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I got wind of free chocolate and I was off like a shot! In a novel approach to running down Christmas stocks, Love Cocoa decided to 'give away' two free 75g festive chocolate bars (normally priced at £4.50 each). Customers just had to pay for postage, which was £3.95, or free on orders over £40.
Having already completed my Christmas chocolate shopping, I opted to pay the £3.95 delivery fee, meaning each bar equated to £1.98 delivered, which was a very good deal for Love Cocoa chocolate bars.
Better still, these are my first festive-flavoured bars this season, and that's what mattered to me most. I was missing my seasonal dose of peppermint and festively-spiced chocolate, so this offer came online at just the right time for me.
Amidst the ongoing Royal Mail strikes, I didn't expect to see these bars until the new year. But just two days later, a snazzy box slipped through my letterbox.
Packaging
If you're hoping to keep these bars a secret for Christmas, I'm here to disappoint you. The letterbox-sized package screams chocolate.
The box contained the pair of chocolate bars, along with a glossy personalised shipping/information booklet. It was a simple, yet effective, touch that felt a bit more human. While not as good as seeing my name in chocolate, it was an unexpected touch that went above and beyond other brands I have shopped with online.
In terms of packaging, both bars used the same design style, although Christmas Pudding box used green stripes and contained a Christmas pudding-shaped cut-out on the front, while the Peppermint Bark box favoured red stripes and candy cane cut-outs.
Both boxes were plastic-free, with the bars sealed in compostable film. This meant the entire packaging was recyclable or biodegradable.
A sprinkling of fold foiled print on the borders, stars and logo added a nice eye-catching touch as these glistened in the light. Ripe for giving as Christmas gifts, if, unlike me, you don't scoff these bars upon opening the box.
The rear of the boxes were incredibly text-heavy, but also benefit from a smattering of gold foil print to liven things us.
Both bars carried the "one bar = one tree" messaging, referring to the fact that Love Cocoa pledged to plant one tree for every bar sold to help fight against deforestation and global warming.
According to the various symbols, the British-made bars feature slave-free single-origin cocoa from Columbia.
You'll need your magnifying glass handy for the ingredients and nutritional lists, thanks to the use of a tiny font to cram in both English and German language text, suggesting strong demand for British chocolate within Europe.
Love Cocoa Christmas Pudding & Peppermint Bark Bar Reviews
While featuring very different flavours, there are some commonalities shared between the two bars. Both had an RRP of £4.50 for 75g. Both were vegetarian-friendly, made from single-origin, ethically-sourced chocolate, and were free from palm oil. They were both cast in bespoke Love Cocoa moulds which imprinted an 'LC' branded pattern onto the bar, rather than traditional rectangular or square segments.
The bars contained milk and soya ingredients, and were produced on machinery that handled tree nuts (almonds, hazelnuts), peanuts and wheat.
Love Cocoa 41% Milk Chocolate Christmas Pudding Bar Review
Love Cocoa 41% Milk Chocolate Christmas Pudding Bar ingredients:
Columbian milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, milk powder, cocoa mass, emulsifier (soya lecithin), flavouring (vanilla extract)), walnuts (10%), raisins (5%) (raisins, sunflower oil), mixed peel (5%) (orange peel, lemon peel, glucose fructose syrup, sugar, acidity regulator (citric acid)), mixed spice (<1%) (cinnamon, coriander, allspice, clove, ginger, nutmeg). Cocoa solids: 41% minimum. Milk solids: 19% minimum.
- Love Cocoa describes this bar as "Single-origin Columbian chocolate combined with a generous helping of all the nuts, fruits and spices that make a Christmas pudding so delicious."
- It contained around 44% sugars.
Columbian chocolate is one of my all-time favourites, thanks to its trademark fruity characteristics. Here, the aroma burst with delicious red fruit notes and hints of caramel, along with a subtle strand of spicing. I had expected the spices to be the dominant flavour here, so was curious to tuck in upon discovering they played a supporting act rather than a leading role.
The flavour matched the aroma perfectly, but it was the mixed peel, nuts and raisins that took the lead here. The heavy-handed approach meant the bar was generously topped with lots of goodies, adding bags of flavour as well as crunch and chew to this smooth chocolate bar.
The spices were too subtle for me to vividly picture Christmas pudding in my mind while savouring piece after piece. But it was enjoyable nevertheless, and ever so easy to chow down. Half the bar disappeared within the blink of an eye, and the other half didn't make it beyond that evening.
Christmas pudding it was not, but the addition of mixed peel made this fruit and nut milk chocolate bar taste quite festive indeed.
Love Cocoa 35% White Chocolate Candy Cane Peppermint Bar Review
Love Cocoa 35% White Chocolate Candy Cane Peppermint Bar ingredients:
White chocolate (cocoa butter, sugar, milk powder, emulsifier (soya lecithin), vanilla extract), coloured sugar decorations (3%) (sugar, wheat starch, glucose syrup, colourings (concentrate of radish, lemon, blackcurrant), vegetable oil, coconut, glazing agent (beeswax), colours (E100, E131)), English peppermint oil (<1%). Cocoa solids: 35% minimum. Milk solids: 31% minimum.
- Love Cocoa describes this bar as "Creamy Columbian white chocolate infused with peppermint oil and topped with festive sprinkles, this bar is the ideal sweet treat this season."
- It contained around 46% sugars.
This bar screamed festive joy, thanks to those pesky red, green and white sugar balls that found their way into every nook and cranny around my desk.
As I tore open the film I discovered the forceful waft of peppermint aroma. It dominated the white chocolate, although there was a subtle creamy quality that sat at the back and peered through here and there.
It was interesting to see that Love Cocoa had decided against using shards of actual candy canes on this bar in favour of the sprinkles. That was possibly a wise choice as candy canes tend to go very sticky in the open air, and their characteristic chew would distract from the smooth and creamy white chocolate.
Instead, the sprinkles mimicked the crunch, while the peppermint oil delivered a cooling and refreshing tingle. The mint dominated the flavour from start to finish, and beyond into the aftertaste. It was forceful, and overpowered the white chocolate flavours in the main, although I did pick up glimpses of the creamy. vanilla notes that sat down below.
If you like minty chocolate, you'll not be short changed here, as the peppermint oil sees to that. If you're a mint lover who hates that most minty chocolates use bitter dark chocolate as a delivery vehicle, then this white chocolate version is a refreshing alternative.
Love Cocoa Love Cocoa Christmas Pudding & Peppermint Bark Bar Duo Pack Review
RRP: £3.95 | Love Cocoa | Shop now
Two very different festive bars, but they are equally tasty. I prefer the Christmas Pudding bar, but wish they were as heavy handed with the spices as they were the fruits and nuts. The peppermint oil certainly awakens your senses in the Bark bar, and it's nice to see white chocolate used here instead of a bitter dark chocolate.
Where to Buy Online
I imagine this is a loss-leader line for Love Cocoa, so this time-limited offer will likely disappear before the new year (or when stocks of these festive bars dwindle).
The bars normally retail individually for £4.50 each, so you can potentially receive £9 worth of chocolate for £3.95 delivered. If you're already ordering more than £40 of goodies from Love Cocoa, these bars can be bundled in completely free of charge, subject to availability.
Before you try and wangle the system and order a truck-load of 'free' bars for all your friends and extended family, the terms and conditions allow for one duo pack per person. By all means, share the love and send them a link so that they can order themselves.
Head to this page on Love Cocoa here to verify whether this offer is still available.
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Christmas Pudding milk chocolate vs. Peppermint Bark white chocolate - which would you choose first? Let me know in the comments below.
