Awesome quality cacao nibs - powerful and satisfying.

Awesome quality cacao nibs - powerful and satisfying.

I'm a certified chocoholic with a weight problem. I had heard that cacao nibs had all the health benefits of dark chocolate (way more, actually) without the sugar and junk food aspects. They are loaded with antioxidants and have those powerful endorphin releasing stimulants. They are also quite high in fiber (but also in saturated fats).

Awesome quality cacao nibs - powerful and satisfying.

I got my big pile of Navitas Naturals nibs and dug right in. Well - these are a bit of an acquired taste; but once acquired, they really satisfy. Cacao nibs are broken pieces of raw whole cacao beans that have been fermented and dried (and that's it). They are brown, with a dark cocoa smell, and a seductive texture that's partly like a coffee bean (crunchy and hard), and partly like a piece of chocolate (buttery with a crisp and then melting fat). The flavor initially gives you a cocoa hit and then a winey fermented flavor that is hard to describe. The aftertaste is bitter like baking chocolate. Like a coffee bean, there's some fibrous grit with the aftertaste after the creamy fats have dissolved on your tongue. My first impressions was "phew - that's disgusting". The winey flavor was off-putting and the bitterness in the aftertaste was hard to take. That didn't prevent me from immediately having more, however - as the crisp rich creamy quality made me want more. After a few pinches (maybe 3/4s of a tablespoon) I was flying! I mean, these things are POTENT. They really are loaded with all those endorphin releasing stimulants - and man they wake you up and then make you feel loved. Over the next few days I kept a big baggie of these in my pack and ate them whenever I wanted a cup of coffee. The stimulant effect is totally as strong as coffee - and more.Read more