15 Fair Trade Chocolate Brands That Are as Tasty as They Are Ethical
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliated; we may earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. We only ever add brands & products we truly believe in.
The Best Fair Trade & Sustainable Chocolate Brands
It's rare to meet someone that doesn't love chocolate. This delicious dessert and ancient superfood is often a daily treat for many. Unfortunately, chocolate is one of the most common industries for exploitation. The chocolate industry is profitable thanks to a high-demand product with hard-to-regulate production. Many companies underpay their workers, provide unfair working conditions, and often use child labor. Thankfully, we don't have to stop eating chocolate to combat this. We can make a difference by supporting ethical and fair trade chocolate brands instead.
In this article, we'll cover the 15 best fair trade chocolate brands so you can enjoy this tasty treat without supporting the unethical side of the industry.
What is Fair Trade Chocolate?
A great first step when figuring out if your chocolate was ethically produced is to see if it's fair-trade. Fair trade chocolate is produced in a way that adheres to certain ethical standards. Fair trade is a safeguard against exploitation and child labor. It guarantees that farmers are paid a fair and living wage, regardless of the market price of cocoa. Farmers are also given higher wages if they produce organic chocolate and an additional premium wage to reinvest in their business.
If a brand advertises that they are fair trade, check to see if they are Fair Trade Certified. This means that their production is verified by a third party to ensure it meets the above criteria. It's worth noting, that Fair Trade Certified isn't a guarantee that the company is entirely ethical. It's a good sign, but there's always the possibility that unethical practices went unnoticed.
Lastly, if a company isn't Fair Trade Certified it doesn't mean they aren't fair-trade. Getting this official certification takes time and is often inaccessible to small businesses, particularly if they're located outside of the US. If a brand doesn't have fair trade certification, look for transparency in their business practices. Check to see if they use any of the terms below and if they provide information to back up these claims. If they do, chances are they are still an ethical chocolate company.
Additional Terms to Look For From Fair Trade Chocolate Brands
Certified Organic: Chocolate that is grown in a way that adheres to the USDA Organic standards.
Bean to Bar: This means the chocolate was made from scratch, literally from bean to bar. It often means the chocolate is handcrafted versus mass produced.
Direct Trade: This means that the chocolate company directly buys from their farmers. It also means that the brand personally works with the producer so they can verify ethical production and ensure top quality.
Single Estate/ Single Origin: Single origin means the cocoa comes from one type of chocolate grown in one region. Single estate means the cocoa was also grown on one specific farm in one region.
Now, These are the 15 Best Fair Trade Chocolate Brands:
1) Askinosie
Askinosie Chocolate company sources single-origin chocolate through a direct trade model. They personally work with their farmers to ensure fair-wage employment and ethical supply chains. Askinosie produces their artisan chocolate in small batches locally, in the US. What’s fantastic about Askinosie is that they published a Transparency Report to make it easy for consumers to verify their sustainable claims. They even offer tours of their factory in Missouri! You can find a large selection of chocolate bars at Askinosie as well as chocolate-covered candies and sipping chocolate.
2) Beyond Good
Beyond Good produces single-origin chocolate from Madagascar and soon from Uganda.
They work directly with 93 local farmers to ensure a traceable and fair-trade supply chain.
They don’t just source their chocolate in Madagascar; they also produce it there in a small local factory.
Beyond Good sells individual and variety packs of their chocolate, and you can also find sustainably sourced vanilla for sale.
3) Taza Chocolate
Taza produces organic, fair-trade chocolate using a stone ground method. This production method harvests minimally processed bean-to-bar chocolate and highlights the bean's full flavors. Taza sources their cacao from farmers in Haiti. They were the first chocolate brand in the US to create a Direct Trade Cacao Certification Program.
You can get a large variety of chocolate goodies from them online, including bars, candies, bark, and chocolate wheels.
4) Hu Kitchen
Hu Kitchen was created after the founder struggled with an autoimmune disease and wanted to make healthier, more sustainable foods readily available. Their organic certified chocolate bars are made using only simple, natural ingredients and with unrefined coconut sugar. All of their cocoa and cocoa butter is Fair-Trade certified and non-GMO.
If you’re looking for refined sugar-free, vegan, and gluten-free chocolate goodies, then Hu is the brand for you.
5) Equal Exchange
Equal Exchange works directly with farmer cooperatives in Nicaragua. Each co-op they partner with produces fair-trade, organic chocolate (and coffee) ethically. What’s unique about Equal Exchange is that every farmer is a co-owner, with a share and a vote in the company. They currently work with over forty different farmer organizations and have spent years cultivating collaborative, transparent relationships. Equal Exchange sells different 12 packs of chocolate bars, hot chocolate, and chocolate minis. You can even find their products at Target.
6) Alter Eco
Alter Eco is a yummy, organic chocolate company that you can easily find in stores or online. Producing chocolate in an environmentally friendly way is their top priority. In addition to paying fair-trade wages, they are currently helping their organic farmers transition to regenerative agriculture. Alter Eco is a carbon-neutral company and they use compostable and recyclable packaging.
At Alter Eco, you’ll find a wider variety of fair-trade chocolate flavors than most companies, including truffles, bars, and even granola.
