Chocolates Exoticos de Colombia (Coconut, Coffee Bean, Goldenberry)

 The Colombian trifecta of chocolate!

The Attraction

As a fellow co-worker returns from yet another exotic vacation, she was kind enough to share some of her spoils of her trip. In this case, her trip was to Columbia and the spoils being chocolate!

The Review:
The packaging had me intrigued cause it was so exotic and interesting looking, although upon looking at the various flavors, I was a little less sure. Of the three flavors I had (coconut, coffee bean and goldenberry) I was most interested in coconut the most. In addition to not being a fan of dark chocolate in general, I am also not a coffee person, so that may spell for a bad combination for that flavor. As for goldenberry...I just had no clue what a goldenberry is. I'm guessing maybe something like a raisin? If so, that could be the winner of the bunch. Who doesn't love Raisinets?

There's coconut in there somewhere

First up, coconut or "Coco" as the packaging suggests. I open the bag and smell the hint of dark chocolate. I go ahead and pop one in my mouth and sure enough, the bitterness of the coated dark chocolate candy hits first. Then after several chews, there is a change in texture. Something almost fruit like. I guess it's the coconut, although flavor-wise, there is no indication that is what I'm chewing on. The coconut is almost nougat-like in texture, but the coconut flavor I was so anticipating was a no-show. OK, maybe coffee bean can avenge this lackluster first act.

Coffee bean for those that can't

get their caffeine fix fast enough

I repeat the steps with the coffee bean flavor and in this case, I was greeted with the grit and bitterness of coffee bean. Perhaps if I were a coffee fan I may have felt differently, but the flavor combinations were too harsh for my standards. First the bitterness of the dark chocolate only to be followed by the super bitterness of pieces of coffee bean was too much for me. What I will say is that I think it was a good idea to have bits of coffee bean vs a whole bean to help try to mellow out the bitterness flavor combination. I did really like the contrast texture-wise of the coffee bean and chocolate. It was similiar to having bits of Oreo in a chocolate ball (minus the pleasant Oreo flavor).

..and goldenberry. Cause that's what we all need.

More snacks made with goldenberry

Lastly, it now was all riding on the goldenberry flavor to potentially redeem his snack siblings. I repeat the process a third time, but this time to my surprise....the goldenberry was tart.....very tart. So, not bitter like the coffee bean and lost in the dark chocolate flavor like the coconut, but rather tart. Super tart. Dare I say almost lemon like tartness, but with none of it's charm. It would seem that goldenberry too was not in for a good day.

The Sweet:
The dark chocolate tries it's best to save the day.

The Bitter:
With the exception of the coconut flavor, the ingredients are so strong that it's difficult to consume.

Conclusion:
It was already an ominous start with all three snacks being made of dark chocolate, but little did I know that was probably the best part of these items. Of the three, coconut was the best, but when I say best, I mean the least nastiest. I wouldn't plunk down any money to purchase anymore of these. Well, lets take it a step further and say if they were free again, I would not even take more in that scenario. Surprisingly, coffee bean was next least nastiest. All in all, it was a trifecta of terror. They were all so strong in flavor, I literally forgot that these were considered a "candy".

I see how the brand was trying to offer snackers a "taste of Columbia" by creating snacks that highlights the country's natural riches. Unfortunately, none of these three items does a good job of capturing snacks from Columbia that I would love to have more of. It's actually quite the contrary.

Video of the Week

Super Hero Dad for the win

I've seen some videos in my day, but this one was pretty amazing. Here is a seemingly regular Dad working on his scooter. Next thing you know something is happening out of frame and his children is in the middle of the action. He doesn't miss a beat and does what we would all hope to be able to do if ever needed.