Hello,
Has anyone tried the brand of chocolate called “Divine”. It is made from a co-op group of farmers in Ghana and they are looking at going public soon in the US…anyone tried their bars yet? and if so what did you think?

Robert
http://www.chocolateguild.com

Robert

I have tasted three Divine bars. Their 70%, their milk chocolate, and their milk chocolate with hazelnuts bar. Each is Fair Trade certified by TransFair USA.

Their dark bar is not very complex, but not bad. The two milks are very smooth, creamy, sweet bars. To me they have the same kind of creamy sweetness of a Lindt milk chocolate bar.

The ethic of this company is remarkable, and their relationship with the cacao farmers should be a model for other chocolate makers.

The hope is that as they expand, they can improve the quality of their product, especially their 70% bar.

Masur Wrote:
“I do support an effort like this but it can be challenged. Cocoa price in Ghana is goverment controlled. Where does the extra money payed for fair trade go? I don’t know unless Kuapa Kokoo / Divine Chocolate provides transparancy.”

Thank you for these comments, I agree with you! Transparency, transparency!

I agree that paying an artificially inflated price for cacao, coffee, tea etc, can (and should) be challenged. I also agree that it is critical that there be transparency for where and how the extra money is used.

My understanding of Fair Trade is that certification requires that there exist a local ‘democratic’ structure to decide how and where the extra money shall be used by the community, in a transparent manner.

It seems that Kuapa Kokoo does provide some information about how that money has been spent between 1993 and 2002. I am not sure why there is no data since 2002.

http://www.kuapakokoogh.com/pages/page.php?contentid=6

Third party, independent certification gives the Fair Trade Chocolate producer the credibility that it is being transparent, rather than having to simply trust the CEO’s statement.

There are lots of problems with third party certification, and it is out of reach for many (most?) small farmers, who are doing the ‘right’ thing without certification… but there are fundamental flaws with in-house certification too… is this off topic, and should I start a separte discussion thread for this?

I am new to this discussion site, and I have already been off topic once with my previous post. I apologise.

There is no need to question how Fair Trade premium is used by co-op farmers (Kuapa) in Ghana. But I doubt 100% of Fair Trade premium payed goes back to the co-op farmers. If transparency is not provided we are not able to check if the govermant (the middleman) keeps part of the money. They might charge an extra fee. No transparency, no control. I don’t think Divine provides total transparancy.

“Porcelana: The Holy Grail of Pure Criollos” (Maricel E. Presilla)

Fair Trade is a trustworthy label. It involves a lot of bureaucracy to provide proof on a regular basis. This might be frustating for a farmer but is needed to keep the label.
I agree with you Robert. I’ve listened to Mott when he visited London a few years ago so I know Grenada Chocolate Company provides transparancy. A film about the company can be found att YouTube.com but this is off topic so I will not provide a link.

The Day Chocolate Company mission (Divine Chocolate):

quote:

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The overall strategic aim of Day is to improve the livelihood of smallholder cocoa producers in West Africa by establishing their own dynamic branded proposition in the UK chocolate market thus putting them higher up the value chain. To be the leading Fairtrade Chocolate Company

To achieve this mission a range of clear intermediate objectives are set-out :

- To take a quality and affordable range of Fairtrade chocolate into the UK mainstream market.

- To pay a Fairtrade price for all the cocoa used in the chocolate sold.

- To raise awareness of fair trade issues among UK retailers and consumers of all age groups.

- To be highly visible and vocal in the chocolate sector and thereby act as a catalyst for change.

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I wish Divine could comitt to a rigorous behaviour code and provide transparancy. Thus we might trust them without a label if this is done properly.

“Porcelana: The Holy Grail of Pure Criollos” (Maricel E. Presilla)