Review: Rawr Chocolate

Good afternoon everyone! Today I'm going to be doing a review on a fairly controversial product - chocolate that is actually good for you! And not only that, but I actually enjoy and savour every bite... Sounds good, right?

So, now that I have your attention I'll go into more detail about the products and the Rawr Chocolate story. According to their website (which I'll link below) Rawr Chocolate started out by selling their chocolates at the Cambridge Market. Fast forward to today and they now sell their products online, as well as in several health food shops throughout the UK and Europe. I first discovered Rawr Chocolate in one of said health food shops, and decided to purchase the 'Passion' bar - raw chocolate flavoured with vanilla and goji berries, a very anti-oxidant rich superfood. Looking at the ingredients list, I'll admit that I was fairly sceptical - how could something with so few ingredients taste as good as your everyday, sugar-laden chocolate bars which I was used to eating? Well, that is where I was pleasantly surprised - this chocolate tasted amazing! The vanilla made the bar nice and flavourful, whilst the goji berries gave it a subtle tang and interesting texture. Lets just say that Passion is an apt name, as I am in love!

Fast forward a few weeks and the lovely Kendra from Rawr Chocolate sent me some more of their flavours to try.

 

The beautifully packaged bars

They arrived beautifully packaged with a hand-written note, and the smell of chocolate spread across the room as I carefully opened the package. Although I could have easily consumed all of the bars at that very minute, I summoned all of my willpower (ha) and tested each flavour in turn so that I could provide an honest review of them all. Here is a breakdown of each flavour, which will hopefully be helpful if you are looking to try the Rawr Chocolate bars:

 

 

 

After Dinner - This is the mint-flavoured bar, which I'll admit sounded the most appealing to me out of them all! This bar is DELICIOUS, great for all of those mint chocolate fans out there! I'd highly recommend it, and for that reason I'm going to give this flavour an 8.5/10.

 

Gold - This bar is caramel-flavoured and resembles a white chocolate bar the most due to it's gold colouring. If you like that sticky date/caramel flavour, then this is certainly the one for you! I'll admit that at first I didn't really like the taste of this bar, but it has definitely grown on me. I'm going to give it an 7.5/10. Saying that, I do usually go for darker chocolate over white chocolate, so bear that in mind.

 

Intensity - This is the bar with the highest cacao content and boy, does it pack a punch! This is the lowest sugar bar of the lot as well - win win situation in my eyes! If you like rich, smooth espresso-like flavours then I'd definitely recommend the 'Intensity' flavour. I'm going to give it an 9/10!

 

Passion - As mentioned above, this bar is raw chocolate flavoured with vanilla and goji berries. I'd give this bar an 8/10 in terms of flavour, purely because although delicious, it isn't the flavour that I would reach for all the time. Save this one for a special treat and hopefully you'll love it as much as I do!

Purity - This is the Rawr version of 'milk' chocolate - not too dark, with a hint of vanilla. This bar was delicious, and the simple flavours meant that I could eat this bar everyday if I could afford to! For that reason, I'm giving it an 8.5/10.

 

Zest - This is the last flavour that I tried, and it is definitely one of my favourites! The creaminess of the chocolate goes perfectly with the zesty bursts of citrus - this flavour literally melts in your mouth! In my eyes this is the perfect flavour for summer, and so I'm going to give it a 9/10 as well.

 

So in conclusion, all of these chocolate bars are delicious! Depending on the flavours that most suit your palette you will obviously favour certain bars more than others. Bear in mind that my favourite flavours were just that because I'd normally go for those flavours anyway. All in all, I'd encourage any chocolate lover who is looking to become more healthy to try these. After all, cacao is described as 'The food of the Gods' - who wouldn't want a piece of that?

 

Disclaimer: All of these bars were sent for me to review, however I initially purchases the 'Passion' bar with my own money. I received them after e-mailing the company to tell them how much I enjoyed the chocolate bar, and that I wanted to put a review on my blog. All of the above opinions are my own 100%.

