The NEWTREE Blog

Current Mood: Alarmed & Confused & Surprised

Have you ever found yourselves at 2:00 am at a 4-Stop crossing, wondering what possible sense it makes to come to a full stop only to gear the car back into full power in order to cross an intersection devoid of any signs of cars for miles? Or perhaps experienced crossing miles and miles of wilderness in a useless stop-and-go fashion, simply because every possible intersection has preventively been equipped with stop signs?

What does it do to our environment to bring our cars continuously to a stop, only to use the extra-gas to get started again? It is frustrating for oneself - and everyone around - to hear your car is just taking another big gulp rather than parsimoniously sipping the gas as it was before it hit the stop sign.

In Holland, two cities are experiencing the complete absence of traffic signs, except for an overall speed limit. Hans Monderman, a traffic engineer, studied the impact of traffic signs as well as the impact of their absence. While in their absence safety went up, pedestrians and drivers paradoxically felt the contrary: and it is exactly this ambiguity he was looking for.

Rather than clarity, he had created confusion and ambiguity. Unsure of what space belonged to them, what kind of road or intersection was creeping up, drivers tended to become more mindful about the environment through which they were driving: a village, a residential area. Rather than give drivers a simple behavioral mandate—say, a speed limit sign or a stop sign - he forced a different, more social and more sustainable course of action. In this way he used context to change behavior.

A Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist, Gary Lauder, came up with another creative idea and shows us how one stop sign can cost society over $2 million…

http://www.responsibilityproject.com/films/ted-talk-gary-lauder#fbid=2ArXT_IVSrM

Do you also think we would drive more carefully and use less energy if we were forced not to rely on the excessive number of stop signs we have?”

Current Mood: Cool

Written by Benoît, CEO  from NEWTREE

As you already know, since years we’ve been putting our passion for nature into our chocolates blending exceptional ingredients and astonishing flavours with premium chocolate. The result: NEWTREE Natural Born Chocolates: 100% made in Belgium, 100% Natural.

Nature provides NEWTREE with an inexhaustible resource of creative ideas and has become the platform from which our identities have grown. As such, everyone in our small office environment has donned a wonderful “TREE” nickname, which is representative of our role in the company.

Here are some examples.

Managing Director – THE CANOPY
Like the canopy of the tree, the Managing Director is responsible for taking NEWTREE to increasing heights

Financial Director – THE NECTAR
Like the nectar, which is the ultimate product of a tree, the financial director makes sure that NEWTREE produces plenty of “nectar” every year

Marketing Manager – THE FLOWER
Like the flower that promotes itself in order to attract insect and birds, the marketing manager is responsible for spreading the message about NEWTREE’s beauty and qualities.

Sales Manager – THE FRUIT
Like the fruit that promises moments of juicy pleasure, the sales manager gives our exiting customers the great promise of Natural Born Chocolates.

Export Manager – THE SEED
Like the seed responsible for transporting the genes and qualities of the three, the export manager is responsible for transporting NEWTREE’s Natural Born Chocolates all over the world.

Office administrator – THE BRANCH
Like a branch enabling the fruits, the seeds, the flowers, etc. to develop in full splendour, our account executives provide our staff with full back-up.

We would love to hear your suggestions for other creative personas and innovative thinking. Please, do not hesitate to share your ideas with us. www.facebook.com/NEWTREE. Thank you,

Benoît, THE CANOPY

Current Mood: Cool

Written by David from NEWTREE

As you know chocolate itself has been attributed many health virtues among which relaxation, stimulation, digestion and antioxidant properties. NEWTREE’s undertaking has been to put forward those qualities of chocolate.

In our products, a natural Belgian chocolate is magnified by the subtle mix of astonishing flavours with a functional ingredient.

For instance, in our range ETERNITY, we have added some natural active extracts from fruits and plants well-known for their antioxidants side. Our family range ETERNITY is currently made of 3 different flavours: Cherry, Blackcurrant and Mint, all of them combined with a high 73% cocoa content.

In ours bars with Cherry and Blackcurrant, we have simply added in our recipe a natural grape extract, while in our bar with Mint, we have added a natural green tea extract.

Both, grape and green tea, are famous for their antioxidants properties.

That’s why we called this range ETERNITY

Current Mood: Cool & Esctatic & Happy

Here are 2 reviews that were written by Bloggers in the US !

Written by CHOCOLATE RATINGS on July 23

Written by VIEWPOINTS on July 09

ENJOY these new flavors !!

Current Mood: Cool & Happy

Written by Isabelle from NEWTREE

Summer is here and announces the arrival of music festivals around the world. As you will need power and energy to jump and sing, we choose to highlight a special fruit that we use in two of our stimulating bars: the Guarana.

Guarana is a tropical small red fruit with a high content of an effective stimulant: guaranine. This small red fruit comes from Latin America, and more specially from Brazil. The people of the Amazon region in Brazil chew guaraná seeds as a source of energy or drink the powder dissolved in water.

This is explained by the tannins and saponins compounds of guarana which slow down the absorbtion of guaranine in our intestine. Stimulant, fortifiant, aphrodisiac, the guaranine also has similar attributes to caffeine.

You can find back a natural guarana extract on our bar flavoured with ginger and the one flavoured with pink pepper.

That is why we named our 2 bars SEXY. Stimulating bars with an aphrodisiac touch.

Enjoy the summer!!!

