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!

My MOTIVATION to a Healthier Lifestyle

It's time for another GIVEAWAY (Click HERE to enter) and, to get one entry, people have to answer the question:

What motivates you to live a healthier lifestyle?

I thought that it was probably only fair to answer this question myself. And, since it's my blog, I get to EXPLAIN my motivation as well.

One night, I had a dream, probably brought on by my mother telling me about a similar dream that she had, where I met my Savior. He told me that he was proud of me and how I lived my life. Then, he looked into my eyes and asked:

"But Cindy, I gave you a beautiful body. What did you do with my gift? Did you treat it with respect? Did you love it?  Why did you spend most of your life either neglecting this gift physically, or neglecting it emotionally? You truly loved your neighbor... why did you not love yourself? YOU are a daughter of God. This is a great commandment that was not fulfilled."

Now, keep in mind that this was a dream and I am not claiming to know what the Savior might say in this situation. BUT, this is what he said in the dream. Either way.... it made me think. I HAVE spent a good portion of my life feeling insecure, hating my body, hating the way that I looked and felt.  I was in the downward spiral of apathy. 

FACT: I didn't take care of my body. I didn't nourish it physically OR emotionally. 

Another night, not too long ago, I had a dream that my boys were in danger. I had to climb over a wall and run a up five flights of stairs to get to them. I couldn't do it! I was not strong enough to lift my body weight, and too weak to make it up the 5 flights of stairs! I woke up in tears because I wasn't healthy enough to save them.

FACT: In real life, there is NO WAY that I would have made it over the wall OR up the stairs. 

These are EXACTLY like the stairs in my dream.
Creepy, unstable, and scary. I'm sure that there
is some psychological reason for that.

Finally, on yet ANOTHER night, 5 months ago, I started a LONG journey.  I KNEW that it would be a long journey because I had many stops to make along the way.  I had many things to learn and to accept.  I still do.  But I made the decision to REALLY change, morph, convert into a healthier person. I knew that I wasn't looking for a program, pill, shake, or any outside factor to give me answers.  The answers, and the change, had to come from within. True change is a long, slow, but lasting process. Something clicked inside and, that night, I started The Healthy Redhead.  I defined my goals, I built support, I hoped to become support for others. I started on the journey. And, I'm still here. Still working. Still on the journey, but not still the same person that started. 

FACT: My life changed.... For Good. 

I might not have reached my goal weight in the first 4 months.... I think that's good!!  That tells me that I am taking my time, carefully making decisions that affect my body and outcome. I think that if you read through the blog, you will see that my opinions have changed, my goals changed, I feel like I am on a higher level than I started, and I continue to grow! I started out with the motivation to "lose weight,"  a term that makes me shudder now. 

FACT...MAYBE OPINION: 

We would struggle to find a person in this world that isn't trying to better themselves. 

My way might not work for you, but I share it with you so that you can decide.  I share it with you because I NEED to.  I need to be accountable for my dealings with myself, and I need to make my experiences available to others on the off chance that it might help someone else. Do I think that EVERYONE needs to share their most uncomfortable thoughts, experiences and pictures all over the internet for people to see???  OF COURSE NOT!  I'm sort of wondering about my own sanity for doing that.  But, I DO think that EVERYONE needs to look at themselves in the mirror and define WHAT their MOTIVATION is!  

FACT: I live a healthy lifestyle so that I can have a healthier heart and enjoy the sunshine!

I live to enjoy my boys to the fullest extent possible; so that nothing can come between me and playing with them, or even saving their life one day ( I will conquer the stairs!) I will be strong enough to lift them, out run them (only sometimes,) play with them, and teach them. I live a healthy lifestyle so that my family knows that THEIR health is important to me. It's important to me that THEY eat healthy foods, be involved in healthy activities, and have healthy attitudes. They are my heart and my sunshine! 


       FACT: I will be able to look HIM in they eye and smile with confidence in the life I led. 

I live a healthy life so that I can look my Savior in the eye and tell him that I DID take care of this beautiful body that he gave me. I fueled it with good food, thoughts, and activities. 

Now you know WHY I ask YOU..... 

What is YOUR motivation to live a healthier lifestyle? 

Decide NOW. Make it strong. Make it lasting. Write it down so that you will NEVER forget WHY you are doing this!  WHAT makes it worth the ups, downs, tears, sweat, and struggle.