Divine Chocolate Bars are launching in the U.S. just in time for Valentine’s Day. What’s different about Divine? Well, now you can enjoy the rich sweet taste of chocolate while being socially minded and supporting small farmers in Ghana all at the same time.

Divine, overseen by The Day Chocolate Company, launched in the UK in 1998, making it the first ever Fairtrade chocolate bar. Divine chocolate is currently sold in all major grocery stores in the UK and the company has the same aims for U.S. markets.

At an event promising free chocolate samples held at Olsson’s bookstore yesterday evening, an anxious and hungry post-work audience was able to converse with two of the higher ups in the organization along with Comfort Kumeah, a cocoa bean farmer from Ghana. The accents of the speakers were diverse and engaging, but it wasn’t what kept the audience listening and asking questions even after the chocolate had been distributed.

Divine’s journey as a company and the personal testimony of Kumeah as a person directly affected by the new fair trade market transformed this journey for some free chocolate and easy socializing to a worthwhile learning opportunity.

Ghana cocoa farmers formed a coalition, made up mostly of small farmers who don’t own more than five acres of land, called Kuapa Kokoo in 1993. Kuapa Kokoo farmers produce cocoa beans in a process not used anywhere else in the world. After harvesting the beans they ferment them in the ground for seven days before hand sifting them in the sun for ten more.

According to Kumeah, Divine has greatly changed the coalition’s way of life and the farmers are intimately involved in the business end of things as well. In fact, two members from Kuapa Kokoo sit on the board of The Day Chocolate Company, which meets in Ghana at least once a year. Here, the farmers participate in all decisions from manufacturing to distribution along with fellow board members from The Body Shop, Christian Aid, Comic Relief, and Twin Trading.

Kuapa Kokoo also stakes corporate power by currently owning 47% of the company shares. So unique was this organizational model, that The Day Chocolate Company won a Millenium Product Award in 1999.

As for the chocolate? It was creamy, smooth and delicious. Flavors come in dark, milk, white, coffee, milk chocolate with hazelnut, dark chocolate with orange, and dark chocolate with mint. Ranging in price from $1.75 to $2.75 these bars can be considered gourmet, but affordable.

Currently, the chocolate can be purchased online or at "natural foods stores, groceries, and gift shops." A store location finder and online order forms can be found here.

This fair trade chocolate is “our way of sharing heaven,” said Kumeah. Some might just call it divine.