 

 

 

I also forgot to mention that Rawr Chocolate bars are all certified organic - even better! These bars are also suitable for vegans, along with those following a gluten free diet. The only thing which stops me from eating one of these bars every day is the price - expect to pay between £2-3 for a bar, depending on where you purchase them from. Although saying that, you are paying for better quality ingredients - as long as you don't go overboard, I don't see how these products cannot fit into an individual's regular shopping budget.

So, that concludes my review of Rawr Chocolate. For more information, head over to www.rawrchoc.com and let me know what you think if you try their chocolate!

Review: CoYo Dairy-free Coconut Yoghurt

I'm currently lying in bed eating a bowl of - yep, you guessed it - CoYo in the flavour "natural" with some home-made granola sprinkled on top. Utter bliss, that's all I can say.

Image from the CoYo website - http://www.coyo.co.uk

My CoYo journey only started last week, and what a journey it has been! It all started when I was browsing the fridge section of my local health food shop: I came across these pots of loveliness and couldn't resist! Made with coconut milk, tapioca starch, xylitol and probiotic cultures, this yoghurt is sugar free and doesn't contain any worrying ingredients. It also looked so thick and creamy, and so I couldn't resist! Picking up the 400g tub, I made my way to the till with 100 thoughts running around my head with regards to what I could use this yoghurt for. This week, I decided to have it with granola for breakfast.

I didn't intend to use it only for this sole purpose, yet it was so amazingly good that I've had the same breakfast for 5 days in a row. That is roughly the amount of portions that you'll get from the 400g tub, depending on how generous you are with your servings (I'd happily eat the whole pot in one go, if it weren't for the price!).

So that's where I will start off - the price. This award-winning yoghurt is not cheap, I can assure you. But for what you get, it sure is worth it. I paid £4.50 for my pot, and that was with student discount. But please, don't let the price put you off. I'll be saving this yoghurt for an occasional treat about once or twice a month, as I'd fear for my finances otherwise! The way I see it, is that if I don't buy the occasional coffee when I'm out, then that pretty much covers the cost of a pot of this amazing yoghurt.

In terms of taste, this yoghurt is absolutely delicious - think the texture of greek yoghurt but with a sweet, slight coconut taste, all topped off with that slight yoghurt-y sourness. Yum! I must also add that this yoghurt seems to get better the longer it has been opened - I'm guessing that is due to the product still being fermented by the probiotic cultures, however I might be wrong!

So to sum up, if you like yoghurt and coconut, then you will like this product. I know that seems obvious but still, I thought I would put that out there. Pick up a pot if you like the sound of it, and eat it in any way you please. The melt-in-the-mouth texture will blow your mind. There are several other flavours available - think raw chocolate (!!!) - and I for one cannot wait to try them. I'll be scouring the shelves of said health food shop in hope that they stock the other flavours. In the mean time, I'm going to finish my yoghurt and granola before wallowing in self-pity at the fact that my pot has now been finished. Sigh.

My story so far & a warm welcome to my blog!

First of all, I want to say a big thank you for taking the time to look at my blog! If you have done this step (which I'm guessing you have since you are reading this!) then you are probably interested in hearing about all things Vegan... right? But if not, don't worry! I'm also going to be posting about other (probably vegan) products such as toiletries, cosmetics and much more.

To sum up my story so far, I've been vegetarian for about 7 years now, and am making the transition to a vegan diet for various reasons (future post?). Following this, I'm hoping to reduce the amount of non-vegan products that I use in my everyday life - you would be surprised how many toiletries contain animal bi-products! This is all about taking it one step at a time though, as for a start I hate wasting things. Therefore, I'm going to plough through my huge collection of once desirable products which have now lost their appeal before purchasing new things.

After I complete this step, I'll be ready for a fresh start - expect reviews and hauls containing loads of vegan-friendly products! I'll try my best to take pictures of everything too, in order to make my posts a bit more exciting for you all!

So - in a nutshell - my aim is to find eco-friendly vegan products which make me fall in love with them after first use - treasures which can be found within the vast amount of products circulating the shelves of shops these days. Once I identify these "holy grail" products, I'll share them with you all! Simple!

So once again, thanks for taking the time to read this - you'll be seeing a lot more content from me in the very near future!