Choffy Tasting

THE PARTY!

 It's been a week since my tasting party for Choffy. To make this a little different than other reviews that I have seen, I decided to see what some of my friends thought of Choffy as well.  So, I sent out the invites, cleaned the house, and made way for 15 of my closest friends to come and TASTE!

If you don't know anything about Choffy, it's brewed hot chocolate.  This isn't full of sugars and powdered milk like your normal hot chocolate.  Nope, this is the pure stuff.  100% pure, roasted, cacao bean! The beans are roasted, ground, and even prepared like coffee (best done in a french press,) without the side effects of coffee such as caffeine or tannin.  Sound to good to be true? Just wait!

According the the Choffy website, an 8oz cup of Choffy has more antioxidants in it than almost two servings of blueberries! PLUS,  Choffy naturally contains a gentle yet long lasting stimulant called Theobromine. This healthy stimulant provides you with a energy lift by dilating the cardiovascular system, making the heart’s job easier and delivers energy without a crash or the other negative effects of caffeine.

To sum up: Choffy is a "healthy" hot chocolate that gives an energy boost similar to coffee....without the addiction.

THE TASTE

Choffy currently comes in three flavors: The original Ivory Coast blend, Ivory Coast Dark, and El Espanola (the flavor that is supposed to be the closest to coffee.)

Ok, here we get down to the nitty gritty!  When I first tasted Choffy, I was given the Ivory Roast- Dark flavor to taste.  I thought that I would be brave and try it just straight.  As you can imagine, it was bitter.  The taste reminded me a lot of eating 100% pure dark chocolate would taste like... go figure.  Having said that, there were 2 of my friends that actually LIKED it this way the best! After I tried a few blends of almond milk, cinnamon, peppermint, coconut milk, etc, I wasn't THRILLED with any of them and decided to wait for the tasting party.  I figured that I was probably doing something wrong.

At the party, we were able to try all three flavors with multiple creamers and sweeteners to create our favorite combination. The Ivory Coast Dark was iced, the other two were hot.

Christmas in a Cup

Our presenter was a friend of mine that I found out actually sold it. I had to hunt her down and ask her to do a tasting party for me.  She accepted and did a great job. After taking about 10 minutes to tell us about the benefits of Choffy, she let us go at it.

We had a lot of fun!  My favorite combination was the Original Ivory Coast with the peppermint patty creamer and a little cinnamon and nutmeg.  OH. MY. GOSH!  It's Christmas in a cup!  I also tried the pumpkin spice creamer.  That was tasty! Finding the right balance of sweetener, creamer, and choffy is really important.  It took me SEVEN different cups to find my favorite Choffy flavor, creamer and sweetener (which I don't add.) I DEFINITELY liked it better this time around than I did when I first tried it.  My second favorite blend was the Dark, and the Espanola was last.

WHAT THE FRIENDS THOUGHT
My friends had various responses.  Some of them loved it right off the bat!  Others took a little more convincing.  I actually had one friend that didn't like it at all- but she bought a bag!!  When I asked her why, she told me that she thought that maybe it would grow on her. At the time, she was drinking hot chocolate every morning to give her some energy.  Two days after the party, she called me and told me that she made it with coconut milk and said that she LOVED it!

Another friend bought a bag for herself and members of her family!  And yet, another one, liked it just straight with a little sugar and left my house to go order some!

THE VERDICT
This is really something that you have to try for yourself to see what you think.  However, at $15 per bag plus the cost of a french press (if you don't own one) it can be a costly venture just to "try."  My best advice would be to attend a tasting party or throw one of your own.  This way you can try all of the flavors that you want and not have to worry about getting the wrong kind.  If you like it, you can make the jump and purchase the french press- like I did.

I really like this!  It is not as thick as your normal hot chocolate, and not as sweet (unless you add a lot of sugar or other sweetener.) I am not one that drinks coffee every day nor do I drink hot chocolate every day, but I think that this will remain a staple in my house as a nice treat!



HOW TO BUY
Choffy is sold through independent distributors. You can purchase on the website, and skip the distributor, but if you know someone that sells it, you might as well give them the commission that they are trying to earn. If you don't already have a friend that sells it, I would suggest ordering from my friend Kristie.  She is super nice and is genuinely willing to just let you order and not pressure you into becoming a distributor (something I think we ALL can appreciate!) You can access her website HERE.  Be sure to put in 124539 as the referral number!

As a healthier alternative to hot chocolate that tastes just as good, I suggest that you give Choffy a try!