This short 5-6 minute video is an informal interview of a group/village of Cocoa farmers on the Ivory Coast of Africa. The video is equally parts funny and heart breaking. I’d love to get you, the readers take on this short video. What did you think was funny and what parts made you stop and really think?
Tag Archives: Chocolate bar
Say hello to ALOHA! Superfood Chocolate from: ALOHA
Oh man I’m excited, chocolate by mail? What would be better, aside from having it hand delivered to your mouth.
Enter ALOHA chocolate company’s Superfood Chocolate bar.
Now superfood gets tossed around as a catch-all phrase for nearly everything these days that vaguely resembles a fruit, seed, or vegetable., can it really apply to chocolate? Why yes it can! Directly from their site here are some of the ingredients in their Superfood Chocolate bar. “Organic Spirulina, Organic Spinach, Organic Peas, Organic Moringa, Organic Wheatgrass Juice, Organic Young Coconut Water, Organic White Button Mushrooms (Fruiting Body), Hawaiian Red Alaea Salt, Organic Cacao, Organic Maple Sugar, Organic Coconut Sugar, Organic Beet”
Click the picture to zoom in and read the whole ingredients panel.
Color/Appearance~9/10
A nice mellow brown, the color of chocolate in fact! No frilly prints or intricate patterns here. This bar features 5 simple words: Love, Shine, Bliss, Happy, Amaze. It reminds you of the phrases you’re taught as a mantra in the leadership course you took that one summer in high school, remember? It’s also reminiscent of a mindfulness (Read: Meditation) mantra, which actually I find endearing. More on mindful eating here if you’re interested. As always scoring for portion size is appreciated but may prove fruitless as you’ll probably want to eat the bar in a single sitting. Also just to screw with you its divided into 5 pieces but the serving size is half a bar, thanks ALOHA now I have a complex to go with my chocolate.
Texture~10/10
If you’ve never had raw chocolate you’re in for a treat! This isn’t creamy, it isn’t gritty, its just right, its a texture that distinct to raw chocolate. (I can’t seem to verify from the website that this is a truly raw product, and their customer relations line isn’t open on week ends. However this bar is distinctly the texture of raw chocolates)
Taste~10!!/10
Golly is it good, so good! When I tell friends about this bar I find my self gushing in the manner of a 90’s tween discussing the latest frosted tipped hair, white jeans sporting, indoor sunglasses wearing, boy band sensation. Its dark and dry with a fine red wine paired with an in-you-face unapologetic crunch.
Fun factor~9/10
It is chocolate by mail, what is more fun than that?! But CBTW you can order lots of chocolate by mail. Hush, hush I know. Being that this is the first chocolate I’ve ordered by mail its something special. From the packaging, to their well done website, to the incredibly fun part of eating it, it has earned its 9/10.
Summary
Visual pun totally intended.
It doesn’t seem that you can purchase this item in store, but you can order it directly to your front door by mail. Available in parcels of 1,3, and 6 you simply go to their site and set up a subscription to auto deliver. You may also click here (disclaimer: Its a referral link) if you’d like me to earn more free delicious chocolate while you grab your own. Over all conclusion, love at first bite!
Coconut from: Lily’s Dark Chocolate
So I’m a couple days late on my next review. But this one was well worth the wait!
Coconut by Lily’s Dark Chocolate
Color/Appearance~7.5/10
This bar lacks the deep smooth brown of other dark chocolate, however being a %55 cocoa it seems right on par . The repeated stamped “CHOCOLATE” was perhaps lacking in originality but added a fun eclectic touch anyway. Scoring lines are almost always a welcome touch as they helped lend a hand in moderation… something that was rather difficult with this selection.
Texture~8/10
When it comes to texture, this bar was a knock out. I’m not usually a big fan of coconut in, well anything. However in the case of this bar it added a complex heterogeneity of texture not found in other bars.
Taste~9.5/10
I couldn’t put it down, seriously! Stevia, an unusual choice for sweetener, and something I’m not a fan of in general. Here though, it was a winner! The bar was silky sweet with out over doing it, and the coconut was significant contribution to the taste but manages not to overpower the all important chocolate.
Fun factor~7.8/10
Creative but not over the top package presentation, paired with classic inner gold foil lends its self well to an overall pleasing aesthetic presentation. Saving an alleged “25%” calories, is fun for sure… though lets be real here, you’re eating a chocolate bar. Additionally there’s a heartwarming story to the name of the chocolate, see http://www.lilyssweets.com/lilys-story
Additional notes: Lily’s Coconut incredibly tasty product with “no added sugar”, fair trade, and supports the American Childhood Cancer Foundation http://www.acco.org/
You can visit Lily’s site @ http://www.lilyssweets.com/
Summary: A surprisingly good bar with unexpected flair.
Image
Maya Gold from : Green and Black’s Organic
Maya Gold by Green and Black’s Organic
Color/Appearance~6/10
Disappointingly the bar itself lacked the deep smooth brown I’ve come to expect from higher percentage dark chocolate. However the stamped familiar leaf logo added a nice aesthetic touch and the scoring lines were a welcome touch as it lends to easy parceling of the bar for a whole weeks worth of enjoyment.
Texture~6/10
While not overly displeasing the texture of this particular chocolate lacked any standout qualities. I found it to be relatively smooth with a slight grit possibly attributed to a minimal amount of processing of the spices used.
Taste~6/10
I really wanted to give better marks here, considering how much I’ve enjoyed other Green and Black’s confections but I just couldn’t. Yes the front text describes the following “Dark Chocolate infused with subtle flavors of orange and delicate spices.” Unfortunately the orange was not so subtle, actually it was borderline distracting overwhelming both the delicate spices and chocolate as a whole. The delicate spices were notable and did add a very nice touch to the taste pallet, but just didn’t balance well with the slightly overwhelming orange flavor.
Fun factor~8/10
Here’s an area where as usual Green and Black’s tends to make a statement. The presentation, from the simple yet elegantly designed outer packaging to the delicate gold foil wrapping inside is both classic in its execution and tastefully modern.
Additional notes: Yay for Kraft for producing a theoretically organic chocolate bar (see USDA Organic seal). Labeled as “Suitable for Vegetarians”, I believe the bar also qualifies as Vegan but I won’t sear by it. Also kudos for making a Fair trade product (www.info.fairtrade.net)
Summary: Over all not a disappointing experience, but not something to write home about. An uncommon miss for Green and Black’s.
chocolatebytheweek 