Femme de Virunga

Centuries of exploitation and decades of armed conflict have made Eastern Congo one of the poorest countries on earth and one of the harshest to be a woman. In Virunga - Africa’s oldest national park and home to the last Mountain Gorillas - hundreds of women have taken local leadership to become craft cacao growers, regenerate the forests, and heal their war-torn communities. These ‘Femme de Virunga’ are the world’s first female cocoa cooperative, and the source of the beans for all our milk chocolates.

Not only have these farmers created a livelihood and future for themselves and their children, they are also actively protecting and nurturing the natural biodiversity of their homelands. Together these women have grown more than 100,000 trees!

All our milk chocolate is made with the rare Amelonado beans grown organically by these women cocoa farmers, and we named our plain dark milk bar Femme in honour of these incredible, pioneering women, who have overcome hardships that most of us can only imagine.

More about our milk chocolate:

Organic Amelonado Beans
The rare Amelonado beans give this bar its gentle yet striking flavour, reminiscent of honey on buttered toast.

Organic Swiss Milk
The milk we use to make our Femme bar comes from organically reared Swiss Brown cows, who graze on open mountain pasture in small family-based herds of less than thirty cows. These cows feed on more than 100 different Alpine wildflowers, and clear mountain water, which gives the chocolate its creamy, floral tones.

Raw Organic Cane Sugar
The sugar in our Femme bar is organic and raw, meaning that it has not been carbonated or decolourised and still contains all the important nutrients of sugar cane. It makes the flavour of this bar rich and complete.

To buy our Femme bar click here

THe Femme de Virunga, in pictures.

Sourced As Original beans.

Photo credits: Original Beans