Have Your Chocolate and Drink It, Too: RAU Chocolate Review

I love chocolate. I try to include a little of it into every day. At first, that may sound a little indulgent but it’s really not when you’re choosing the right chocolate to get your fix from.
Because here’s the thing about chocolate — in its original form, it’s loaded with good stuff. Cacao beans used to be eaten directly from the trees but over time, cacao went through a revolution and chocolate (as we know it now) became more and more sugary and processed and less superfoody.
The difference truly is in how the cacao beans are processed, so I’m always on the lookout for healthier and more nutritious options to get my chocolate fix.
And that’s where RAU Chocolate comes in. They’ve created a cacao superfood drink that had me thoroughly intrigued. Rather than heating and refining the crap out of the beans, the beans are processed under high pressure using cold-water with the goal of maintaining the nutritional integrity of the cacao. They’ve also notably not pumped their beverages full of refined sugar.
And voila, chocolate has been restored its original superfood status once again! Rejoice!
But RAU has a lot more going for it than just this unique and innovative processing method. Their beans aren’t sourced from an undetermined number of suppliers, which makes it much easier to monitor and maintain quality assurance and consistency. Because of this, they can confidently say that their cacao beans are all fair trade, organic and responsibly and sustainably farmed — making this delicious beverage good for not just your body but also for the world.
You can get RAU Chocolate in six awesomely decadent flavors — Bold Original, Semi-Sweet, Cold Brew Mocha, Salted Caramel, Mint and Coconut. RAU’s drinking chocolate is dairy-free, vegan, non-gmo and gets its hint of sweetness from monk fruit. It’s free of refined sugars, soy, and artificial stuff like preservatives.
THE VERDICT: Pretty darn tasty. Not too sweet and still bursting with flavor. I especially loved the Cold Brew Mocha which is made from organic coffee that’s been cold-brewed in small batches over 18 hours. The Coconut flavor came in a very close second — super creamy with a delicious coconut flavor courtesy of organic virgin coconut oil and unrefined organic coconut palm sugar. The Mint tasted exactly like a mint chocolate chip milkshake.
But seriously though, all of the flavors I tried were amazing so it would be hard to go wrong with any of them. Can’t find it locally? No worries! There’s now an online store.
My one and only gripe? It’s a little pricey at $38.99 for an 8-pack or $69.99 for a 16-pack. But with that said, if I see it on the store shelves, single-serve, I’ll be all over that Cold Brew Mocha.
How do you like to get your chocolate on? Ever tried our 5-minute chocolate meditation? —Alison