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Honest CocoaNova

By Bryn Kirk on March 15, 2011 | Comments (1)

I enjoy chocolate and tea. I don’t mean hot tea with a chocolate pastry (which I’m not opposed to) but today I mean chocolate covered tea flavored chocolates like dark chocolate Early Grey truffles or Chai milk chocolate bars.

But this new product by Honest Tea company is innovative and well, a bit strange sounding. Introducing Honest CocoaNova, a product line of brewed cocoa infusion beverages.

Each Honest CocoaNova drink contains 50 mg of theobromine and other antioxidants. The drink is made with USDA Certified Organic and Fair Trade Certified™ cacao beans.

According to the website, www.honesttea.com, Honest CocoaNova “provides a light, satisfying taste for a guilt-free treat with only 50 calories in a 10 fl. oz. bottle. It is cocoa as you’ve never known it.”

The cacao beans are ground into a natural cocoa powder (processed without an alkalizing agent) which is then made with a patent-pending process to create the chocolate brew.

Honest CocoaNova comes in three varieties; Mint Cacao, Mocha Cacao, and Cherry Cacao.

Honest Tea is an organic bottled tea company that started in 1998. The mission of the company is to make truly healthy organic beverages sweetened with less sugar and fewer calories than other bottled drinks.

Categories: chocolate in the news
Tags: chocolate drinks, fair trade, organic chocolate, tea, theobromine

Green and Black’s Dark 70%

By Bryn Kirk on October 4, 2010 | Comments (0)

Green and Black’s chocolates are some of my favorite chocolates. Not long ago I reviewed several flavors from their box of miniature bar collection.

The 70% dark chocolate bar is intensely chocolate with fruity notes and a very smooth texture. The aroma of the bar emits chocolate, coffee, and little leather.

The term “70%” represents the amount of cocoa solids by combining the chocolate liquor (cocoa mass) and cocoa butter. The cocoa butter coats the solid cocoa and sugar particles to allow a clean and slow melt in the mouth.

Green and Black’s is a bean to bar product meaning that every step of production is controlled and approved at the highest quality standards of the company.

Green and Black’s boasts that both the type of bean they select (Trinitario) and the extra time they spend conching (mixing and cooking) makes their award winning taste profile the reason people keep enjoying bar after bar.

They also believe in using only organic ingredients. “Created Without Compromise” is the culture and practice of Green and Blacks.

You can enjoy a bar of Green and Blacks 70% on so many levels!

Categories: chocolate review
Tags: chocolate liquor, conching, green & black's, organic chocolate, trinitario

“Feel Good” Chocolate that Tastes Good Too

By Bryn Kirk on August 2, 2010 | Comments (0)

Seeds of Change says their chocolates are “a happy accident” that began as a mission to preserve organic and heirloom seeds from getting swept away by a progressive industrial agriculture. Their appetite for change lead them directly to chocolate as part of their search for delicious organic food.

My first experience with Seeds of Change came from an organic dark chocolate orange and fig chocolate bar. The fig flavor comes from fragrant, dried, and chewy pieces of fig; while the orange flavor comes from oil of orange. The combination is remarkably delicious. The texture is very unique because the fig not only offers the chewiness but also the crunch of tiny seeds.

At first, this put me off because it felt a little like having sand in my mouth, but this odd sensation did not last long. The orange essence is soft and delicate and blends well with the complexity of the chocolate.

I always like it when a label reads like a novel. Both sides of this chocolate bar wrapper have plenty to say about the mission, vision, and history of Seeds of Change. My favorite part is the little side story about the fig ingredient. Bet you didn’t know they use only figs from the female fig tree because they are superior to that of the male fig tree figs. And yes, they unashamedly admit they are fruitist!

