Noire 73% is a single-origin dark chocolate bar made from three ingredients: Theobroma cacao grown on our family-owned agroforestry estate in Cameroon, cocoa butter, and organic coconut blossom sugar. No soy lecithin, no PGPR, no vanilla flavouring, no inulin. At 73% cacao it carries roughly 27g of sugar per 100g, less than half that of conventional milk chocolate, and delivers the theobromine that gives dark chocolate its slow, steady lift.
What Noire 73% tastes like
Honey notes over a firm structure, a measured bitterness, and a rich creamy mouthfeel that comes from the cocoa butter rather than from any added emulsifier. Beneath that: deep cacao, subtle red fruit, and a clean mineral finish that belongs to the rich soil of the estate it grew in. This is a bar for people who want to taste where chocolate comes from rather than have the origin buried under sugar.
Why the ingredient list is three lines long
Most dark chocolate, including bars sold as premium, contains soy or sunflower lecithin as an emulsifier, and frequently inulin or chicory root added for fibre. Both are common triggers for people with IBS, Crohn's disease or on a low-FODMAP protocol. Noire contains neither. Monash University lists 30g of dark chocolate as low-FODMAP, and Noire is the bar we recommend to anyone eating under restriction. It is also the base for our Delta Equinox collection and our Drinking Cacao.
Grown, not bought
Most chocolate makers described as bean-to-bar buy their beans from cooperatives or traders. We grow ours. The cacao in Noire is harvested, fermented and sun-dried on an agroforestry estate our family owns 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
In the kitchen
Noire 73% is our own preference for brownies. At this percentage there is enough cocoa butter to melt cleanly and enough cacao to survive being combined with sugar and flour. Chop rather than grate for pockets of melted chocolate through the crumb. For ganache, use a one-to-one ratio with warmed plant cream.
Honey notes over a firm structure, a measured bitterness, and a rich creamy mouthfeel that comes from the cocoa butter rather than from any added emulsifier. Beneath that: deep cacao, subtle red fruit, and a clean mineral finish that belongs to the rich soil of the estate it grew in. This is a bar for people who want to taste where chocolate comes from rather than have the origin buried under sugar.
Why the ingredient list is three lines long
Most dark chocolate, including bars sold as premium, contains soy or sunflower lecithin as an emulsifier, and frequently inulin or chicory root added for fibre. Both are common triggers for people with IBS, Crohn's disease or on a low-FODMAP protocol. Noire contains neither. Monash University lists 30g of dark chocolate as low-FODMAP, and Noire is the bar we recommend to anyone eating under restriction. It is also the base for our Delta Equinox collection and our Drinking Cacao.
Grown, not bought
Most chocolate makers described as bean-to-bar buy their beans from cooperatives or traders. We grow ours. The cacao in Noire is harvested, fermented and sun-dried on an agroforestry estate our family owns 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
In the kitchen
Noire 73% is our own preference for brownies. At this percentage there is enough cocoa butter to melt cleanly and enough cacao to survive being combined with sugar and flour. Chop rather than grate for pockets of melted chocolate through the crumb. For ganache, use a one-to-one ratio with warmed plant cream.
The percentage refers to the total cacao content of the bar, cacao mass plus cocoa butter, as a proportion of total weight. Noire 73% means 73% of the bar comes from the cacao bean, with the remaining 27% being organic coconut blossom sugar. Higher percentages mean more cacao, less sugar and typically a more intense, less sweet flavour. Noire 73% sits at the point where the fruit character of our Cameroon beans is most legible without bitterness dominating.
What does Noire 73% taste like?
Honey notes, a touch of bitterness, and a rich creamy mouthfeel. Beneath that: deep cacao, subtle red fruit, and a clean mineral finish that comes from the rich soil of our Cameroon estate. It is a bar for people who want to taste where chocolate comes from rather than have the origin masked by sugar or vanilla.
Is Noire 73% good for baking?
Yes, and it is our own preference for brownies. At 73% the bar carries enough cocoa butter to melt smoothly and enough cacao intensity to survive being combined with sugar and flour. Chop it rather than grating for pockets of melted chocolate through the crumb. For ganache, use a 1:1 ratio with warmed plant cream.
What are the ingredients in Noire 73%?
Organic cacao from our single-estate farm in Cameroon, cocoa butter, and organic coconut blossom sugar. That is the complete list. No soy lecithin, no sunflower lecithin, no PGPR, no vanilla flavouring, no inulin, no 'natural flavours'. Turn the bar over, the ingredient list is short enough to read in one breath.
Is Noire 73% suitable for people with IBS or sensitive digestion?
Noire is the simplest bar we make and the one we recommend to people on strict elimination protocols. It contains no emulsifiers, no fermentable fibres, no sugar alcohols and no dairy. Monash University lists 30g of dark chocolate as low-FODMAP. Individual tolerance varies, and Bantu Chocolate is a food rather than a medical treatment.
Where do the beans in Noire 73% come from?
Every bean in Noire 73% is grown on our family-owned agroforestry estate in Cameroon, Central Africa. We are farmers first and chocolate makers second, which is why we describe our process as tree-to-bar rather than bean-to-bar. Beans are fermented and sun-dried on the estate.
Is Bantu Chocolate free from child labour?
Yes. We do not buy beans from cooperatives or traders, we grow them on our own family-owned estate in Cameroon, and the people who grow them are our employees, on a wage benchmarked to the Anker Living Wage for rural Cameroon: 135,729 CFA a month, about £176 / $180. Most brands buy beans and pay a premium. A premium is a bonus on a good harvest. A wage is what you owe someone in a bad one. Ownership of the farm is what makes this verifiable rather than aspirational. Most chocolate brands cannot see past their first supplier. We can see past ours because there isn't one.
How much caffeine is in a Noire 73% bar?
Approximately 12mg per 30g mini bar, or roughly 30mg in a full 70g bar. For comparison, an espresso contains approximately 75mg and a cup of black tea approximately 40mg. Most of the perceived lift from dark chocolate comes from theobromine rather than caffeine, a gentler, longer-releasing compound found almost exclusively in cacao.
All Natural
Dairy Free
Gluten Free
No Lecithin
Soy Free
Vegan
Very delicate.
Very delicate. I enjoyed it.
Definitely one of the best chocolate I ate! Good for the mind, good for the body!
Healing Chocolate
I’m really happy with this purchase and proud to support such a meaningful vision.
Good chocolate and good mission