I swear, I try not to be the Candy Curmudgeon, so this is not going to be a rant about the packaging of the Sweetriot UnBar, or its silly name. You know if you are the kind of person who is annoyed by puns and wants to poke someone in the eye when you hear the word “yummy.” If you are, you might want to just grab one of these and rip it open without looking too closely.

But you might indeed want to grab one of these, either way. Sweetriot’s sense of humor might be annoying but this chocolate definitely was not. If there isn’t an old cliche that says that you should not judge a candy by its cover, there should be.

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I previously reviewed the chocolate-covered cacao nibs from sweetriot and they were so good I gave them our coveted Candy Addict Awesomely Addictive Award. They are truly delicious. For the holidays, sweetriot has launched a new Santa Gift Bag that includes one of each of their flavor 50, flavor 65, and flavor 70 for $16.99. You can save 10% any online purchases with the coupon code rioting.

The sweetriot Santa Gift Bag would be a perfect gift for a chocolate lover in your life.

• sweetriot Santa Gift Bag
• sweetriot home page
• our sweetriot review

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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).

• SweetRiot website

Buy SweetRiot Flavor 70 Cinn (and the original flavor):

• online at SweetRiot.com
• find a local retailer

candy, sweets, cacao, cocoa, cinnamon, nib, nibs, SweetRiot

Sweetriot is chocolate-covered cacao nibs. Some of you might be asking “What are cacao nibs”? If you are, and you’re interested in how chocolate is made, visit this post and watch the video. It’s interesting stuff. Essentially, cacao nibs are the centers of the cacao beans after they have been washed, roasted, and de-hulled. At this stage they are roughly halfway through the chocolate-making process.

Sweetriot takes these nibs and coats them in chocolate – 50% dark chocolate in the Flavor 50, 65% dark chocolate in the Flavor 65, and 70% dark chocolate with a hint of espresso in the Flavor 70. The look of the candy itself reminds me of chocolate-covered raisins, only a bit smaller. Each one is a unique shape depending on the size and shape of the nib underneath. Eating them reminded me very much of eating chocolate-covered espresso beans. The nibs themselves are crunchy and the chocolate coating them is excellent. The Flavor 50 is nicely sweet and very chocolatey. It almost has an Amaretto taste which is very nice. The Flavor 65 has a flavorful bittersweet chocolate taste and is very different from the Flavor 50 because it’s noticeably less sweet. The Flavor 70 is a really rich dark chocolate and the hint of espresso is a nice touch (assuming you like the taste of espresso).

Sweetriot is also all-natural, dairy-free, gmo-free, kosher, gluten-free and is the best candy I have had in quite a while – it is really good stuff. All three varieties are fan-freakin-tastic. I really want to down a whole tin at one sitting, but I have been restraining myself and just having a few here and there for the past few days so they will last. Now the bad news: the sweetriot tins are about $5 each. Pretty pricey, but well worth it for someone that truly appreciates good chocolate. You can purchase sweetriot online at their site or you can check their store locator to see if there is a retailer near you.

UPDATE: Sweetriot is not certified vegan. I have updated the review above to reflect this.

sweetriot website
Video of the Making of Chocolate
sweetriot online store
sweetriot store locator

candy, chocolate, cacao, sweetriot, nibs, cocoa, review, reviews