dark chocolate). However, this one was absolutely scrumptious!

This is a simple bar with a rich taste – and the combination of cacao butter and powder with the wild carob, coconut butter, vanilla and spices and Himalayan salt is perfect.

It delivered an excellent combination of anti-oxidants, clearer thinking and euphoria due to the cacao content and blue-green algae. Highly recommended and worth the price*.

*Also impressive is the fact that it’s handmade and the packaging includes recycled paper.

Further information:
Conscious Chocolate (official site)
Raw Intent chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
Conscious Chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
What makes for good chocolate? (The London Reviewer)
What’s in raw chocolate? (The London Reviewer)

This raw, organic and (obviously vegan) dark chocolate sounded exciting with a list of ingredients that includes essential oil of Otto Rose and spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cayenne. However, it failed to be as good as expected and merely had a bitter, unenticing taste. The cacao content also failed to deliver the wonderful and clear state of mind (due to anti-oxidants) or serotonin-derived joyful mood that the similar Raw Intent organic chocolate, that I tried recently, did.

Still a meritable product for being handmade, sugarfree and using recycled paper in their packaging.

Good news though: their Love Your Heart Superfood bar is excellent (read the review)!

Further information:
Conscious Chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
Raw Intent chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
Conscious Chocolate (official site)
What makes for good chocolate? (The London Reviewer)
What’s in raw chocolate? (The London Reviewer)

Trying to keep my sugar consumption low in 2008, I thought I’d give this bar a try as the 70% cacoa content appealed. However, the artificial sweetener (which carries health risks) in this bar, aspartame, and malitol (a natural plant-based sugar alcohol, which still has minuses) – were so overwhelming they gave me diarrhea and just generally made me feel sick. Although I thought the cacao content was good, I wouldn’t touch this bar again with a ten-foot poll – unless I want to jeopardise my health!

NB: I can’t comment on the quality of their other chocolates and they may be very good – ie the ones without these sweeteners.

Further information:
Raw Intent chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
Conscious Chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
What makes for good chocolate? (The London Reviewer)
What’s in raw chocolate? (The London Reviewer)

For chocolate lovers – especially those who are into dark chocolate – this is a heavenly experience as it’s all natural with the main ingredient being raw cacao, mixed with coconut butter, brazil nuts, macadamia, almonds, agave (a natural plant sweetener instead of sucrose), fructooligosaccharides (which help to promote gut flora growth), carob, lucuma and vanilla. With so few, it’s easy to list them out.

I loved this chocolate as shortly after eating it, the anti-oxidants in the cacao and the essential fatty acids and proteins in the nuts gave me a real intelligence burst. Plus, I also noticed a fantastic serotonin rush and instant happy mood, which one gets from pure cocoa, for about six hours after consuming this. The results were better than a regular chocolate bar, such as Cadbury’s, because the ingredients were 100% natural and not diluted with milk.

And, finally, the chocolate, is according to Raw Intent, suitable for people who need to be on a “sugar free*, dairy free, gluten free, heat free, additive free, chemical free” diet, but still want to eat treats.

* Agave and lacuma are natural sugars but have a low GI content, which Raw Intent say, “are suitable for people with blood sugar disorders”.

Further information:
Raw Intent chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
Conscious Chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
What makes for good chocolate? (The London Reviewer)
What’s in raw chocolate? (The London Reviewer)
Raw Intent’s Raw Chocolate Pie Bites (official site)

and also scrummy…
Raw Intent’s Luxury Chocolate Pie (official site), RRP £4.99

Healthy chocolate. Isn’t the product description itself a contradiction in terms?

Chocolate should be a decadent treat, an indulgence to be paid off through penance in the gym. Can there really be chocolate that is good for you? Improbably enough, Raw Intent has created a range of such products.

Apropos to Valentine’s Day, I recently sampled a variety of their Raw Chocolate Delights candies, created from raw cacao, coconut butter, low GI natural sweeteners such as agave and lacuna, and vanilla. These bonbons are organic, vegan and suitable for diabetics. What’s not to love?

Delight Bars

First up were Delight Bars, cubes of dark chocolate filled with a creamy centre. Not for the sweet-toothed are these. The bitter dark shell has a complex flavour that lingers on the tongue, but is tempered by the rich sweetness of the fudgy centre.

Bitter Bites

Similar to these were the more aptly named Bitter Bites, which are dusted with powdered cacao. Unfortunately for my palate, the dark bitterness of the outer shell tended to overpower the sweetness of the creamy centre, particularly with the Delight Bars. But those who like their chocolate not just dark, but black as the jungle night, should find these a real treat.

Raw Chocolate Heart Minis

Closer to conventional confectionary were their new, and best-selling, Raw Chocolate Heart Minis. No baking chocolate here, just melt-in-your-mouth squidginess.

Proving these sweets’ healthy credentials was the graininess and tell-tale aftertaste of the raw chocolate, which conspired to tempt me into further bites. If your Valentine’s on a health kick, then these would be the perfect treat.

Further information:
Raw Intent (official site)
Raw Intent chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
Conscious Chocolate reviews (The London Reviewer)
What makes for good chocolate? (The London Reviewer)
What’s in raw chocolate? (The London Reviewer)