"My new best friend in the whole world, Lauren, sent me chocolate in the mail. New chocolate. Chocolate I had never tasted or even ever heard of. I love Lauren now and will begin stalking her immediately…

…Lauren (Instigator of Cool Communities) is from Sweetriot. Sweetriot is an intriguing little chocolate making venture out of New York City. Their product is chocolate covered cocoa nibs. Nibs? Yes, those are cocoa beans that are roasted and ready for the conching machine at the chocolate factory. I’ve had them in chocolate bars before, but not just chocolate covered. There’s a difference, there’s more nib than chocolate and the flavor is therefore totally different.

So the stuff comes in this little cup with three small 1 oz. tins. Three flavors. Flavor 50, 65, and 70. And as you might suspect, the numbers represent the cacao content in the chocolate. Flavor 70 has espresso in the chocolate.

• Flavor 50 - This is low cocoa content so its seems very sweet to me. I liked the contrast to the crunchy nibs. And by the way, the nibs are not gritty like I get often with other products. Its good that they crunch, but if they are too hard its like eating sand. These were good. This flavor is a good basic flavor for someone who wants to try these but doesn’t usually like dark chocolate.
• Flavor 65 - Very different. Its had almost a fruity taste to it when you first put it in your mouth. I’d be really interested to know where they get their chocolate from. I really liked this one alot. Lots of dark, fruity overtones, and chocolate. Nice!
• Flavor 70 - Now, let me say I don’t normally like espresso. I’ve had chocolate covered espresso beans before but they really aren’t my thing. For people who like esperesso chocolate, this is probably a very good choice for them. From what I can tell of the chocolate, its still very good and its the same quality nibs as the others.
• Flavor 70 cinn? Sadly I did not try this one, but it looks good too. 70% chocolate with a bit of cinnamon.

So overall these are marvelous flavors and I would encourage anyone to try them. Apparently, I’m the last chocolate related blog to find out about this, mostly because I’m slow and don’t get out much.

A bit about the product, its all-natural, dairy-free, kosher (although I don’t know the certification, they do have a Hanukkah pack) and gluten free.

There’s a lot more to Sweetriot than I can explain here but it’s a company with a mission. Read about it here. The company was found by Mastermind and Chief Rioter, Sarah E. Endline. They have a sweetriot blog. There’s lots of cool links about the company and their philosophy on their website. I would check out the about section.

There’s something very cool about this company. The uniqueness of the product and packaging, the philosophy, the name, the way it’s marketed. You know what I see here? Happy people. When you think of any big name chocolate makers, does the work “happy” come into your head? No. I’m thinking that see people who are happy about what they are doing is key. Look at Ben and Jerry’s (ok, they sold out) and look at Google. Its people who never forgot the “happy” part about what they are doing. And it made them great.

Do you ever get that feeling when you see something and know its going somewhere? I got that feeling here. Here is wisdom: If someone ever asks you if you want stock in a little fledgling company called Sweetriot? Buy it! You heard it here first.”

Where to Buy:

• Online - Pick up sweetriot's nibs and for gifts or yourself at http://store.sweetriot.com/

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