Van Der Burgh Chocolaad - 72

72% Fairtrade Cacao

If you're looking to escape the busy canals and hedonistic but picturesque streets of Amsterdam then a trip to the historic town of Delft on a Monday is surely the place to go. Where clearing the beautifully kept canals of discarded bikes is probably the highlight of the day for most inhabitants and for that matter most visitors who unfortunately find themselves in this situation. This is no fault of the town or the good townsfolk of Delft its just what happens when you visit out of season.  

Delft is about an hour away by Intercity train from Amsterdam's central station. Double decker trains run every 15-20 minutes and are speedy, fairly tidy and reliable as they whisk you through the flat, yet to be filled with tulips, countryside. 

A bonus of travelling by train in Holland is that as long as you 'touch in and touch out' you can stop off at every station without paying any additional fee which is not necessarily the case in the UK. Stop off at The Hague or continue onto Rotterdam if you choose. A visit to the Royal Delft Potteries is well worth a trip located outside the town centre. If you fancy a stroll alongside the canals and into residential Delft, allow 20 minutes for an easy walk from the town centre.

Where many bikes and even cars end up!

To my surprise one of the few shops that was open for business was a chocolate shop that of Van Der Burgh Chocolaad. A the time of our visit the occupants were busy making and hand wrapping big bars of chocolate. Unfortunately, my Dutch isn't what it used to be and we just had to gaze at the 00's of bars that were being wrapped for sale. 

Historical Chocolate Shop

According to their website the business was founded in 2011 by Richard and Joyce van der Burgh as a result of an extensive search for handmade chocolate bars. No boring packaging for them! Their bars are indeed resplendent and made in one of the most picturesque locations of town. 

Using only Fairtrade cacao they make a variety of bars including milk and dark either on their own of mixed together with nuts, Ethiopian coffee or dried fruits such as cranberries. It was difficult to tell whether they actually make their chocolate from scratch but they do seem to imply this in their message? 

Handmade in Holland

Their chocolate bars are certainly beautifully packaged and have the wow factor. Unfortunately, in terms of design there is no inkling as to where their inspiration came from.

I picked out a 72% dark chocolate bar with whole hazelnuts. These are certainly hefty bars weighing in at 100g and the fact that they have used whole nuts makes the packaging feel even bulkier and almost fit to burst. 

Personally, I thought the dark chocolate was too thick and if you are worried about your dentures take a hammer to the bar before you get your pearly whites around this little bruiser of a bar. The chocolate itself is not particularly big on flavour and whilst it is well made the depth of flavour is somewhat lacking with little fruit or acidity....all a bit flat, like the landscape, in my opinion. The hazelnuts provide extra crunch. To buy click here.

Chunky Van der Burgh

Ecuadorian Dark Chocolate 72 M&S

Sunny weather, blue sky.........remember?

I wish I could say that the weather is getting better. Record after record is being broken and what's coming over the horizon isn't looking very pretty either.  I've decided that the slutty mummy trilogy, 'Fifty Shades of Grey', is to blame for all this!  Surely, 'Fifty Shades of Pink' would have been a more fitting and apt title?  
The word 'monsoon' has reached a new peak this month as we try to fit it into every sentence.  While sleepy villages in Wales, county shows and the country's sporting events are swept away by rising water levels the Olympics looks set to be a total wash out!  Even Kylie and Jason could't get it on because of that killjoy, rain.  


I wish I could say that our enthusiasm for the Olympics was running a different course to the weather. According to recent polls the British public don't believe the games make or have any 'real' connection with them. The Olympic Torch Relay may have passed through their village or town a few weeks ago, producing a spark of enthusiasm, a glimmer of sporting achievement but now that has all been washed away. Recently I've noticed that even the Greater Anglia train guards have stopped announcing, "Welcome to Stratford, home of the 2012 Olympics".  Now, commuters don't even raise their heads from their tablets as they pass through Stratford, such is their lack of expectation, only foreign visitors show interest, by clicking frantically at their cameras as we speed by. Sometimes, I think the UK, as a nation, collectively needs a good slapping!  