7) Theo
Theo makes organic, fair-trade chocolate goodies that are sourced directly from farmers in the DRC. They started by partnering with an NGO to help train and invest in local cocoa farmers and have since built a sustainable, thriving cooperative. For each additional ingredient used in their chocolate bars, Theo lists who their suppliers are to be as transparent as possible. Their award-winning chocolate is handcrafted in their factory in Seattle. You can get chocolate bars, chocolate cups, cookie bites, hot cocoa, and a wide selection of chocolate candies from Theo.
8) TCHO
TCHO is another B Corp certified chocolate brand from California. They are committed to being as transparent as possible, creating their own source program. TCHO invests in their farmers, providing fair wage employment each step of the way and additional support to create better infrastructure, and training within the cacao industry. TCHO sells bars individually as well as offers several variety packs so you can try more of their delicious flavors. They even break down the origin of each chocolate and how that gives it a certain flavor. If you’re vegan, you’ll love TCHO’s plant-based line of chocolates like Toffee Time and Choco Latte.
9) Dapaah
Many chocolate brands source their chocolate in Ghana, but few are locally run or owned.
That's where Dapaah comes in.
They are a family-run chocolate company from Ghana.
Dapaah was started by two siblings who decided not just to grow cocoa at their family's cocoa plantation but also to produce it. They are the first and only global chocolate brand from Ghana that is both owned and run by local people. Dapaah pays its farmers fair wages and works to cultivate chocolate in the most sustainable way possible.
This includes building a solar-powered factory in the future. Their organic chocolate is handcrafted in small batches and always vegan.
Dapaah is the best place to get delicious artisan chocolate in unique flavor combinations like Cognac & Smoked Almonds or Moroccan Dates.
10) Dandelion Chocolate
Dandelion Chocolate produces small batch, bean-to-bar fair trade chocolate. Each batch is single-origin, sourced directly from one farm, and then handcrafted in San Francisco.
If you’re in the city, you can take tours of their small factory and observe how they roast and make their chocolate. Dandelion has established hands-on, long-term partnerships with the farmers they work with to ensure transparent and ethical production. At Dandelion, you can get delicious chocolate goodies like truffles, candies, hot cocoa, and assorted chocolate boxes.
11) Endangered Species
Endangered Species Chocolate has been around since 1993 and established quite a reputation for themselves due to their conservation efforts. They give back 10% of their annual profits to various organizations that support endangered wildlife. Endangered Species Chocolate sources cacao from fair-trade farmers in West Africa. They publish regular impact reports so you can easily verify their claims. Thanks to their long-standing prominence in the chocolate industry, you can find any type of chocolate you could want from Endangered Species Chocolate, including vegan options and baking chips. They don’t use additives or artificial sweeteners in any of their chocolate.
12) Divine Chocolate
Divine Chocolate is a B Corp Certified Chocolate brand that is co-owned by cocoa farmers. Their fair trade, bean-to-bar chocolate is sourced from farmer co-ops in São Tomé and Ghana. One thing that sets Divine Chocolate apart is their focus on empowering women farmers. Over ⅓ of the farmers who co-own Divine are women. They’ve started several initiatives to provide educational and mentorship programs to support women’s professional development. At Divine Chocolate you’ll find various flavors of chocolate bars, including vegan and organic options, as well as baking chocolate and crispy thins.
13) Loving Earth
Loving Earth is focused on making both healthy and sustainable chocolate. Their bean-to-bar chocolate is always plant-based, organic, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free. The Australian-based founders work with the Ashaninka community to source their cacao from the Peruvian amazon.
They pay fair wages and recently helped establish organic cacao production through a fair-trade farmers cooperative. At Loving Earth, you can find various chocolate bars, drinking chocolate, and candies, as well as pantry staples like coconut oil and coconut sugar.
14) Fruition Chocolate Works
Fruition Chocolate Works is an ethical, small-batch chocolate company based out of New York state. Their handcrafted, award-winning organic chocolate is directly sourced from fair-trade farms in Peru, Bolivia, Madagascar, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. Fruition pays farmers double to triple the average price for cacao.
Their artisan chocolate comes in unique flavors like Lavender Milk or Brown Butter Bourban caramels. They also sell drinking chocolate and chocolate-covered almonds and malt balls.
15) Ritual Chocolate
Last but not least is Ritual Chocolate. This US-based chocolate brand sources their cacao from farmer co-ops that focus on sustainability. They work primarily with Indigenous farmers who own organic farms and list each farm and the region on their website. Ritual’s award-winning bean-to-bar chocolate is made in a small factory in the US using sustainable practices. Each fair-trade bar comes in compostable packaging with recyclable boxes. Ritual sells different lines of chocolate including single-origin, limited edition collaborations, and locally sourced bars. You can also find drinking chocolate & granola at Ritual.
About the Author
Alicia Briggs is a writer & editor specializing in slow travel & sustainable living. She has been a full-time traveler since 2018 and runs her own blog, Learning the Local Way, where she covers responsible travel tips and guides.
MAKE SURE TO PIN THE PHOTO BELOW TO SAVE THIS POST FOR LATER!
WANT MORE SUSTAINABLE BRANDS? VISIT OUR BRAND DIRECTORY!
Our Brand Directory is home to hundreds of sustainable brands, from makeup to cleaning supplies, from underwear to shoes. We have broken everything down by category for easy shopping, along with discount codes unique to Sustainably Chic viewers.
