Black Earl 60% is a dark chocolate infused with whole organic Earl Grey tea leaves rather than with bergamot oil or synthetic flavouring. That distinction matters to the taste: oil-based flavourings produce a sharp perfumed top note, while a whole-leaf infusion gives a rounder, more layered aromatic. Four ingredients: single-origin cacao from our Cameroon estate, cocoa butter, raw organic cane sugar, and organic Earl Grey tea.
What bergamot is
Bergamot is a citrus fruit, Citrus bergamia, grown almost exclusively in Calabria in southern Italy. Its oil gives Earl Grey tea its distinctive floral-citrus character. It is more aromatic and less sharply acidic than lemon, with a faintly bitter edge that pairs unusually well with cacao, bitterness meeting bitterness, which sounds wrong and works.
Why this bar is in our gut-friendly collection
Black Earl is one of two bars inside Delta Equinox, our collection formulated for sensitive digestion. It contains no soy or sunflower lecithin, no inulin or chicory root, no sugar alcohols and no dairy. Black tea in small quantities is generally well tolerated on low-FODMAP protocols, and the quantity used for infusion is minimal. Monash University lists 30g of dark chocolate as low-FODMAP. Individual tolerance varies, and this is a food rather than a treatment.
What to drink with it
Counter-intuitively, not Earl Grey. The bergamot doubles and flattens. Try a plain Assam or Ceylon, which gives malty depth for the citrus to lift against. A lightly roasted filter coffee also works. For something caffeine-free, a chilled hibiscus infusion picks up the citrus beautifully.
What it tastes like
Floral bergamot up front, bright citrus through the middle, sophisticated dark chocolate holding underneath. At 60% there is enough sweetness for the citrus to lift without turning sharp. You will occasionally find a fleck of tea leaf in the bar. We consider that a feature.
Grown, not bought
The cacao is harvested, fermented and sun-dried on our family's agroforestry farm in Cameroon. Everyone working it is paid the Anker Living Wage for rural Cameroon: 135,729 CFA a month, about £176 / $180. That works out at the equivalent of £7 a kilo, seven times what most cocoa farmers receive at the farmgate. We don't start from the commodity price and hope a decent income follows. We start from the wage
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Ingredients
Earl Grey tea*, sea salt flakes, raw sugar cane*, cacao beans, *cocoa butter
Bergamot is a citrus fruit, Citrus bergamia, grown almost exclusively in Calabria in southern Italy. Its oil gives Earl Grey tea its distinctive floral-citrus character. It is more aromatic and less sharply acidic than lemon, with a faintly bitter edge that pairs unusually well with cacao, bitterness meeting bitterness, which sounds wrong and works.
Why this bar is in our gut-friendly collection
Black Earl is one of two bars inside Delta Equinox, our collection formulated for sensitive digestion. It contains no soy or sunflower lecithin, no inulin or chicory root, no sugar alcohols and no dairy. Black tea in small quantities is generally well tolerated on low-FODMAP protocols, and the quantity used for infusion is minimal. Monash University lists 30g of dark chocolate as low-FODMAP. Individual tolerance varies, and this is a food rather than a treatment.
What to drink with it
Counter-intuitively, not Earl Grey. The bergamot doubles and flattens. Try a plain Assam or Ceylon, which gives malty depth for the citrus to lift against. A lightly roasted filter coffee also works. For something caffeine-free, a chilled hibiscus infusion picks up the citrus beautifully.
What it tastes like
Floral bergamot up front, bright citrus through the middle, sophisticated dark chocolate holding underneath. At 60% there is enough sweetness for the citrus to lift without turning sharp. You will occasionally find a fleck of tea leaf in the bar. We consider that a feature.
Grown, not bought
The cacao is harvested, fermented and sun-dried on our family's agroforestry farm in Cameroon. Everyone working it is paid the Anker Living Wage for rural Cameroon: 135,729 CFA a month, about £176 / $180. That works out at the equivalent of £7 a kilo, seven times what most cocoa farmers receive at the farmgate. We don't start from the commodity price and hope a decent income follows. We start from the wage
Ingredients
Earl Grey tea*, sea salt flakes, raw sugar cane*, cacao beans, *cocoa butter
Floral bergamot up front, bright citrus through the middle, and a sophisticated dark chocolate base holding it together. The tea is infused as whole organic leaves rather than as an oil or flavouring, so the bergamot reads as aromatic rather than perfumed. At 60% cacao the bar has enough sweetness to let the citrus lift without turning sharp.
How is the tea infused into Black Earl 60%?
Whole organic Earl Grey tea leaves are infused directly into the chocolate during production rather than added as bergamot oil or synthetic flavouring. This gives a rounder, more complex aromatic profile and avoids the harsh top note that oil-based flavourings can produce. It also means you occasionally find a fleck of tea leaf in the bar, which we consider a feature.
Is Black Earl 60% suitable for sensitive digestion?
Black Earl is one of the two bars inside our Delta Equinox gut-friendly collection, selected for exactly this reason. It contains no emulsifiers, no inulin or chicory root, no sugar alcohols and no dairy. Black tea in small quantities is generally well tolerated on low-FODMAP protocols, and the amount used for infusion is minimal. Individual tolerance varies.
How much caffeine is in Black Earl 60%?
Black Earl contains caffeine from two sources: the cacao itself and the infused Earl Grey tea leaves. Combined, this is still substantially less than a cup of tea, the quantity of leaf used for infusion is small.
What is bergamot?
Bergamot is a citrus fruit grown primarily in Calabria, southern Italy. Its oil is what gives Earl Grey tea its distinctive floral-citrus aroma. It is more aromatic and less sharply acidic than lemon, with a slightly bitter edge that pairs unusually well with cacao. Black Earl uses bergamot as it arrives naturally in the tea leaf rather than as an added oil.
What should I drink with Black Earl 60%?
Counter-intuitively, not Earl Grey, the bergamot doubles up and flattens. Try a plain black tea such as Assam or Ceylon, which gives malty depth for the bergamot to lift against. A lightly roasted filter coffee also works. For something without caffeine, a chilled hibiscus infusion picks up the citrus beautifully.
Is Black Earl 60% vegan?
Yes. Organic cacao from our Cameroon estate, cocoa butter, raw organic cane sugar and whole organic Earl Grey tea leaves. No dairy, no milk solids, no honey, no animal-derived ingredients.
Can I buy Black Earl as a full-size bar or only in the collections?
Black Earl 60% is available as a standalone bar and also appears as a component in both our Delta Equinox gut-friendly collection and our Karnak Solstice vitality collection. If you already know you love it, the standalone bar is the better value. If you are exploring, the collections let you taste it alongside our other bars.
All Natural
Dairy Free
Gluten Free
No Lecithin
Soy Free
Vegan
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