Divine Orange Milk Chocolate

Posted by in Chocolate Reviews on November 17 2008 | Leave A Comment

A little while ago the people at Divine got in touch and offered to send over a few bars for review. Unfortunately my ‘proper’ job kept me away for a couple of weeks but finally I’ve been able to sit down and appraise the selection of chocolate they sent over.

This first bar is the only one that uses milk chocolate. It’s another Fairtrade product and uses Ghanaian beans from a co-op of farmers, so at least you know that the growers are going to benefit from your purchase. In fact, over 75% of the ingredients are Fairtrade, so this really is chocolate with a heart.

At only 27% cocoa, I thought it a little light on the important ingredients, but as the proof of the pudding is in the eating, I popped a square in my mouth and was immediately hit with the orange flavour. It’s a light citrus taste which intensifies as the chocolate melts, and it’s also the finishing flavour. It did cross my mind that the reason for such a low cocoa content may well have been that the orange flavours have a tendency to dominate, and consequently the manufacturers decided to save cocoa.

Oddly enough, I don’t think I have tried much ‘orangey‘ chocolate (although i can think of a couple) and that’s probably because I’m not a big fan. The ubiquitous Terry’s Chocolate Orange has never been a big favourite of mine, and although the chocolate in this bar did have a better depth of flavour, I couldn’t help making mental comparisons as I tasted.

I suppose the best thing I could say about this bar is that it’s okay. Nothing more, nothing less. It didn’t excite my palate particularly, nor did it make me wish I hadn’t tried it. It was just what it was – milk chocolate flavoured with orange. Pleasant enough if you’re a fan, but nothing special if orangey milk chocolate is not your thing. I’d probably recommend it as a more ethically sound version of the Chocolate Orange to my Terry’s-buying friends, but beyond that I found it unremarkable. I just hope the darker bars show a little more character and depth.

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Comments On This Post

  1. Pete

    Hi Simon,

    I have to say the Divine Orange Milk Chocolate is my absolute favourite and I just had to stick up for it. ‘Okay’ does not do it justice. You are obviously not an orange milk chocolate fan so maybe your opinion is skewed. I would recommend anyone who enjoys milk orange chocolate to give Divine a go. Unlike others on the market, its natural flavourings and Fairtrade certification make it the best chocolate treat out there!

    Thanks, Pete

  2. Laura

    I have to agree, Divine Orange Milk Chocolate is absolutely delicious and well worth a try. I can demolish a large bar in minutes! Laura

  3. Darrin

    Shame on “Pete” and “Laura” and Divine. Bravo to you Dom and Chocablog for taking a stand. I’ll take a stand too by boycotting all Divine products.

    Darrin

  4. It’s such a shame when companies do this. I’ve never figured it out because they’d be far better served by getting in contact with the writer and doing some kind of interview or honestly & openly posting their perspective.

    Simon said he wasn’t a chocolate/orange fan and it’s not like he said anything BAD about the chocolate! Certainly not half as bad as the publicity that will ensue …

  5. Kerry

    Good decision Dom. I don’t like it when companies are sneaky.

    No Divine Chocolate in this household – funny they’re achieving the exact opposite of what they set out to do.

  6. Hang on a moment…

    This comment may have been a post made by someone working at Divine but that doesn’t mean it was the idea of senior management or indeed had their approval. At most well run organisations staff are given a degree of autonomy and it may be that this one dishonest incident was the work of one loyal employee thinking he/she was doing something good.

    A boycott of Divine products will hurt the farmers they use in the poor chocolate producing companies – I respect the right of Chocablog to decline to review Divine products from now on but is it really necessary to boycott their products?!

    Surely they are to be applauded for their efforts in fairtrade policies (and for nice choc too) and just need to issue an apology….

    Thanks
    xx

  7. Anna

    Following this disappointing incident, I was prompted to take a look around Divine’s website, and came across the company’s mission statement and supporting objectives which centre around Fairtrade. There are no specific stated values, although both ethics and integrity are implied by their mission.

    Given this, I would like to believe that the misguided actions of these two employees were carried out independenly and without the knowledge or sanction of Divine’s senior management team. I believe their attempt to distort this independent review has publically damaged the company’s brand image and I would be interested to hear from a senior reprepsentative what they have to say about the matter.

  8. Anna

    I don’t know who Ackers is, although we obviously had similar thoughts. Given the coindentally similar nature of our comments, I’m glad Dom knows me and knows I’ve got nothing to do with Divine. 🙂

  9. Dom (Chocablog Staff)

    Ackers: I’m certainly not calling for a boycott of anyone – just saying that we will not be reviewing their products here any more because I personally don’t want to deal with them.

    For what it’s worth though (and I’m willing to be proven wrong), my own research indicates that the comments were posted by management. That may be one manager acting alone, but it’s still not a very bright thing to do.

  10. Hi Dom, Anna and everyone else

    Just to say I’ve got no involvement at all with Divine other than being a consumer when someone buys it for me.

    The comments on your site were from people saying they were so shocked that they would boycott the company but having worked for years in companies with well known brands I thought I’d point out that it may not have been The Company who posted but just one member of staff.

    Its all very interesting and hopefully an important lesson learnt by Divine that honesty and integrity are important when dealing with ‘the public’ and in a comptetive world it is all too easy to lose the trust of your customer base with just one smallish slip-up.

  11. Ken

    Regardless of ethics, I have to say I had one of their chocolates late week and was completely unimpressed.

    To be honest, I don’t care all that much about fair trade or not (although it is a great angle and I respect the idea). My wife bought it for me at an art-house movie theater.

    I had a Divine: Fruit and Nut Dark Chocolate bar (3.5 oz). It had good chocolate flavor, but it was not very sweet and very cocoa buttery. Poorly balanced. Hey, if I’m gonna eat candy, I want all the guilt. It was very unsatisfiying. My wife tasted it later (I didn’t finish it) and she agreed that it was weak. Won’t buy again.

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