Current Mood: Cool

Written by Celia from NEWTREE

Who thought a chocolate could be flavoured with sun and freshness at once? NEWTREE has done it with lavender and bitter orange. Both these aromas have been traditionally used since long in the south of Europe for their relaxing fragrances.

Lavender smell is very commonly known from relaxing bath mixtures to aromatherapy. It is advised to vaporise this smell to create a warm & calm atmosphere. If applied to the temples, lavender oil is said to soothe headaches. Lavender is frequently used as an aid to sleep: seeds and flowers of the plant are added to pillows, and an infusion of three flower heads, added to a cup of boiling water is recommended as a soothing and relaxing bedtime drink.

Bitter Orange has a similar yet less famous history. The aroma is incorporated to food extracts for its appeasing effect.

With all that knowing, we used those ingredients to create our bars of a new kind. Additionally, we reinforced this relaxing side by adding to our chocolate a natural extract of lime blossom. Lime blossom has always been known for its relaxing properties.

That’s why we named our 2 bars TRANQUILITY.

So enjoy all your relaxing precious moments.

Current Mood: Alarmed

Written by Benoit from NEWTREE

S’il y a un point qui m’exaspère, c’est la politique belge des voitures de sociétés. Employeurs et employés en usent et en abusent. Pour causes ; nos charges patronales excessives. Pour principale victime; l’environnement. Sans m’attarder sur ces polémiques, je voudrais partager deux expériences positives pour réduire cette flotte de bagnole inutile. L’une personnelle et l’autre étant le fruit d’entrepreneurs Anglo-saxons. Il y a 3 mois, nous avons décidé de vendre notre mono volume et de ne garder que notre voiture hybride. « Impossible nous a-t-on dit», « Et les enfants ? », « Mais comment allez-vous faire? », « Le statut de cette hybride est en marge de tes fonctions », etc. La réponse est simple. On s’organise, on marche, on prend les transports en commun, on apprend aux enfants à se respecter dans un espace réduit, on achète un stock de rustines et on prend beaucoup de plaisir au grand air. D’ailleurs, depuis que je viens au bureau en vélo, j’ai parcouru plus de 3.500km, soit une belle économie d’émissions de CO2 et autres polluants. La deuxième expérience relayée par The Economist de cette semaine concerne deux initiatives louables de start-up, RelayRides (Boston, Massachusetts) et WhipCar (Londres, créée ce 21 avril). Ces dernières poussent plus loin l’idée positive du car-sharing, un marché destiné à exploser dans les prochaines décennies, où les propriétaires de voitures forment des groupes qui s’échangent leur véhicule contre rémunération. Belles initiatives.

Pourvu que ces deux expériences soient contagieuses. Vive la Nature.

Current Mood: Cool

Written by Benoit from NEWTREE

EN

Here’s the short story about my recent trip.

Last Sunday, I had an early start, at 6.25 am.  Then I headed into the direction of my laptop to check some “heavenly” news, “Due to the volcanic cloud moving through the airspace of northern Europe, American Airlines regrets to inform you that its flights between Europe and United States have been cancelled.”

With Uncle Sam liking our chocolate a lot, I’ve been going to the US every month lately. But not this Sunday: the volcano had made some different decisions. So here I am, stuck to the ground looking at the perfectly blue sky above me. So I decided to enjoy it to the fullest while remembering a phrase by Proust that I’ve always found very valuable: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes .”

Here is the result of a beautiful walk in the woods and across fields, taken by my daughter with my camera! Vive la Nature!

Current Mood: Playful

There’s a lot written on how to taste wine, but do you know that chocolate tasting is an art and science on its own?

Chocolate should be experienced, not just eaten.

And you can experience it in so many ways! Breathe in the chocolaty aromas, gaze at the glossy brown surface, listen for the distinctive snap of a gourmet chocolate bar being broken.

Similar to wine tasting, chocolate tasting is an experience that expands far beyond taste. It engages all of your senses at once so it’s better to take time to savor chocolate in order to have a profound tasting experience.  Here are some tips:

TAKE SOME TIME TO ENJOY THE SMELL OF CHOCOLATE

The smell of gourmet chocolate can be as rich as the taste. Fresh chocolate smells sweet and well, chocolaty. Close your eyes, breathe, and take in its tempting characteristics - floral lavender, sun-ripened apricots, subtly spicy ginger.

SAVOR THE BEST FOR LAST

Avoid sensory overload by tasting small pieces. Did you know that the melting point of chocolate is the same as body temperature? Let the chocolate melt in your mouth for a few seconds and enjoy the primary flavors and aromas. Quality chocolate feels firm and will melt cleanly without waxy, sticky or grainy textures. Biting into the chocolate will release secondary flavors, but don’t stop there.

Roll the chocolate around on your tongue to awaken the four taste zones - sweet and salty (tip of the tongue), sour (sides) and bitter (back).

RINSE AND REPEAT

Cleanse your palate and indulge again! If you want to know which foods to combine chocolate with, read this post.

Current Mood: Cool

With this post, we announce the start of the March tree photo competition, with an exciting prize to be disclosed soon!

This means that NEWTREE’s fans can already start uploading their photos of March trees on our Facebook page.

To launch our  competition, our jury member Cécile Bolly has shared this beautiful photo with us. As described back in November, Cécile is a member of the jury which will vote for the best photo of each month. Cécile is also an author of a book La Magie des Arbres.

Enjoy this photo and share your photographic talent with us! Don’t forget that you have to be the author of the photos you share on our Facebook wall, and that they express the spirit of the month of March!

Photo by our jury member Cécile Bolly - not part of our competition