Thank you for your interest in our new Creamy Oat chocolate bar. If you have any questions or just want to chat you can find all the info to get in touch at the bottom of press release below.
DOWNLOAD the full media pack here (link to Dropbox file, includes high res photos & PDF)
REQUEST A SAMPLE of our new Creamy Oat bar here.
PRESS RELEASE
Much loved ethical chocolate brand Clonakilty Chocolate relaunching as Exploding Tree – just in time for Veganuary with extended vegan range.
Exploding Tree, formerly Clonakilty Chocolate, announces the launch of newest addition to their range: Creamy Oat, a dairy-free alternative to traditional milk chocolate. Exploding Tree are Bean-to-Bar chocolate makers in Clonakilty, West Cork, and we are blazing a trail for healthier, conscious chocolate in Ireland.
Exploding Tree’s ‘Creamy Oat’ DAIRY-FREE chocolate is a great alternative for vegans and healthy eaters, naturally free from lactose, nuts, soy and gluten. It’s rich and creamy texture delivers a comforting and luxurious milk chocolate sensory experience.
Allison, chocolate maker and founder of Exploding Tree explains her recipe. “To make our new Creamy Oat bar, I developed a means of stone grinding whole creamed Irish oats into our roasted and nibbed Fairtrade cocoa beans. We add Fairtrade coconut sugar, refine and conch over three days for a smooth and creamy texture. We then age, temper and mould into bars. We choose to use coconut sugar, a natural and nutrient rich alternative to refined sugar, because it gives the bar a hint of caramel. We’re the first in Ireland to make an Oat ‘Milk’ alternative bar, and one of very few globally. Our customers absolutely love it!”
Exploding Tree’s cocoa beans are grown by Fairtrade farming co-operative Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana, West Africa, then shipped to their garden Bean-to-Bar micro-factory in West Cork, Ireland. The Cacao Tree’s Latin name Theobroma literally means “Food of the Gods.” This has inspired Roberts’ over her 2+ decades working with chocolate to create products that showcase the goodness of cacao. Both in terms of taste and nutrition, her new Creamy Oat bar is another realisation of that journey.
The Exploding Tree vegan range now includes eight chocolate bars all with healthier natural sweeteners (primarily coconut sugar) with top sellers like Salt & Seaweed and Garden Mint. These bars sit alongside their hugely popular Cocoa Husk Tea, also vegan friendly. The new bars are wrapped in beautiful card sleeves that depict Clonakilty’s high-street and are made from post-agricultural waste. It’s this kind of attention to detail that sets Exploding Tree apart.
Roberts continues, “I’ve been thinking and experimenting with dairy alternative bars for years now. My son is lactose intolerant so, when he started drinking milk at age two, we got into drinking oat milk. The oats add a deliciously nutty sweetness to the chocolate, but with none of the dairy aftertaste you get with a milk chocolate – just a beautifully clean, smooth finish. It’s taken a year to perfect and I’m delighted with it!”
The bar retails between €4.15-4.75 and can be purchased in local independent shops nationwide as well as through the company’s online shop www.explodingtree.com. Unwrapped Creamy Oat is available at Twig Refill, Clonakilty and The Filling Station, Galway with more refill store locations to follow.
The new bar and brand will be launched with a series of special events during Fairtrade fortnight (Feb 24th – Mar 8th) including an ‘open studio’ day at the factory, see more details on www.explodingtree.com/events
Why is our Creamy Oat Chocolate so good?
- Oats add a creamy, nutty taste to our cocoa beans and the coconut sugar adds a hint of caramel – the result is a bar that has a real unique depth of flavour with a clean finish.
- It’s a healthy alternative – at 60% cocoa, it has a very high cocoa content for a ‘milk’ chocolate, and is naturally free from lactose, nuts, soy, gluten and refined sugar.
- Our ethical and traceable supply chains are a mainstay at Exploding Tree, this bar is Fairtrade certified and we are proud to be using Irish Town Irish oats.
- We use only earth friendly, compostable packaging. The inner sleeve is made from plant-based biofilm and our main card wrapper is made from post-agricultural waste – so it’s even good on the outside too!
About Allison Roberts
Allison Roberts has been in the business of making chocolate since she was just 12 years old living in Toronto, Canada. It was supposed to be a short visit to West Cork ten years ago, but instead Roberts ended up settling into the award-winning town of Clonakilty and building a Bean-to-Bar chocolate factory in her garden. Roberts is continually honing her vision and is focused on spreading a positive message about the goodness of cacao, exploring healthy alternatives and fostering dialogue around the importance of whole foods, food chain transparency, fair trade, sustainability and the importance of small independent businesses.
About Exploding Tree
It was a Fairtrade fact-finding trip to Ghana that inspired Roberts to go Bean-to-Bar and explore alternative sweeteners. A successful crowd-funding campaign enabled the transition and the Exploding Tree Bean-to-Bar chocolate factory in the heart of Clonakilty is still, to this day, one of only four in Ireland.
Plans for the future include making this Creamy Oar bar available as an Easter Egg as well as increasing the availability of the full range of bars unwrapped via her online shop and in refill shops like our own Twig in Clonakilty. The full range of ten bars include unique offerings such as 88% Dark, Salt & Seaweed, Goats’ Milk and 100%.
Exploding Tree products can be found in independent shops throughout Ireland and online at www.explodingtree.com
The Evolution of Exploding Tree
Exploding Tree is the brand Roberts used before coming to Ireland in 2008 and she has been drawn back to it. “Our chocolate is very different to what you would normally find in shops in Ireland, it has a deeper richer taste and higher cocoa solids so the name fits. The new bars are made using hand-drawn illustrations of our town and printed onto sleeves made from post-agricultural waste and the result is that the packaging reflects the integrity of the brand, our alternative ingredients and the unique taste of chocolate. Hopefully that all comes through when chocolate lovers find it on the shelf.”
Claim your Free Sample of Creamy Oat
For the full media pack or request a sample, visit www.explodingtree.com/oatmilklaunch
Let’s Talk Chocolate…
For further information about Allison Roberts, our beautiful rebranding to Exploding Tree, our products, packaging and being a small business with a big heart, contact:
Email: allison@explodingtree.com Call: 085 757 4338 Web: www.explodingtree.com
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