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Green & Blacks

Premium Chocolate

Our Story

At Green & Black’s, we make and sell premium organic chocolate. We use fine organic ingredients and these are ethically sourced. This perfect balance between taste and principles is what we stand for and why we pay a premium for all our ingredients.

The story of how Green & Black's began is certainly a unique one. People often ask us questions about organic sourcing, ethical sourcing and trading, the early days and how we got our name. So we hope we can answer most of your questions here. 

Our Beginning

It all started back in London in 1991 when Craig Sams, founder of Whole Earth – the pioneering organic food company – was sent a sample of dark 70% chocolate made from organic cocoa beans.

His wife, environment columnist for The Times and confirmed chocoholic, Josephine Fairley, found the half eaten bar on Craig's desk and sampled some for herself. The intense flavour was unique and unlike anything she had tasted before. Jo was convinced other chocolate lovers would appreciate it in the same way she had and they set about making the world's first organic chocolate.

The final product was a high-quality, bittersweet dark chocolate bar, packed with 70% cocoa solids - enough to make chocolate fans sit up and take notice.

As the brand began to gain a loyal following, Maya Gold was added to the range in 1994 – the product of a holiday Jo & Craig went on to Belize, where they met a group of Mayan smallholder farmers who had planted cocoa trees at the request of a large chocolate company which subsequently withdrew from Belize leaving the farmers with no market. Craig & Jo agreed to buy the farmers' cocoa at a fair price and used the beans to create Maya Gold based on the flavour of a traditional Mayan chocolate drink.

This way of doing business didn't seem different to them – it was what came naturally – and in the process, the Maya Gold brand earned them the UK's first Fairtrade mark for a Chocolate Product.

Our Name

People often ask how Green & Black's got its name, wondering who Mr Green or Mrs Black were. However they never actually existed! The name was dreamt up by Craig & Jo with fond memories of confectionery brands of their childhoods, like Callard & Bowser and Barker & Dobson. And so to symbolise the true foundations of the products; green for the strict organic principles we employ and black for the intensity of the chocolate and iconic style of the brand, Green & Black's was born.

Our Brand

Craig & Jo could never have imagined that Green & Black’s would become such a huge success when they started out in Portobello Road, London back in 1991. Today, we remain true to the original values of their business, with ethical trading & organic products. Our aim continues to be the creation of chocolate products that give a taste experience like no other. We believe every new creation has to be the best of its kind we’ve ever tasted & take time and care to bring out the distinct flavour that has now become our trademark.

Based in Central London, Green & Black's is ultimately owned by Kraft Foods Inc since it acquired Cadbury Plc in February 2010. Kraft Foods Inc will be able to help us maintain our growth and take Green & Black's further as an international organic chocolate brand. Regarding our products, nothing will change. Our great tasting chocolate will stay the same, our ethical sourcing and business practices will continue and even the same teams have stayed to run the business.

To reiterate, the taste of our chocolate and sourcing of the ingredients remain the same. The ethical, fair trade & organic principles of our business also remain untouched.

Our People

Green & Black's is a small brand within a larger company and being a small brand means that every person is as vital as the next, whether it is making sure the orders are dealt with promptly or getting the chocolate from A to B. From our office in London, we rely on a much larger group of people around the world to make sure our products get to you. Without the thousands of farmers in Belize and the Dominican Republic who grow our organic cocoa we would not be able to make our delicious chocolate & without our teams in the office, that chocolate wouldn't reach you, our customers.

Click here to Shop Online for Green & Blacks chocolate.

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