Introducing Willie’s Single Estate Cacao to our members, with a tasty exclusive discount. Read on…
Step into the chocolate aisle of Waitrose, or most speciality food retailers and you’re likely to stumble across a selection of gloriously packaged chocolate bars and cooking blocks emblazoned in gold with the ‘Willie’s Cacao’ logo.
Their signature square shapes and unusual flavours stand them apart from many other bars – but that’s not all that’s unique about this pioneering brand.
Willie’s Cacao was one of the first British chocolate makers to bring 100% cacao bars to the mainstream market, promoting the virtues of pure ingredients and natural flavours that are in complete contrast to the sugar and fat-filled slabs that we Brits have become used to.
The enigmatic man behind the brand – Willie Harcourt-Cooze – started his chocolate empire by pure chance in the mid-90s, after meeting a beach umbrella salesman on a trip to Venezuela who led him to a 1,000-acre cocoa plantation deep within the Choroni cloud forest.
Willie soon purchased the estate, El Tosoro (meaning ‘treasure’), and embarked on an ambitious plan to start a cacao farm. Planting over 50,000 cacao trees, he gradually perfected the art of producing 100% cacao in the form of chocolate bars – initially selling it to locals.
“The first thing I made with my own cacao was hot chocolate,” says Willie. “Sitting on the mountainside, we added water and fresh raw cane sugar to 100% cacao. It blew me away! When I tasted that purity of flavour I realised that the world had lost touch with what real chocolate is.
“Something that was once revered as the food of the gods had become nothing more than a sugary confection. I wanted everyone to experience some of the awakening that I did.”
After a number of challenges ensued, however, Willie moved his burgeoning business to Devon – and it was this move which propelled him to fame. The process of making and marketing these bars, using beans from El Tosoro, was filmed for Channel 4’s 2008 documentary ‘Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory’ – and it quickly captured the nation’s attention.
Willie is undoubtedly a pioneer of small-batch ‘bean to bar’ chocolate. Whether it’s using his own beans or those sourced from cacao farms across the world, his ethos remains the same; only single-estate beans are used to maintain the purity of flavour found in different soils and climates.
His dark chocolate contains just three ingredients; cacao, raw cane sugar and natural cocoa butter, avoiding the soya lecithin and vanilla used in industrial chocolate production; cacao only becomes chocolate when sugar is added. From there, natural flavours and texturisers like fruit and nuts are added.
“The cacao takes a long journey from bean to bar,” explains Willie. “It’s not something that can be hurried. In the Chocolate Factory, my role is simply to help each bean develop and show its unique flavour as completely as possible. You could say it is a celebration of cacao.
“It is to capture these subtle notes and unique flavours that I make all my chocolate in small batches from bean to bar. I roast in antique ball roasters, and then take three or more weeks to make the chocolate at low temperatures. Industrial chocolate is made in a few hours.”
Today, Willie’s range extends from his chocolate truffles, signature square bars and hazelnut chocolate spread to chef’s chocolate drops, cooking cylinders and drinking chocolate. You’ll find flavours like caramel absinthe, clementine and almond, sea flakes, raspberries and cream, ginger and lime, pistachio and date and cinnamon.
The chef’s chocolate blocks and drops can be used to enhance a diversity of dishes, from spicy chillies to roast lamb – and while there are milk, dark and 100% cacao varieties to choose from, many of the items in Willie’s range are naturally vegan.
“I’m a dark chocolate lover myself, so many of my bars and gift chocolates are in fact dairy free and suitable for vegans,” he says. “All the cooking chocolates and hot chocolates are vegan too.”
“So there are mood-enhancing benefits to eating dark chocolate.” In fact, a study published in January 2022 found that participants who ate 85% dark chocolate daily maintained better overall mood than others who ate chocolate with less cocoa — or no chocolate at all.’
Chocolate is one of the few gifts that’s guaranteed to delight any recipient, and Willie also has an incredible range of gifts to choose from – including a chocolate gift subscription, tasting set, chocolate boxes and even hampers. His delectable range of single estate cooking chocolate, including his vegan ‘milk’ chocolate, is also a favourite amongst chefs including chocolate recipes by Yotam Ottolenghi
SAVE 20% OFF WILLIE’S CACAO TODAY!
SAVE 20% OFF WILLIE’S CACAO TODAY!
And here’s our gift to you – if you sign up to our free membership newsletter GourmetXperiences.Club today, we’ll instantly send you a code that you can use to get a whopping 20% off all of Willies bars, blocks and cooking ranges you order, with a link direct to Willies online shop. PLUS for a limited time only add ‘FREE GIFT’ at checkout and Willie will send you exactly that, a free gift box of his delightful chocolate pearls, when you spend over £30.
