How To Enjoy Dark Chocolate
You can enjoy dark chocolate anywhere, at any time. It’s a delicious treat that can satisfy that sweet craving and give your mouth something to stay busy with. That being said, we’ve found a few times and places where a dark chocolate bar is just that little bit extra tasty!
Here are the 5 best times, places, and occasions to tear open a fresh dark chocolate bar!
Plus a little bonus right at the end! :)
5. Midday Energy Boost
When the whole day has been go, go, go, sometimes you just need a little extra kick. Dark chocolate has minimal amounts of caffeine, but it also has another type of chemical called theobromine. Caffeine and theobromine are both stimulants, but theobromine is much more mild. Caffeine is fast acting and short lived in the body, while theobromine is the exact opposite. It has a gentle, delayed onset, and lasts much longer in the body. Because of this, theobromine doesn’t give you the same caffeine crash you’ve likely experienced before. The stimulative effects of theobromine have been described as more of a calming energy - similar to that of a good night’s sleep. Theobromine also helps to improve your focus by reducing the chemicals in your brain that make you feel sleepy and distracted.
4. Movie Night
There’s nothing quite like ripping open a dark chocolate bar and sitting down to a comfy movie. Some of the compounds in dark chocolate help produce dopamine and serotonin, both chemicals that improve your mood. But we don’t need science to tell us what feels good! All we know is that there is something special about enjoying a treat while you watch a movie. Even better if it is a treat that isn’t loaded with sugar, tons of calories, and will make you feel guilty after you eat it!
3. 3pm Cravings
When you start to feel yourself getting snacky around 3pm, or any other time for that matter, a dark chocolate bar will help curb those cravings. Pop a few squares of dark chocolate in your mouth and swirl it around with your tongue as it slowly melts away into a flavour explosion. Keeping your mouth busy and eating slowly will help you fight back against cravings. If you just eat a few squares of chocolate at a time, and you let them slowly melt away before popping a few more in your mouth, it will take you quite some time to eat the whole bar. By the end of it, your body will be thinking “We’ve been eating for a while now. I must have enough food!” On the chemical level, we can see there are compounds in dark chocolate that help to reduce ghrelin in your body. Ghrelin is the hunger hormone that tells your brain “it’s time to eat!” Flavenoids found in dark chocolate also help to prevent blood sugar rushes and crashes. When your blood sugar crashes, your body starts to think it needs food and usually leaves you feeling hangry until you get something in your system.
2. Dessert
Everyone loves a good dessert, but not every dessert will love you back. The best tasting treats are usually super high in calories, refined sugar, and artificial additives. If you consume foods like that often enough, your body will start to have unfavourable reactions. Our dark chocolate is none of those things. Low in calories, zero refined sugar, and only 3 ingredients, our chocolate makes for an approved dessert. Depending on your tastes, some flavours of our chocolate might be better suited for dessert, like our our Tanzania origin. This bar is sweeter than some of our other bars, and has subtle fruity flavour notes. So next time you want to round off a delicious, savory meal with a sweet dessert, opt for something a little healthier instead of your usual go-to. Your tastebuds and your body will thank you for it.
Morning Coffee
Picture this - you’re sitting on your porch on a warm summer’s morning with your favourite brew of coffee in hand. Nothing pairs with a good coffee quite like some dark chocolate. Some of our more fudgy and nutty bars are particularly enjoyable with coffee - like our Costa Rica and Ecuador origins.
Bonus!
We talked about having chocolate with your coffee, but wait until you try chocolate IN your coffee! There’s nothing quite like a homemade mocha, especially one that’s made with natural ingredients and zero processed sugar. The subtle sweetness and nuttiness from the chocolate is ever so slightly detectable under the bitter coffee. Each sip is like a story book of flavours unfolding onto your tongue. You have to give it a try!
Of course these aren’t the only times and places you can enjoy a dark chocolate bar, but these are our favourites. You don’t need any reason to treat yourself. But when you do it, wouldn’t it be nicer to be able to feel good about it? Your body will thank you for making the healthier choice! And your tastebuds certainly will too!