Ethical Chocolates UK

Here are artisan as well as truly ethical chocolate brands you  can give your money to, knowing your purse is funding a fierce fight against the ethical issues plaguing this industry.

These brands go beyond the bare minimum of fairtrade (sometimes vague label) requirements, opting for direct trade to bring positive change to the supply chain so that while consumers enjoy their favourite treat, it shouldn’t be at the expense of the sweat of the impoverished cocoa farm worker. It shouldn’t also be at the detriment of our beloved planet.

READ: What Does Ethical Chocolate REALLY Mean?

Each brand in this list has a story of their why in becoming an ethical chocolate maker. Some are also cocoa farmers who make their craft chocolate in the UK with beans from owned farms in Venezuela and West Africa.

READ: How Artisan Chocolates are Made 

Artisanal Ethical Chocolate Bars Worth Your Money (All UK-based)

Artisan or craft chocolate making is more about a movement towards a fair chocolate industry that benefits both the cocoa farm worker, the environment, the chocolate maker, the chocolate lover. Every brand in this post engages in direct trade, sustainable cocoa, environmentally friendly practices, and unique flavorful cocoa products.

BANTU CHOCOLATE

70% of the world’s cocoa comes from West Africa, but African cocoa farmers who can feed their families and send their children to school are a rare exception. The majority live below the poverty line (less than $1 a day), using child labour to cut down on the cost of cocoa production.

It’s stats like these that led Veronique Mbida to found Bantu Chocolate, an artisanal ethical chocolate bar and pulp juice brand in the UK. Her mission is to transform the current exploitative cocoa supply chain that enslaves the helpless African farmer in a vicious cycle into one that is fair to the farmer and the chocolate maker.

Pillared on fairness, heritage, and culture, Bantu Chocolate chooses empowerment over charity by providing their collaborators in Cameroon with a living wage through prices that are 6 times higher than commodity prices and 3 times higher than fair trade prices.

Bantu Chocolate’s farm, an estate passed down through generations, also practices agroforestry and regenerative agriculture. This opposes the monoculture systems African plantations have been known for.

Bantu Chocolate’s artisanal ethical chocolate bars, boxed in biodegradable packaging, are organic, vegan, and gluten-free.

How to Order: Online through the website and offline at shops.

Shop locations:

The De Beauvoir Wholefoods

105-109 Southgate Rd, London N1 3JS, United Kingdom

Supermarket of Dreams

126 Holland Park Ave, London W11 4UE, United Kingdom

Bodega Rita’s

91 Cowcross St, London EC1M 6BH, United Kingdom

Order here at our online shop.

WILLIE’S COCOA

Willie Harcourt-Cooze is a cocoa farmer and an artisan chocolate maker. He calls himself a cocoa farmer first, and an artisan chocolate maker second.

Willie fell in love with chocolate after tasting unadulterated hot chocolate from beans grown on his own farm in Venezuela. Seeing this taste stood in stark contrast to the sweetened confection that the mass market has transformed chocolate into, he set out on a mission to serve the world with real chocolate. His factory uses single-estate cacao beans to make plain chocolates with unique flavours, all from organic ingredients.

Location:

Langlands Business Park, Unit 3
Uffculme, Devon EX15 3DA
United Kingdom

How to Oder their artisan chocolate bars: Online on their website and offline at retailers.

PUMP STREET

Pump Street is a family-run bakery and small-batch ethical chocolate brand founded by Chris and Joanna Brennan, a father-daughter duo.

After years of baking under their belt, they ventured into artisan chocolate making. While not cocoa farmers, they understand that the origin of cocoa beans and direct trade are at the heart of ethical chocolate making. That’s why they import their beans from single estates and cooperatives around the world at prices higher than commodity and fair trade prices.

That way, their cocoa bean sources are able to maintain sustainable and environmentally friendly practices while Pump Street gets quality beans for flavourful artisanal ethical chocolate bars made in the UK.

Location:

Bentwaters Parks, Woodbridge, Suffolk

How to Order craft chocolate bars: On their website.

BARE BONES

Bare Bones are bean-to-bar chocolate makers, founded by specialty food enthusiasts Cameron and Lara.

They leveraged their passion to create unique chocolates whose aim is not profits but equitableness, for the cocoa farmer, the cacao tree, and the chocolate maker. They source their beans through direct trade around the world.

Their small-batch craft chocolates are made from organic ingredients and wrapped in recyclable or compostable packaging.

Location:

Osborne Street, Glasgow, Scotland.

How to Order their artisan chocolate bars: Online on their website.

FATSO

Fatso makes ethical chocolate bars in the UK with cocoa beans from an ethically driven family-owned farm and cooperative in Colombia. Their core values are improving farmer income, promoting sustainable farming, and social wellbeing in their cocoa growing territories.

Location:

Humble Pie Delicatessen

28, Market Place, Burnham Market, King’s Lynn PE31 8HF, United Kingdom

The Conran Shop Paris

117 Rue du Bac, 75007 Paris, France

How to Order: Online on their website.

Single-Origin Ethical Chocolate Bars Made in the UK

Visit our shop to sample our rich flavours of artisan chocolates made in the UK. We’re vegan, gluten-free, and organic.

For every artisan chocolate bar you buy from us, you’re helping us empower our farm workers and community back in Cameroon, West Africa, through a living wage.

Read our story to find out who we are and why we do what we do.