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L’Esterre Chocolate: What is it?
L’Esterre Chocolate is luxury dark chocolate with tasting notes of passion fruit, butterscotch, coffee, and vanilla. It’s made from just two ingredients: cocoa and sugar. Both are grown inline with organic practices, although the product is not certified as such. A third ingredient, a tiny dash of Maldon sea salt, is added if you’re opting for the Sea Salt Dark Chocolate Buttons (and we highly recommend you do!).
The founder and force behind L’Esterre Chocolate is Bobbie Garbutt. For 75 years, her family have proudly grown chemical-free cocoa at L’Esterre Estate in Grenada.
Growing up, she had been conditioned to think that the way her family were growing their cocoa on their farm was messy. Little did she realise, this was regenerative agriculture at work; a method of growing that works inline with nature and helps to replenish fresh water, build soil and grow in harmony with various other plant and tree species.
With cocoa being a commodity crop and prices fluctuating, Bobbie saw that her family farm was no longer financially sustainable. So, she decided to create single-estate dark chocolate, to enable people to better connect with where and how cocoa is produced, and appreciate and taste for themselves the benefits of farming in this way.
She says: “I chose to make chocolate to protect two hundred acres of precious biodiverse flora and fauna from development, to continue to support rural livelihoods in our community and to safeguard the future of cocoa farming in Grenada”.
The cocoa is cultivated in Grenada, and crafted in the Cotswolds on a family farm, tying Bobbie’s two worlds together.
L’Esterre’s Chocolate’s best-sellers:
72% + Salt Grenada Fine Dark Chocolate Buttons Pot
£15
70% Grenada Fine Dark Chocolate Buttons Pouch
£7
The Grenada Gift Pot Trio Collection
£40
L’Esterre Chocolate: How Sustainable is it?
At the heart of L’Esterre’s ethos is Bobbie’s personal connection to the cocoa farm. Each year, she personally visits her family’s cocoa farm during harvest season, ensuring a first-hand experience of the sourcing process. The chocolate is then produced in Warwickshire at ‘The Chocolate Shed’, which Bobbie had purpose-built to ensure there were no blind-spots in production.
With every product, Bobbie and her team are trying to rewrite the narrative, one that celebrates transparency, sustainability, and community empowerment.
L’Esterre Chocolate operates with a profound respect for the environment in which the cocoa is grown. Bobbie explains: “We employ regenerative organic practices on the farm. No machines are used, and everything goes back into the land, replenishing soil and freshwater sources”.
L’Esterre Chocolate also supports Grenada Schools, which builds libraries around schools in Grenada and sister islands. It also supplements curricular material with children’s books that are illustrated and written by locals and works with the worldwide non-profit organisation, Room to Read, to strengthen the foundations of early literacy in Grenada.
There are many unique obstacles that come from operating on a small island, but Bobbie strives to collaborate with local initiatives.
She says: “I collaborate with individuals in Grenada to stimulate the agricultural economy. Current projects include working on the organic processing of Grenada’s nutmegs and getting the island into better markets, so we are able to rightfully reward and encourage more farmers to use organic methods of farming. I also work for a local women’s group, sharing the work I do in Grenada, in the hopes that it encourages more women to become entrepreneurial in farming and agriculture”.
L’Esterre Chocolate’s packaging labels and pots are recyclable, and the pouches are home compostable, designed to degrade naturally without leaving behind harmful residues.
L’Esterre Chocolate: Where to buy?
Buy online directly from L’Esterre Chocolate.
You can also find them in select London coffeshops including Debbi Jo and Compane.
