Chocolate is one of those things most people don't think twice about. You grab a bar, eat it, move on. But the supply chain behind most supermarket chocolate is bleak — deforestation, exploitative labour practices, and ingredients lists padded with refined sugar, palm oil, and artificial additives. Ombar exists because a group of friends in Cambridge thought chocolate could be better than that.
We've included Ombar on Ethical Supply because they've built something rare: a chocolate brand that's organic, vegan, fair-trade, B Corp certified, climate-labelled, and plastic-free — and it actually tastes good. That combination is harder to find than it should be.
Why Ombar is on Ethical Supply
Ombar was born in 2007 when co-founder Richard started experimenting with raw cacao in his Cambridge kitchen. He'd discovered that cacao is genuinely nutrient-rich — packed with polyphenols and antioxidants — but conventional chocolate processing roasts and refines most of that goodness away. He teamed up with friends Jim and Mike, and by 2012 they'd moved from kitchen experiments into a dedicated Cambridge factory.
Their cacao comes from small farmer co-ops in Ecuador, never mega-farms. They pay above Fairtrade prices for native, flavour-rich beans, supporting stable livelihoods in farming communities. Every bar is certified organic, Fairtrade, and vegan. No palm oil, no refined sugar — they use coconut sugar instead.
Ombar is B Corp certified and was the first chocolate brand to put carbon labelling on its packaging. That's a bold move in a category where most brands would rather you didn't think about their environmental footprint. Their Oat M'lk range produces less than half the carbon emissions of conventional milk chocolate.
The packaging is plastic-free and fully recyclable. And 3p from every bar sold goes to Fundación Jocotoco, an NGO working to reforest Ecuador's Chocó rainforest — one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and a critical habitat that's been devastated by deforestation.
What Ombar makes
Ombar's range spans dark chocolate, milk-style alternatives, and filled bars. Everything is made in small batches in Cambridge.
Dark chocolate bars
The core range runs from 60% up to 100% cacao. The 72% bar has floral, jasmine-like tasting notes. The 90% and 100% bars are for serious dark chocolate fans — intense and complex, with none of the bitterness you get from over-roasted cacao. Ombar keeps their cacao unroasted to preserve the natural polyphenols, which gives the chocolate a cleaner, more nuanced flavour.
Coco M'lk and Oat M'lk
If you prefer milk chocolate but want to avoid dairy, these are Ombar's answer. The Coco M'lk bar uses creamed coconut to get that smooth, creamy texture. The Oat M'lk range — available in Original, Hazelnut, Fruit & Nut, and Salted Caramel Truffle — was designed with sustainability at its core, with a significantly lower carbon footprint than dairy-based alternatives.
Centres and filled bars
The Pistachio Cream bar wraps a nut butter centre in 60% dark chocolate — rich, indulgent, and one of their most popular. The Hazelnut Truffle and Coco Almond bars follow the same idea: quality fillings in organic, fair-trade chocolate. These sit in treat territory — still organic, still vegan, but a step up from an everyday snack.
The bigger picture
The chocolate industry is responsible for significant deforestation, particularly in West Africa. Much of the world's cocoa is grown on land that was recently rainforest, and labour conditions on many farms remain poor. Fair-trade certification helps, but Ombar goes further by sourcing exclusively from small Ecuadorian co-ops and paying above the Fairtrade floor price.
Their partnership with Fundación Jocotoco directly addresses the deforestation problem in the region where their cacao is grown. The Chocó rainforest is a global biodiversity hotspot — home to species found nowhere else — and Jocotoco's reforestation work is helping to restore it. Funding that through chocolate sales creates a direct link between what you buy and the land it comes from.
The carbon labelling is worth highlighting too. Ombar was the first chocolate brand to do this, putting the climate cost of each bar right on the front of the pack. It's the kind of transparency that makes other brands' vague sustainability claims look thin.
Who Ombar is good for
Ombar is a straightforward swap if you already buy chocolate regularly and want something you can feel better about. The Oat M'lk and Coco M'lk bars are a good entry point if you're used to milk chocolate — they're creamy and accessible without the dairy. The darker bars (72% and up) suit anyone who appreciates chocolate with actual flavour complexity rather than just sweetness.
They're widely available in UK health food shops, online, and in some supermarkets. Prices are higher than a Cadbury bar, obviously, but competitive with other premium organic chocolate. And everything from the cacao sourcing to the packaging to the carbon footprint is accounted for — which is more than most chocolate brands can say.