Dear Coco Chocolate, I Will Travel Around the World for You

Chocolate is easy to love. It’s sweet, decadent and creamy. Pretty much, if you look up the defintion of “dessert” in the dictionary, it lists chocolate. Okay, not really, but if I was writing the dictionary it would. Because it’s just that awesome.
I probably have a piece of chocolate every day, if not twice a day. I like a good dark chocolate fix right after lunch and then again right after dinner. Not a big piece—just a little one. I savor it; it’s a ritual; it’s awesome. And because chocolate does have some health benefits to it, I can even justify it as a pretty-good-for-me treat. Everyone wins!
Most days, my chocolate of choice is just a square from a Trader Joe’s chocolate bar (sea salt and caramel, I live for you),  but then we got some Dear Coco Chocolate’s Around the World Collection here at FBE HQ and OH MY GOD CAPS LOCK ON IS NOT ENOUGH. They were SO amazing.

Interesting! Pretty! Dairy- and gluten-free! Exotic! One-hundred percent handcrafted! All-natural! And tasty enough to make me angry.
The Around the World Collection is not your usual box o’ chocolates. It’s like going on a culinary roadtrip, all from the comfort of your living room. You’ve got: Belgian Chocolate Velvet, Kyoto Green Pearl , Mauna Loa Salted Caramel, Milano Double Espresso, Mumbai Masala Chai, New Orleans Bananas Foster, Peppermint Powerball, Peruvian Peanut, Polynesian Toasted Coconut, Puebla Hot Chocolate, Smoky Mountain and Tahiti Lime.

Not every flavor was my favorite, but all of them were interesting. So, so, so interesting. Each night my husband and I would split two of the truffles, and try to guess the ingredients. Not one was a flavor that I’d ever had—or if I had, never in that particular way with chocolate. Extremely rich and creamy on the inside, with nice texture on the outside, these felt like such a foodie indulgence. A supremely rich—yet simple—way to end a nice meal.
And, seriously, so pretty! Here’s the Kyoto Green Pearl, which is made of green tea, dark chocolate and matcha green tea powder. It was so unique.

My other favorites were Mumbai Masala Chai (with black tea, dark chocolate, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and cloves, it’s heaven), Tahiti Lime (pure lime oil, dark chocolate and handmade candied lime peel—who knew that could go together and be decadent and refreshing at the same time?!) and Smoky Mountain (smoked red paprika and dark chocolate, it’s an infectious combination that you just want to keep trying because it’s so unique). But, really, like I said, all of them are worth trying—even if you don’t end up liking the flavor combination.
So, I pretty much plan on buying these as gifts for all of the fit foodies in my life. And probably a few more for me. At $25, I actually think it’s a pretty good bargain. It’s chocolate, taken to the next exotic—and delicious—level.
Do you like to try new flavor combinations? What’s the most unique one you’ve tried with chocolate? —Jenn