Original Beans Femmes De Virunga Dark Milk Chocolate Bar

You’ve heard about and perhaps experienced Swiss chocolate. Many people say it’s their favorite chocolate in the world, and it’s largely because chocolate crafted in Switzerland has a voluptuous, silky mouthfeel that creates pure pleasure as it melts on your taste buds.  

My nickname for this bar is Swiss Miss because this is the “Femmes” version of the Original Beans 70% Dark Virunga Bar. That said, it bears no resemblance to the highly processed hot cocoa product with the same name!

I suggest you taste both Virunga bars, side-by-side, starting with the darker version first. Incidentally, Virunga Park is not only the place where the cacao beans for this bar are grown; it is also a protected area intended to preserve the remaining 800 mountain gorillas left on earth. 

The luscious tasting notes here are caramelized nuts, cappuccino, chocolate ice cream and dulce de leche.  

Why is this bar given the name, “Femmes” you may wonder? Well, I suspect part of the reason is that there is a softness and elegance about the bar that lends it a more feminine aspect.  Perhaps the most important reason behind the name is that a group of strong Congolese women in the Virunga Park area have been restoring their community from the rubbles of war. In fact, the Original Beans Dream Team has been providing the Virunga women with cacao seedlings as well as education and training programs since 2008. Purchasing this bar protects the mountain gorillas AND further empowers these brave women…not to mention that each bar purchased plants one tree in the Congo! Win, win, WIN!!!

Isn’t it wonderful to eat something so delicious and know that you are doing so much good in the world at the same time?

Meet Original Beans founder Philipp Kauffman, who made a full-tilt career pivot from United Nations conservationist to climate-positive chocolate entrepreneur.His business is dedicated to conserving the rarest and most prized cacao varietals on earth while supporting their ecosystems.

Inspired by one of his forefathers who wrote a book on forests in 1795, Philipp created Original Beans 213 years later out of the desire to marry exquisite chocolate with conservation. Philipp’s ancestor felt called to plant the seed of “Nachaltigkeit” (“sustainability”) in the hope of inspiring future generations to care for Mother Earth. Little did he know that more than two centuries into the future, a conservationist movement would be afoot, spearheaded by his very own relative.