Chocolate lovers: Look forward to indulging in 2010 with two new organic and fair trade bars from Equal Exchange. Well known for helping to pioneer the fair trade movement in the U.S., Equal Exchange is ever-expanding — this time with an Orange Dark Chocolate bar and Panama Extra Dark Chocolate bar.

Read through the all-organic ingredient list, and you’ll notice these yummies are made with simple, recognizable ingredients with no weird additives or synthetic stuff. The Orange Dark Chocolate’s got a powerful fruity kick in its 65% cacao content bar while the Panama Extra Dark Chocolate, with a very high 80% cacao content, is a dark chocolate lover’s dream.

As with all Equal Exchange products, these chocolate bars are made via fairer partnerships with small farmer-owned co-operatives. The fair trade chocolate comes from the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Peru, the fair trade sugar from Paraguay and Costa Rica, and fair trade vanilla from Madagascar.

Honestly, I’m more of a milk chocolate girl — so while I enjoyed the Orange Dark Chocolate, I found the Panama Extra Dark Chocolate a bit too intense. If you’re a dark chocolate person though, I strongly encourage you to give this bar a try! And of course, Equal Exchange has other yummy chocolate bars — some of which friends and I tried out at a choco tasting party. More expert, less alcohol-tainted reviews of those bars can be found on Cybele’s Candyblog.

You can find Equal Exchange chocolate bars — and coffee, tea, and other snacks — at Whole Foods stores, many neighborhood co-op stores, and online at Equal Exchange’s web store. Each bar costs $4.25.

Photos via Equal Exchange

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