However, all is not doom and gloom, Nick Clegg, who looks sadder each day, has failed in his attempt to abolish the Lords or whatever he was fuddling and muddling with. Why can't politicians get their priorities right? 


Fortunately, Bradley (Wiggo) Wiggins is sending the French into melt down as he proudly wears the Maillot Jaune in the Tour de France, for a fifth day.  Let's hope Wiggo is setting the stage for further triumphs at the Olympics and that the mood of the British public changes soon. Maybe, just maybe that stiff upper lip may even crack a smile? Ok, enough of my waffling....let's eat some chocolate.


As happens with chocolate tasting there are always a number of chocolate bars that seem to remain at the bottom of your chocolate pile, so to speak. This 72% Ecuadorian dark chocolate bar from M&S is no exception and has passed its 'best before' date by a few months!  Sometime ago M&S set up their, Plan A, 'Doing the Right Thing', initiative several years ago. Launched in 2007, M&S have been setting 100 commitments, now increased to 180, to assist with Climate Change, Waste, Sustainable Raw Materials, Health and being a Fair Partner.

Ecuador 72 - 100g

According to the blurb M&S have been working directly with cocoa farmers in Ecuador to develop high quality chocolate. As part of their relationship they've invested in ecological projects to replenish the rainforests while the Fairtrade standards mean better social conditions for the farmers.


The bar itself is carbon neutral. Those clever people at M&S have calculated the quantity of CO2 emissions throughout the whole process, from bean to bar and offsetting this by planting lots and lots of trees.

Carbon Neutral Chocolate

The chocolate itself has a delicious fruity, blackberry and a hint of forest aroma which continues throughout the chocolate. Which has a juicy, tangy and slightly acidic mouth feel that has plenty of depth. Not bitter in the slightest, a very enjoyable piece of chocolate and you can feel good about yourself at the end which ticks all my boxes! Overall 7/10. 

Duffy's Dark Chocolate - Panama 72%

I made a point of picking up a bar of Duffy's Chocolate when I visited this year's Chocolate Festival and it has taken me all this time to review it.  Duffy's Chocolate or Red Star Chocolate Ltd are one of a small band of artisan chocolate makers producing their own chocolate in the UK.  They are very particular about the type of cocoa beans they use - they may come from a single harvest or a single region but they are always single origin.  This goes a long way to ensure that the beans are of excellent quality.  However, as many Chocolatiers will tell you, chocolate is such a fickle product not only to work with but also in regards to taste and flavour.  The same bar made with exactly the same beans may take on a completely different character the following year!  Much like wine I suppose. 


To achieve superb flavours not only require's excellent cocoa beans but also a certain degree of determination and patience, a good chocolate may take up to 50 hours to conch.  This is where the chocolate Alchemist's take over to develop the individual tastes and aromas by crushing the cocoa between large granite rollers. 

The Chocolate: This particular bar is handmade with cocoa beans from the beautiful Bocas Del Toro archipelago, Panama.  If you've never been lucky enough to visit Panama, that includes me, then Google it and you'll see how beautiful it is. Stunning!  A 72% dark chocolate a taste profile described as light cherries and liquorice with leather and raisins in the after-taste as long as it's not in the afterlife, as I read it!

The bar is so smooth and there is a coolness about it, almost 'glass' like in feel.  My picture actually makes it look darker than it really is.  The aroma is definitely leather rather than tobacco.  The liquorice flavour comes through very quickly as the first chunk melts luxuriously in your mouth. I can't pick out the cherries or raisins but there is a slight bitterness towards the end.  If I only had one word to describe this bar it would be delicious!


Well done Duffy for bringing us another great bar and at £3.50 for 80g you're spoiling us.  In fact I'm amazed at the price!  At the recent Chocolate Festival some companies were selling their bars for £6.00/100g. This one will be at the top of my Christmas list!


To buy join the queue! Joking, click here.