My husband recently discovered that one of his co-workers is a distributor for Xocai Healthy Gourmet Chocolate. I hadn’t heard of the company before but when his co-worker offered to let me try some of course I was more than happy to!
Overall I really liked the chocolate and would love to get my daily fill of vitamins and fiber from it! Though I did get some reading material included with the samples I still don’t know much about the company itself - I didn’t want marketing to interfere with my reviews, so I only referred to the pamphlet that contained information about the products I tried.
The chocolate is made from cold press cacao beans harvested from family-owned and operated farms on the Ivory Coast, and aa berries, which seem to be the newest health food rage. Aa berries are a high-energy fruit harvested from an amazonian palm tree. A lot of juices and snack mixes are including the berry in their ingredients lists now.
I received a few samples, and the above is the Xocai Nugget. It has a high cacao content combined with the aa berry and blueberries, and is about the size of a Hershey Nugget, though any other comparisons end there! It’s a little bit dry at first bite, but after just a few seconds and a chance to warm up it becomes smooth and fruity and really very good. There’s no bitterness and though I can’t pick out just the aa berry or blueberry flavors it does leave a pleasant, fruity aftertaste. A serving size is one nugget (12 grams) and each nugget is 70% cacao, caffeine-free and is even ok for diabetics.
The next one I tried is the Xocai X Power Squares. Each 6 gram wafer is just over 1″x1″ and is touted as being the most “powerful, health-promoting chocolate ever produced.” A serving size of three squares claims to be the equivalent of 12 lbs of tomatoes, or 1.9 pounds of spinach, or 2 pounds of raspberries. They’re loaded with epicatechins, catechins, and flavonoids.
These have a nice snap when bitten - exactly what you’d expect from a wafer - and a very smooth taste. There isn’t as much of a fruity flavor in these, it’s all dark chocolate with a surprisingly light aftertaste.
Next I tried the Omega Bar, and right when I opened it I got a pleasant orange whiff. This bar is a little dry at first bite as well, but smooths out quickly, and the orange and acai berries in this one are very present. There’s a slight crispness to it from flaxseed, which I was surprised to see listed and which offers up the benefit of omega-3 to the mix. The orange leaves a dominant aftertaste the becomes slightly bitter after a few minutes.
At first bite I was conflicted on the Protein Bar. It’s about what I’d expect from a health food bar - even with the unprocessed cocoa, acai berries and “other anti-oxidant rich berries” the dense bar tastes very vitamin-y. I actually like protein and health bars but I can’t quite pinpoint what it is about this one that I’m not crazy about - possibly the low-glycemic-index sweetener used? I’m not sure.
Last but not least I tried the Powerhouse Cookie, an “extreme dark chocolate chip cookie.” It was very moist, and at first bite I got more tangy than chocolatey. The cookie claims to provide your entire daily requirement of flavonoids and has 7 grams of fiber. It’s also said to be suitable for vegetarians and vegans, using only whole wheat flour, whole cacao beans, cocoa butter and natural sweeteners. I didn’t find anything outstanding about the cookie though I did enjoy it.
Like I said at the beginning, overall I really liked all the products and think it’s great that chocolate can be used as the vehicle for some seemingly great health benefits! If you have questions or are interested in the company, please feel free to contact my husband’s co-worker, he’d be more than happy to answer any further questions!
Tags: acai, Chocolate, Chocolate Pictures, Chocolate Review, Chocolate-Products, flaxseed, health, healthy chocolate, healthy gourmet chocolate, nugget, omega bar, omega-3, power squares, powerhouse cookie, protein bar, vitamins, xocaiShare This