Next on my list to try is their milk chocolate with apricot and cashew.
Here’s the feel good part. According to the website www.seedsofchange.co.us, their guiding principle is this: “Everyone has the right to eat well. To eat a balanced and diverse diet of pure, wholesome, natural and nutritious food. Food you feel confident about feeding to your family.” Plus 1% of sales go to research and promotion of biodiversity and sustainable organic practices.

I can’t see a down-side to buying and eating a Seeds of Change chocolate bar. On the one hand, you have a satisfyingly delicious chocolate bar and on the other hand, you help support the preservation of a sustained chocolate supply and lasting rainforest biodiversity. That’s a win-win!

Categories: chocolate review
Tags: candy bars, dark chocolate, organic chocolate

Chocolate Adventures in England – Green & Black’s

By Bryn Kirk on February 15, 2010 | Comments (0)

Green and Black’s Organic Chocolate. Have you seen these chocolate bars in the stores and pharmacies of your neighborhood? Green and Black’s is definitely all over London! G&B is an English chocolate company started in 1991. The founders “set out to bring to the masses the world’s first organic chocolate.” You can visit them at www.greenandblacks.com.

The Green and Black’s 70% Organic Dark Chocolate was the first on the scene. Since then, the product line has expanded to include more varieties of chocolate bars, baking chocolate, hot chocolate, and ice cream.

Yes – Ice Cream!

I just finished a bowl of Green and Black’s Organic Chocolate Ice Cream with bittersweet dark chocolate made with fresh cream. They do not use cocoa powder, they use real dark chocolate. The intense chocolate flavor notes come off at the beginning and last through out the entire mouthful.

There is a short melt in the mouth and that means the chocolate is quick to finish. I wish it wouldn’t. The texture is fluffy and light and perhaps that is what slightly disappoints me. The airiness of the chocolate makes the flavor dissipate too quickly. Overall the flavor is simply delicious and decadent, but over too fast.

I learned that the name Green and Black’s comes from the company’s commitment to both the tradition of great chocolate and the support of responsible farming, thus Green for the environment and Black (or almost black) for the rich color of chocolate.

If you can’t find the ice cream, indulge yourself with a Green and Black’s chocolate bar. You’ll be doing yourself and the planet a favor.

Categories: chocolate review
Tags: chocolate bars, dark chocolate, grocery product, ice cream, organic chocolate

Trader Joe’s Milk and Dark Chocolate

By Bryn Kirk on February 4, 2010 | Comments (0)

The bright purple wrapper of Trader Joe’s Organic Super Dark Chocolate and the equally bright pink packaging of Trader Joe’s Swiss Milk Chocolate certainly catch the attention of shoppers lining up in the check out lane. But what really got MY attention were the claims on the label.

The organic, 73% super dark chocolate bar reads “this bar is not for the faint of heart.” The Swiss milk says “incomparable flavor!”

Hmmm. Sounds like challenges I can’t ignore!

In order to collect as much data as possible, I took the bars to the office and shared the tasting experience with my work mates.

In a unanimous outcome, 4 out of 4 agreed that the organic dark was DELICIOUS. I tasted a good percentage of Ecuadorian in the formula and since that is one my favorite flavor profiles I gave the thumbs up as well. This chocolate starts out with strong roasted cocoa and fruity notes and finishes with a small bitter kick. It leaves a lasting impression of overall smoothness and well-balanced character.

3 out of 4 voted the milk chocolate was GOOD but on the edge of being too intensely milky and creamy. It should taste milky and creamy because it has 23% milk solids. This is almost double the amount of milk that would be required to call it milk chocolate in the United States.

One person did not favor the lingering milky aftertaste stating that it left her with “unpleasant milk breath.”

I would have appreciated more toffee-like notes instead of milky notes. The longer a milk chocolate is cooked and mixed (a process called “conched”) the more caramel or toffee flavor comes out.

We enjoyed both chocolate bars but the 73% dark won the day. I guess we are not faint of heart afterall!

Categories: chocolate review
Tags: chocolate bars, dark chocolate, grocery product, milk chocolate, organic chocolate

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