Seventh Heaven

In the early 1800's, a Quaker by the name of John Cadbury owned a small tea shop in Birmingham England.  Like most tea merchants in that day and age, other drinks besides tea were sold in order to make a bigger profit.  Due to his religious and moral beliefs, instead of selling alcohol, (which was the most prominent tea alternative) he sold drinking chocolate.

A few years later, the one room shop was replaced for a larger factory to produce chocolate of their own.  By the time his sons took over the company in 1861, business was booming.  Since they worried about the well being of their employees, they moved the company to the country in the outskirts of Birmingham and built the village of Bournville.  The employees were provided low cost living, great wages, really good working conditions, a beautiful community to live in with clean air, outdoor recreational facilities, and the list goes on.  The respect the Cadbury family held for their employees was easily seen as Britt and I drove into Bournville, now a town, which we both commented we wouldn't mind living in at all.

But I'm not here to tell you about Bournville, or the way that the Cadbury family treated their employees.  I'm here to tell you about what truly made them famous, and the whole reason we even drove into Bournville.  I'm here to tell you about chocolate.  Now, I know I may be speaking to some dark chocolate fans out there, but when it comes to milk chocolate, Cadbury is hard to beat.  In fact, there are only two brands of milk chocolate I deem worthy enough (since moving to Europe) to put in my mouth, one being the Swiss brand named Milka, and the other, Cadbury.

When Britt and I stepped into the Cadbury factory, it was as if we had found Utopia. We doubted if there was anything better in the world.  It was a building flowing with milk and chocolate.  Before even setting off on our interactive tour, we were provided with chocolate.  During our journey through the factory we were given more chocolate, and we ended at the largest Cadbury store in existence.  All chocolates at a fraction of the cost of what would be found in regular stores. 

But we soon discovered that heaven extended beyond the building we had just spent a few hours in.  For, behind that building lies a shop in which they call Essence.  It is there where we discovered the secret behind Cadbury's great taste, along with sampling a cup full of melted milk chocolate mixed with toppings of our choice.  It couldn't have been a better chocolate experience had we dreamt it up ourselves.

Recently Kraft bought out Cadbury, worrying the British and myself.  Will the chocolate they produce in the future be as good as it is now?  Although I don't have an answer to that question, I have enough Cadbury chocolate to last me quite a few years just in case.