Ombar Raw Chocolate Review

 

So the wonderful people at Ombar (big shout out to Richard and Zoe!) sent me this wonderful package of goodies to review (cheered me up a treat considering I’m a wee bit under the weather at the moment).  So I sat down with a cup of chocolate tea (had to be done) and some Ombar deliciousness.  My son naturally decided that he should be kind enough to help out, and I have to say that he did quite a good job.

As you can see below there was a wonderful little ‘with compliments’ type card, a lovely batch of natural fill, 4 Ombar bars (Dark 72%, Coco Mylk, Coconut 60% and Goji Berry) and well, a box.  All of the packaging is recyclable so they were instantly in my good books there.  All of the ingredients are ethically and sustainably sourced –  I love an ethical company!

Ombar sports the tag line ‘Chocolate Enlightenment’ which I find quite fitting to the name, and anyone who does yoga will be likely to enjoy this too.

The full Ombar range boasts a whopping 8 flavours; Cranberry & Mandarin, Coco Mylk, Lemon & Green Tea, Coconut 60%, Strawberries & Cream, Goji Berry, Acai & Blueberry, and Dark 72%.

All of the bars are raw, organic, Vegan, and Paleo friendly. They contain cacao solids, cocoa butter, coconut cream and are sweetened with coconut blossom sugar.  However, they may contain traces of soy & nuts.  So, dependent upon how strict a Paleo diet you follow or if you suffer from a nut allergy then these may not be suitable for you.

The cocoa beans used are of Ecuadorian origin, which is typically classed as a ‘finer’ cocoa bean to use in chocolate making, and tends to lean toward a ‘fruity’ flavour. The cocoa is kept in it’s raw state to ensure that all of the nutrients and antioxidants within the cacao remain intact, this also increases the depth of flavour within the chocolate.  This is done by producing every bar lovingly at a low temperature.

Raw chocolate totes a whole host of health benefits; it improves digestion, enhances the libido (wit woo – insert winky face here), improves cardiovascular function, is packed full of antioxidants that neutralise free radicals, and contains a variety of vitamins and minerals.  So really, we should all be consuming this stuff!

So now onto the fun part, what did all of these chocolate bars taste like?!

Goji Berry

The first bar I decided to try out was Goji Berry. I absolutely adore goji berries so this had to be the one to open first.  My intial reaction when I opened this was “ooooh how pretty” and i’m really not the girly type.  Each individual portion is embossed with the Ombar logo, and the chocolate bar is littered with gorgeously bright goji berries, I just love it!

The texture of is fairly soft but when you get a mouthful of goji goodness it is beautifully chewy.  The taste is just heavenly, it’s creamy with a herbal like hint and mildly fruity, carob undertones.  Upon reading the ingredients I realised that this contains freeze dried goji berries! Genius! This bar was my absolute favourite without a doubt.

Coco Mylk

‘Coco Mylk’ was very sweet, rich and incredibly creamy.  Out of all of the bars this one had the most classic ‘melt in your mouth’ texture reminiscent of the sort of chocolate you’d enjoy as a child.  Don’t let this sweet creaminess fool you though, this bar isn’t cheap and tacky, it’s rather sophisticated, more like a very mild dark chocolate rather than a sickly milk.  In fact, most milk chocolate (even the finer ones) never seem to have much depth to their flavour, however this one was quite nutty in taste. This bar was very different to the other three as it didn’t seem to have as much of a fruity flavour to it, which I put down to the lower cacao mass content of 60% and a 20% coconut cream content.

One thing that I do find rather intriguing is that this also contains Bacillus Coagulans, a spore forming lactic acid bacterium, or simply a ‘probiotic’ to you and me. Bacillus Coagulans is known to help people that suffer from IBS and Crohn’s Disease – fantastic!  I have never been a huge fan of milk chocolate but this one has really won me over! It is very sweet though, so best enjoyed in small amounts.

Coconut 60%

This one is very similar to ‘Coco Mylk’.  In fact all of the ingredients are the same (including Bacillus Coagulans) except for the fact that this one contains 13.4% coconut cream.  The coconut flavour is probably not as strong as I would want it to be (only because I am a huge coconut fan) but it is still fairly pronounced.  Like Coco Mylk it is creamy and rich, with a melt in the mouth texture, but rather than having a nutty flavour it is more fruity in taste.  I definitely put this down to the lower coconut cream percentage.

Dark 72%

So, dark chocolate, I love dark chocolate!

This Ombar is only 72% cacao solids, which, is on the low end of dark. I usually eat 90%, I’ve tried 99% and 100% both of which have been too dark for me, and I almost wish that something inbetween existed. This was the most solid of all of the bars, with the typical ‘snap’ that you get when you bite down on a piece of well tempered chocolate. There was a slight powdery texture that is typical of raw chocolate but nothing that was particularly unpleasant. The flavour was incredibly fruity, in fact this one really reminded me of a bar of carob, and was probably as sweet as one too.  Overall I enjoyed this bar, but probably not as much as the other three, maybe because I expected more of a bitter flavour than a sweet one, but that is not to say that it wasn’t enjoyable, because it really was.  Again this bar contains bio live cultures (probiotoics).

So overall, what did I think? Would I buy an Ombar bar?

Yes, yes I would. I think I shall definitely be investing in the rest of the Ombar range to see what I am missing out on.

Each bar may cost a hefty £1.99 for 35g of chocolate but the money goes into paying decent wages to their farmers, and for you to endeavour upon a new chocolate adventure. Ombar have put a lot of thought and love into their chocolate; the design is beautiful, the chocolate has depth of flavour, they pay their cacao farmers a decent wage and don’t exploit, they create chocolate to benefit your health, and to help you experience new flavours… and I guess, to help offer a little ‘Chocolate Enlightenment’ to each and every one of us.

If you’d like to learn more about Ombar then visit their website.

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You can purchase the single bars for £1.99, or a case of 20 for £33.99 from The Raw Chocolate Shop.

 

What do you think? Have you tried an Ombar before? Don’t be afraid to share your chocolate experience below!!!