Marou - Ben Tre 78% Dark Chocolate

At Christmas I am your ideal person to buy a gift for. Why? Well, just gift me a few chocolate bars, truffles or such like and I'll be as happy as Larry for several days, possibly months! 

Of course, this year all my presents were wonderful even those pairs of socks! But one of them particularly appealed to me. A bar of Ben Tre 78%, single origin dark chocolate, that had been on my list of chocolates to try for 2015.

Vietnam is not a country that springs immediately to mind as a cocoa producing country. My memories of Vietnam were shaped by the many Hollywood blockbusters including Apocalypse Now, Hamburger Hill, Full Metal Jacket and of course images of Napalm Girl. Oh, and not forgetting MASH! The Americans infamously dumped millions of gallons of Agent Orange onto the country in order to destroy Vietnam's jungles and ultimately the cover it provided the Viet Cong. Interestingly, Ben Tre was mentioned in the Viet Cong's failed Tet offensive of 1968 where the town was pretty much destroyed by the Americans who were actually trying to save it.

Well things have certainly moved on in terms of agriculture since the 60's. Overseas investment has meant that small businesses such as cocoa farmers have flourished, making Vietnam one of the newest and most exciting cocoa producers in the world. 

In 2010, I reviewed two limited edition bars of chocolate from the UK's very own Marc Demarquette, a fine chocolate specialist. You can read the review here. The quality of Vietnam's cocoa is born out by the fact that Marc is still using their cocoa today, to find out more click here.


Ok, back to Samuel and Vincent, two Frenchman who followed their gut instincts and set up Marou. Essentially these guys have escaped the daily grind in spectacular fashion. Landing in Saigon where they literally hunt down the best and most interesting cocoa beans, design their own chocolate making equipment and then produce some amazing bean to bar chocolates. Voila! Now their chocolate is sold and enjoyed around the world.

Firstly, this is a big bar of chocolate not your measly 70g that seems to be standard and secondly it has been beautifully packaged and presented especially with a sumptuously thick golden outer. If James Bond purchased chocolate then this is what he'd buy.

I'm not usually a great fan of chocolate with a cocoa content over 65%. However, the fluidity of this bar is excellent with only a slight chalky mouthfeel.
A deep 'forest floor' aroma emanates from the bar as you open up the packaging. The chocolate is really well made and melts quickly with a relatively high fruit acidity with hints of liquorice. Overall a very enjoyable bar of chocolate, irresistible and super sexy....I've obviously eaten too much chocolate!

Buy online from Chocolatiers, priced at £5.35.

Marou is certainly doing good!

Vietnamese Milk Chocolate from the Ben Tre Estate

As with the dark chocolate previously reviewed on this blog the milk chocolate has also been extremely well received and won a three-star gold medal at the 2010 Great Taste Awards.


There has been considerable work conducted in Vietnam over the past few decades to help get cocoa production off the ground and it seems to have paid dividends especially in terms of quality. Several companies including Cargill have helped with the expansion of the fledgling cocoa industry in this country. 


The Packaging: The milk chocolate bar has been packaged in exactly the same way as the dark but with a slightly different color. The packaging is minimal and the eye is drawn to the important information written on the paper wrapper. When you purchase this bar you are donating £1 to Action Against Hunger. 

According to the Action Against Hunger website there are 6,000 aid workers in 60 countries around the world providing food, security and sanitation to 4 million people. 


This is a great idea and it will be interesting to find out how much money is raised from the sale of these bars.




The Chocolate: The presentation of the bar is simple but effective. The chocolate melts quickly and has a smooth texture from the cocoa but it's not too strong and its not too sweet which is good. Overall a very well balanced milk chocolate.

Ben Tre Milk Chocolate 40%

Ingredients: Vietnamese cocoa solids, cocoa butter, dehydrated milk, sugar, natural vanilla, soya lecithin.


Overall a good bar of chocolate and I give it 8/10 mainly because the dark chocolate from my perspective was the better of the two. 


The bar can be purchased on line from www.demarquette.com at £3.40 + VAT + postage and packing. Stock up and buy several bars!