A year ago (to the day) I reviewed the 3 varieties of SweetRiot’s Cacao Nibs. At the time, they had 3 varieties – flavor 50, flavor 65, and flavor 70 – each reflecting the cacao percentage in the chocolate coating (and if you’re not sure what a nib is, read the previous review to get up to speed). Now they have come out with a new flavor – it’s the flavor 70 variety but this time they have added cinnamon to the mix. SweetRiot describes them thusly: “cacao nibs, lightly roasted, covered in 70% dark chocolate with just a hint of cinnamon to tickle your tongue”.
I rated the original SweetRiot very highly and even awarded it the Candy Addict Awesomely Addictive Award. So, you would think that adding some cinnamon to the mix wouldn’t do any harm and just might make it even better. Not so. The cinnamon changes the flavor radically – for the worse. It’s hard to describe, but it just doesn’t taste right. I eat a few and really have no desire for more – it’s just not good, even though it should be.
I thought maybe I had forgotten how the original tasted but thankfully SweetRiot also sent me another tin of the original Flavor 70 so I popped that one open to do a taste comparison. The original is still wonderful – complex flavors, bittersweet, very nice. I popped in a few of the Cinnamon ones right after and they are definitely inferior to the original.
So, steer clear of the Flavor 70 Cinn variety, but the original is still Awesomely Addictive. If given a choice, go for the original. Definitely. Interestingly, Cybele reviewed the Cinnamon flavor too and thought they were just as good as the original. Go figure. Oh yeah – the Cinnamon flavor is a limited edition, so if you really want to try it, act fast (if you still want to after this review).
Buy SweetRiot Flavor 70 Cinn (and the original flavor):
