Kopali Organic Chocolate Cacao Nibs & Espresso Beans

Back in October, I spotlighted a bunch of Fair Trade products. One of my favorites of the bunch was the Kopali Organic Chocolate Covered Bananas. Well, word got back to Kopali and they contacted me to see if I would be interested in reviewing two of their other products, Organic Chocolate Covered Cacao Nibs and Organic Chocolate Covered Espresso Bean. And of course I said yes!

I gave the Cacao Nibs a whirl first. Basically you are eating chocolate covered cocoa, a chocolate lover's dream. I liked that they were nice and tiny, like little pebbles. Unsurprisingly, I ate them all within minutes. Definitely something I would buy again. Next was the Espresso Beans. I'm admittedly not a coffee lover, but I have had chocolate covered beans before and enjoyed them. These were no different! Granted, I didn't eat the whole bag right away like the Cacao Nibs, but there was a nice balance between the chocolate and the coffee bean. Which begs the question, is there anything that tastes bad dipped in chocolate?

So if you are looking for a little bit more punch to your chocolate obsession, take a look at Kopali Organic Chocolate Cacao Nibs or Espresso Beans. You can find them at you local Whole Foods.

Fair Trade Month!

October is Fair Trade Month and I'm happy to be reviewing a ton of socially responsible products. Katie from Fair Trade USA went out her way to send me some of the best Fair Trade products that are also Vegan. For those of you who aren't familiar with concept of Fair Trade, it's basically a movement to alleviate poverty in developing nations, while ensuring consumers quality products that improve lives and protect the environment. So when you see a product with the Fair Trade Logo, you can be assured that the product is a good one!  

Kopali Organic Chocolate Covered Banana. These are nom city! I ate the whole package right away. Well, after I took the picture anyway. They are little banana bits, which are easier to eat when compare to large banana slices. They taste wonderful and I hope to see them in the store soon!

Alter Ego Dark Quinoa Dark Chocolate. Who knew? Quinoa and chocolate are AMAZING! The quinoa gives the chocolate the perfect crispness. Sort of like a Crunch bar, but totally Fair Trade chocolate. Buy it ASAP.

Madhava Organic Raw Agave Nectar. Agave is a great sweetener that is usually on the counter at my house. I personally don't use it, but my coffee/tea drinking girlfriend swears by it.   

Sweet Riot Chocolate Kickin' Coconut Bar. Another amazing Organic chocolate bar, but this time it's got coconut! Oodles of sweet delicious coconut covered in dark chocolate. Another ASAP buy! 

Rishi Organic Pu-Ern Ginger Tea. A spicy, potent, gingery tea. Great for Sunday morning breakfast!

Honest Tea Black Forest Tea. A delightfully berry tinged non-caffeinated iced tea. Great when you don't want anything overpowering sweet.

And if that wasn't enough, Coconut Bliss was kind enough to include a free coupon for giveaway! (**Updated 10/16** Fair Trade USA will also send you an above product of your choice plus a Fair Trade Tote Bag!) All you have to do is comment down below which of these products you are most excited to try. I will randomly pick a winner, Wednesday at 4pm CST. Also, look for a Vegan MoFo Fair Trade giveaway soon! Thank you to Fair Trade USA for promoting these wonderful products. Remember to look for the Fair Trade label!

Lagusta's Luscious Tabby Toffees For The Teal Cat Project

As you may have noticed, I have a Teal Cat Project link on my blog. Isa Chandra Moskowitz started the Teal Cat Project last year to help the feral cat population across the country. Cats are near and dear to my heart so it was a no-brainier to volunteer for the project. One of Teal Cats newest fundraisers is the Tabby Toffee Chocolate Box from Lagusta's Luscious. As you can see, they are super adorable, organic and fair trade! The Tabby Toffees are $20, with $10 going directly to the TCP.

What a cute box! Isn't the Teal Cat Logo by Anna Dorfman adorable?

You get four Tabby Toffies and three Solid Birds. The Tabbies are delicious! The chocolate exterior is phenomenal. Dark, rich and bittersweet, it's the perfect contrast for the sweet caramelly filling.

You can see the gooey butterscotch and milk chocolate ganache inside. So do yourself a favor and buy a box of Tabby Toffees and while you are at it, check out Lagusta's AMAZING Smoky Corn on the Cob Chocolate Bar, it's heavenly!

Gratitude Gourmet Vegan Chocolate Sampler

Gratitude Gourmet sent me their new Vegan Chocolate Sampler to test out. How could I refuse? The chocolate is fair trade and made in California. Inside is a nice variety of chocolates, jellies, pretzels and even coffee beans. So let's open it up and take a look!

My favorite of the five selections was the Orange Batons. I've never had anything quite like it before. It's a long orange jelly dipped in chocolate. The citrus flavor mixed with the chocolate is heavenly. I wouldn't mind a whole box of these!

Chocolate Coated Pretzels. I found these to be just ok, your average pretzel with chocolate. Not bad mind you, just saying.

Fruit Pate de Fruit. These were a nice break from all the chocolates. Similar to the orange jelly, it's a raspberry jelly square. I'd love to try a box with different fruit flavors.

Vegan Hazelnut-Berry. A nice mix of chocolate and berry jelly. There was a hint of hazelnut but a little bit more would have been better. Overall, though, I liked it.

Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans. I'm not a fan of coffee AT ALL but I decided to try a couple. While I would never eat a ton of these, they did have an interesting flavor. I didn't even know you could eat coffee beans much less dip them in chocolate.

So if you are looking for a nice Vegan chocolate sampler for Valentines Day's, Gratitude Gourmet would make a great choice!

Lagusta's Luscious Organic Fair Trade Chocolate

I hit the jackpot this year as my Chanukah present was a TON of chocolates from Lagusta's Luscious. I've never had anything from Lagusta before, so I was pretty excited. For the uninformed, Lagusta's Luscious is run by Lagusta Umani out of a cute little shop in New Paltz, New York. All of the chocolates are made with high quality ingredients that are Vegan, organic and fair trade.

Anything with peanut butter gets my attention and these Pauline Benjamin Peanut Butter Cups sure did. The pb was nice and gooey, almost like a peanut butter caramel.

You can see how gooey they were! If you are a pb fiend, you will die over these.

Next up are two gourmet chocolate bars, the Caramel Chile Bar and the Smoky Corn on the Cob. Two non-traditional flavors in a chocolate bar that both turned out to be AMAZING.

Caramel Chile had a nice sweet & spicy flavor in addition to a delicious syrupy inside. This is the one for you heat lovers. The Smoky Corn Bar was something of a revelation and my favorite of all the chocolates. Corn is one of my favorite foods but I never pictured it could be such a compliment to chocolate and visa versa. If you take nothing else from this blog post, please buy a couple of these bars and go to heaven.

It's that time of year and peppermint and chocolate are everywhere! Lagusta's Peppermint Bark is a pound of chocolate with homemade peppermint candy pieces.

At first sight, I wondered how on earth I was going to eat a pound of peppermint bark. But after a couple bites I realized a) it's delicious and b) I should share.

So when you are thinking of sending some chocolate to a loved one, make sure you check out Lagusta's Luscious for amazing chocolates!