WCF Limited Edition Oat Milk Bar Set to Tickle Vegan Tastebuds
Released to mark World Chocolate Day, the new Oat Milk Bar has been months in the making.
WCF’s artisan chocolate makers have trialled different bars to get just the right mix of NZ Oats and Vanuatu beans to deliver a smooth, creamy and silky bar. The limited edition Oat Milk Bar is the latest bar in a long line of vegan offerings, which includes its Coconut Milk Bar and Peru Dark Bar, both of which won two categories at the inaugural NZ Vegan Chocolate Awards held in May.
Gabe Davidson, co-founder of WCF, says the Vanuatu cocoa beans blend perfectly with the NZ-grown oats to deliver a vegan bar that could easily be mistaken for traditional milk chocolate.
“This bar has a creamy mouth feel, and for a 45% chocolate bar, it’s naturally sweeter than some may expect,” he says.
WCF launched its Grower Partner relationship with Vanuatu cocoa farmers in 2021. Directly sourcing beans from farmers in Vanuatu, farmers are paid a minimum of USD 4000 per tonne - approximately double the amount of the world commodity cocoa price (of which farmers only receive a portion of).
“This matters because most other chocolate makers only pay this commodity price. Too many cocoa farmers, their families and communities live in poverty because they aren’t paid enough. By building direct relationships with our farmers and paying them what they deserve, we not only get to use the finest beans, we’re also lifting the industry,” he says.
WCF co-founder Gabe Davidson says they’ve been making plant-based chocolate since opening almost ten years ago, beginning at a time when vegan chocolate wasn’t on the radar of mainstream chocolate makers.
“Our chocolate is bean-to-bar – what this means is we use very few additional ingredients apart from cocoa beans and only add what enhances the bean’s flavour. On their own, cocoa beans are incredibly complex – in a single bean, you can taste everything from tropical fruit to spices. When the beans are the hero, you don’t need to add much else to produce a delicious chocolate bar,” he says.
WCF is releasing just 420 of its new limited edition Oat Milk Bar. It is available to buy online at WCF and at its Eva Street store.
