Blue Stripes - Chocolate Covered Whole Cacao Beans Hazelnut Butter - Aug. 19, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Blue Stripes Urban Cacao
Chocolate Covered Whole Cacao Beans Hazelnut Butter
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 4 oz. (113 g.) in total package
Calories: 150 calories in 1 serving
Cost: $ N/A - part of a multi-item ($31.99) gift box order
Purchased from: Blue Stripes, online order (part of a larger gift box order)

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Nuts Theme Week.

Today's Chocolate Covered Whole Cacao Beans Hazelnut Butter offering was distributed by Blue Stripes LLC (New York, NY). The company offers a variety of products that use the whole cacao pod ("shell + fruit + beans").

Aroma notes for this whole cacao confection included: subtle chocolate and dried fruit (raisin, mango, citrus), gently roasted cacao and faint nuts/nut butter.

These generously sized rounds offered a high-contrast creamy (chocolate and hazelnut butter) and crunchy (whole cacao beans) experience--as I enjoyed tasting the "whole" cacao pod: cacao shell, cacao fruit and cacao bean, in layered form.

Flavor notes for the sweeter outer layer(s) included relatively subtle chocolate, very faint fruit, and hazelnut butter. This relatively thick, creamy outer layer(s) melted away fairly quickly.

Soon I was biting into the crunchy whole, unsweetened cacao bean center. It was slightly fibrous (cacao nib-like texture), nutty and seedy, with subtle (balanced) bitter flavor notes. If you like cacao nibs, you'll appreciate the opportunity to taste the whole, cacao bean.

You also may feel a theobromine buzz if you eat too many pieces. Theobromine, a close cousin to caffeine, is the stimulant present in cacao beans--and to lesser extent in other plants like tea and kola nuts.*

Ingredients: Whole Cacao Blend (70% Chocolate [Cacao Mass, Coconut Sugar, Cacao Butter], Cacao Shell Fiber, Cacao Fruit Sugar), Hazelnut Butter, Whole Cacao Beans, Sea Salt.

Allergen-related information: Contains Hazelnut, Coconut.

*Theobromine is a naturally-occurring plant alkaloid and stimulant. (Bitter tasting plant alkaloids evolved as a defense mechanism for plants, to help to deter would be "predators"/consumers in the wild.)

Just as some people have a lower tolerance for caffeine-containing plants (coffee, guarana), be aware that some people may be more affected by theobromine than others. And for 9-10% of humans (and many other species) who may have problems processing this alkaloid, too much theobromine may not feel so great.