Starbucks Honey & Almond Hot Chocolate: The Verdict

Hello!

"Topping it off with chocolate cream, honey and chocolate sauce, do I need to say that it was darn chocolate-y."

During this time of year there are a million different festive things going around, take Vlogmas, Blogmas and The Christmas Tag as some examples. Well, without really planning it, this year for BerryBloomXO seems to be the season of the Red Cups - that's right, it's the time of year for Starbucks! 

If you've heard or read about the flavours that Starbucks offers, you would know about the new Honey & Almond Hot Chocolate that is released in UK Starbucks stores. As one of the four festive drinks released, it was a must try - being a chocoholic and all, how could one resist? 

"If you're a fan of the whole 'salted caramel', 'bitter and sweet' kind of thing, this will be right up your street"

Topping it off with chocolate cream, honey and chocolate sauce, do I need to say that it was darn chocolate-y. If you're not a fan of dark chocolate, I'd say stay away. It has that bitter aftertaste you get from dark chocolate and is super rich. I'd say the drink has sort of 3 'notes' to it: first being the mild taste of milky, almond goodness, second being a sting of honey (believe me it's strong) and a final kick of the dark chocolate bitterness.

Overall, I'd say a surprising mix of flavours, one that I wouldn't opt for again, but worth a try, nonetheless. If you're a fan of the whole 'salted caramel', 'bitter and sweet' kind of thing, this will be right up your street, but for me, not my top Starbucks drink.

What's your favourite festive drink of the season (be it from Starbucks, Costa... wherever!)? 

Healthy Chocolate - Is it really tasty?

Hello!

Hearing the words 'healthy' and 'chocolate' together sounds a little weird... And slightly untrue! However, it might be a bit more normal to hear after you've read this post!

Healthy Chocolate. Oxymoron - yet couldn't be truer with Conscious Chocolate! Conscious chocolate is chocolate (duh!) made with raw products. It is sweetened with Agave Nectar which is obviously better than the over-processed and bleached white sugar found in regular chocolates! 

The oh-so-raw chocolate has a different texture to your regular dairy milk. It has a truffle-like texture which is very soft. If you try to break the chocolate into pieces, it doesn't snap, it kind of slowly breaks apart - sort of like caramel  (Does that even make sense?!).

Conscious chocolate have a wide range of flavours to choose from, ranging from 'Goji and Coconut' to a nutty chocolate bar to a cherry flavour and loads of flavours in between! 

I got to try the 'Essential Orange' and 'Mint Hint'. You're bound to find something that catches your attention! 

I love the 'Essential Orange' flavour. The chocolate is more on the dark chocolate, bitter taste - which I wasn't too fond of at first but it definitely grew on me! As I had more of the orange, I started liking it more and more. It's true what they say about your taste buds adapting! 

However, I wasn't a huge fan if mint to begin with so naturally, I preferred the Orange flavoured chocolate! 

I like how they didn't try to fool us with the nutritional information. Sometimes products show the nutritional information about 1/5th if the packet and we assume it's the whole thing - however, Consious Chocolate give us info of the whole thing! Also, all the products are natural, minimal process and still taste great. Good going, conscious!

The products are packaged in 3 wrappers. 

1) it is wrapped in a bit of paper

2) it's put inside a foil baggie (as shown in the picture) 

3) it is then inside the main packaging with the name if the flavour

Just to mention, I love the packaging and how all the flavours have different outer package! The paper packaging (1) is good as it keeps the chocolate together and not melting on your hand as you get it out, the foil baggie keeps the chocolate fresh and the other packaging to name the flavours! 

Overall the chocolates from 'Conscious Chocolate' taste so yummy and it's nice to know they're not processed and are raw. Oh, and I have to mentioned the scents of them - they are so good! Like you open the first packaging and the scent lingers! It's a lovely strong scent of the essential flavours -yum! 

So, is it a little more normal to hear 'healthy chocolate' after reading this? Or are those two words together will never sound normal! Try out 'Conscious Chocolate' (link here) and then tell me these two words are made for each other: Healthy Chocolate! 

What are your favourite healthy desserts?

*Conscious Chocolate did send the two products to me for review purposes, but all of the information is honest and not biased