Golden Tree Kingsbite
Over the years, we’ve reviewed many bars made from beans of Ghanaian origin, but we’ve never actually reviewed a bar from Ghana. So when a Ghanaian friend recently went home for a holiday, I made sure he bought back some of the local chocolates.
Golden Tree is the brand name of the Cocoa Processing Company Limited – a mostly state owned company with a mission to process some of Ghana’s cacao locally rather than exporting it all to foreign chocolate manufacturers. That has to be a good thing.
This particular bar is a 35% milk chocolate with 15% milk solids.
As you can see, the chocolate itself looks a little dull, with small holes in the corners where the chocolate hasn’t reached the edge of the mold. There’s no real shine to it and I don’t think that’s just down to the long journey from Accra.
On the other hand, it may not look great but it does have a rather nice aroma which hits you and fills the room the moment you open the wrapper.
But that dullness is more than just cosmetic. The chocolate has a dry, grainy texture and it just doesn’t melt in the mouth like it should. My Ghanaian friend insists this is by design and that local chocolate is designed not to melt in the heat, but I’m not so sure. I think it’s more likely that there’s something not quite right with their conching process.
The actual flavours of the bar are quite interesting though. It’s sweet, but the cocoa flavour itself is strong, and actually very nice. More interestingly, there’s a very noticeable coffee note going on that I haven’t tasted in other milk chocolates. The cynic in me thinks that that may have something to do with the fact that they make a coffee flavoured milk chocolate bar at the same factory, and it’s not actually meant to taste that way.
Overall, I think it’s great that Ghana is producing chocolate from its own crop, but this has a long way to go before it’s going to be up to the standards that we expect from a good quality milk chocolate here in Europe. I have some more Golden Tree chocolates to review and I’m really hoping for a little more from those. We shall see.
Posted by Dom on 21 Apr 2009 at 01:04 PM
| 15 Comments
Filed in Reviews under ghana, golden tree, milk
August 28, 2009 : 2:07pm
good day!
i’d like to know about your price listing for bulk purchasing of golden tree cholate product.
September 28, 2009 : 7:59pm
Your friend is right about the design!
Golden tree chocolate has a very different texture in Ghana. I came across you blog when I was looking for an explanation as to why golden tree gets so hard when it “crosses the ocean”. That must be why, because in Ghana its not quite as grainy and not as hard.
Also being from Ghana I have been eating golden tree for a while. The milk chocolate has always tasted that way, even before they started producing the coffee flavoured bar
October 3, 2009 : 10:28pm
Hi. I was searching online to find where I can purchase some Golden Tree chocolates and came across your blog. I was wondering if you could get me the dimensions of the wrapper for the chocolate. i know this is a bit off but I’m trying to customize some for my engagement and I’ll need to make new wrappers for that. I will be very grateful if you can be of help. GOod job with the blog though.
October 4, 2009 : 11:07am
Sofie: What an odd request!
I can tell you though, that a Golden Tree Kingsbite bar is 9.5cm x 5.8cm x 0.9cm and the fully unfolded wrapper is 15.5cm x 14.5cm. :)
October 4, 2009 : 1:39pm
I’m sorry Dom, I realize it’s really VERY ODD myself. But now having fully read the blog (sorry I didn’t before sending my first request) I’m wondering if it was a good idea to give a full box to someone I barely knew as a gift when I came to the States. I probably should have tasted it first but I really didn’t think having it cross the ocean would make a difference.
I haven’t yet eaten any Golden Tree chocolate since I came here and I will definitely try it. I’ll remember to bring some over on my way back and see what you are talking about.
Granted, Ghana has a long way to go with the finishing of a lot of its products so I can agree that it may take a while to reach the international standards in finishing but seriously, the chocolate doesn’t taste grainy in Ghana. It’s just as smooth but doesn’t quickly melt like most chocolates here in the west do. I would like to think it’s made for the weather too because people sell it in stalls in the open sun all year round! I’ll let you know how my experiment goes.
And THANKS for the dimensions. :-)
November 9, 2009 : 5:46pm
Cocoa Processing wasn’t established in 2004. Please check your facts!! Thanks
November 9, 2009 : 5:51pm
(as in Cocoa Processing Company Limited Ghana).
November 10, 2009 : 6:06am
i am from ghana and live here in the state.i was very happy to come across you blog,but you had something wrong, the company is been there for a very long time and not 2004.make sure to know the truth before writting your so called articles.
November 10, 2009 : 11:05am
Thanks Sena for reiterating that again.
Also Dom quoting you, “Overall, I think it’s great that Ghana is producing chocolate from its own crop, but this has a long way to go before it’s going to be up to the standards that we expect from a good quality milk chocolate here in Europe” EUROPEAN standards may not NECESSARILY be the standard of the world. Just cos Europeans love their milk chocolate to melt in their mouth doesn’t necessarily mean that should be the standard for milk chocolate. Just like when u visit the world of Coca Cola in Atlanta they have various taste of Coke from around the world, we should maintain that uniqueness in the way people produce their products. Its a cultural and demographic thing, you either love it that way or you don’t, but that has nothing to do with standards.
November 10, 2009 : 11:18am
Definately Cocoa Processing has been making Golden Tree since before 2004 so you need to check that.
And am also very surprised actually I think you are the first person I have heard who has criticised the quality of Golden Tree
We all know the packaging and branding is not all that but chocolate connoisseurs have always raved about the texture and taste of Golden Tree…
anyways please do check facts like dates before getting wrong info on the www Thanks
November 10, 2009 : 11:33am
Ok, have removed the date. My review of the bar itself still stands. But remember, like every other review on this site, it’s subjective.
January 13, 2010 : 11:07pm
I spent 1 month in Ghana last year. I was SOOOoooo happy to have found chocolate one day. Unfortunately, I share the same criticisms as the original reviewer. The chocolate is grainy, does not melt in your mouth, and while sweet, is lacking in depth. I actually didn`t mind the taste so much as the texture, and I ended up giving the rest of that bar away.
I had reasoned that they must have made it that way, so that it didn`t melt in the heat. Because it absolutely did not melt. Yet, some chocolate covered cookies I had found (from Britain I believe), did melt and well…ended up throwing those away!
January 14, 2010 : 6:38am
ML I think when reviewing products from various regions, its only right and politically correct to avoid using words like “lacking”… Maybe golden tree is purposely made to taste the way it does -”lacking in depth”.- for instance i lived in the states and england a combination of 10 years before moving back to Ghana and I find that children there are trained differently academically from children here, but dare I say children in so and so are “in lack of intellect and common sense”. All I’m saying is if u want to write a blog reviewing products, no matter how free space blogs are, you still need to maintain a level of decorum. I’ve followed this blog for a long time and I know its a good place for chocolate lovers
January 14, 2010 : 9:08pm
I fail to see why a word such as “lacking” is offensive when refering to a subjective experience of a flavour of a food product.
I do, however, find it alarming and frankly offensive that you would attempt to make a comparison between the intellect of children and the qualities of chocolate.
You don`t have to agree with my opinion of how this chocolate tasted to me. You may well think its flavour is full of depth. But my opinion is that it is lacking depth.
February 17, 2010 : 7:12am
Soon you will be able to buy Golden tree product online. I will tell you the Address soon am still working on.