This is our second review of Kekao Box! Kekao is a craft dark chocolate bar subscription box. Dark chocolate is great for you because it can improve blood sugar levels and is a powerful source of antioxidants.
What is Kekao Box?
Kekao sends you 4-5 premium dark chocolate bars each month. The chocolate bars are small-batch, with the makers controlling the entire chocolate-making process. From working directly with cacao farmers to sourcing beans at fair prices to roasting the beans for flavor, cracking and winnowing the shells of the bean, grinding with sugar for sweetness to finally tempering and molding the chocolate. Some of the makers even hand wrap their bars. The entire process is in-house and most make the chocolate in small batches.
The typical chocolate bar you might find in your supermarket usually buys finished chocolate and mass-produces their bars. The companies they buy the chocolate from don't always offer fair prices to cacao farmers and there are cases of exploitation, similar to stories you hear about coffee and their growers.
Due to the above fair prices offered to the cacao growers and the small-batch process, the chocolate bars are more expensive than what the average person is used to. Craft chocolate bars range from $5 to $20! The monthly box is $39.99 with shipping. They never feature the same bar more than once in a year and each month is different. But if you fall in love with a chocolate bar from a specific month, they have a growing marketplace on their website where you can buy bars featured in the box and bars not featured!
What it costs: $39.99/month (monthly); $36.99/month (3-month subscription); $35.99/month (6-month subscription)
Gift subscriptions and gift boxes are also available
Shipping: FREE
Kekao Box Coupon Code: Get $5 off your first month of Kekao Box with coupon MSB5 (only valid on month-to-month subscriptions)
Kekao Dark Chocolate Box October 2020 Review
Kekao Box sends their dark chocolate in a square box with a K.Co Chocolate Purveyors stamp.
Kekao Box sends their chocolate in a padded foil package with an cold pack to keep the chocolate cool.
Here's our first peek into what was in the October 2020 box!
Kekao Box doesn't include an info card for sustainability – the chocolate bars' makers do a good job explaining their story, the tasting notes, and their process on the packaging of the bars.
Now, let's get a closer look to see what we got!
Goodnow Farms Chocolate Signature Line Ecuador Esmeralda (70% Cacao) – Retail Value $10
This chocolate bar from Goodnow Farms with 70% cacao. It is handcrafted at their New England farm and made with premium single origin cacao beans on Ecuador's coast and organic sugar. They also press their own single origin cocoa butter for intense flavor and exceptional smoothness. This bar is soy free, vegan, and gluten free.
I will have to say this was one of my favorite bars to taste! The rich, dark chocolate has notes of deep berry jam and cabernet grapes. It was really wonderful! The actual bar itself is 320 calories, with a 16g net carb count. Low carb lovers would adore this bar and I definitely did!!!
Ingredients: Single Origin Cacao Beans, Organic Cane Sugar, Single Origin Cocoa Butter
Our bar came a bit broken, but that didn't ruin the delicious taste of this chocolate!
French Broad Chocolate 100% Cacao Bar – Retail Value $9.95
This is a 100% Cacao Bar from French Broad Chocolate. This bar is handcrafted in Asherville, North Carolina. The entire bar has a 8 g net carb count and has 380 calories. The ingredient list is very simple – it has 1 ingredient: cacao. I have never tried a 100% cacao bar, the highest cacao bar I've tasted is 90% and it leaned toward tasting more bitter then lower content cacao bars. The taste of 100% cacao is very rich and dense, but wasn't for me unfortunately. I love my sugar too much. But I was happy to try this bar and wouldn't have otherwise! This bar is dairy free and vegan.
Ingredients: Cacao
The elegant blue box that this chocolate is packaged in is luxurious and giftable.
Chocolate Conspiracy Blackberry Ginger Chocolate Bar – Retail Value $7
This chocolate bar from Chocolate Conspiracy is made with 73% cacao. It's made with organic, fair-trade, single origin Peruvian cacao beans and is sweetened with raw, unfiltered honey to create a milder chocolate. I love that this bar doesn's use any refined sugar. This chocolate uses an 18-year old blackberry ginger balsamic vinegar to provide a tart and fruity flavor, with an extra touch of ginger. This bar is 220 calories and 14 g of carbs! Again, another bar of chocolate for anyone on a low-carb diet! I really loved the berry flavoring (tasted like fresh blueberries), and I could sense the small hint of ginger, but it was very small.
Ingredient List: Raw Organic Cacao Beans, Raw Organic Cacao Butter, Rw Unfiltered Honey, Blackberry Ginger Balsamic Vinegar (Grape Must, Red Wine Vinegar, Natural Flavors, Naturally Occurring Sulfites)
I really like the honeycomb shapes that molded this chocolate bar!
Beyond Good by Madecasse Uganda Single Origin Cocoa Crispy Rice (73% Cocoa) – Retail Value $4.50
This 73% cocoa bar from Beyond Good is sourced from Uganda and is 100% organic. I am partial to dark chocolate with crispy rice, so this bar is right up my alley! The carb count for 1/3 of the bar is only 12 g and calorie count is 150. This bar was smooth, sweet, and had just the right amount of crispy rice crunch!
Ingredients: Organic Cocoa Beans, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Crispy Rice (Organic Rice Flour, Organic Sugar, Sale), and Organic Vanilla Extract
This bar is really thick and substantial – so you know it's high quality!
Ritual Chocolate Belize Toledo (75% Cacao) – Retail Value $10
This is another 100% organic chocolate bar made with cacao that is grown by a network of Mayan farmers in the Toledo district of Belize. It has won several awards, including: 2018 SILVER AT THE ACADEMY OF CHOCOLATE AWARDS, 2016 GOOD FOOD AWARDS FINALIST, and 2016 SOFI AWARDS FINALIST. It is small batch crafted at an elevation of 7,000 feet. This bar is excellent tasting dark chocolate that tastes like raisins (but is actually dried fig, cherry, and tobacco).
Ingredients: Organic Cacao, Organic Cane Sugar
The imprinted design of this chocolate is so beautiful, I was hesitant to break into it!
To Wrap Up
I have to admit, dark chocolate is my go-to treat after the kids are put down. As a busy mom, I usually pick up a dark chocolate bar with my weekly grocery order and I normally buy a Lindt or Endangered Species bar. Kekao Box introduced me to a variety of different chocolate bars that were indulgent, rich, and delicious! As a bonus, they were all ethically produced and mostly organic! My favorite bars were the Goodnow Farms Chocolate Signature Line Ecuador Esmeralda bar and the Ritual Chocolate Belize Toledo. But, I am partial to berry flavors with my chocolate.
The retail value of our box was $41.45 which is close to the box price of $39.99. However, you could not buy these bars at the grocery store or even on Amazon.com easily. So, you would have to source each bar individually and pay shipping. For this reason, and the great curation of chocolate bars that Kekao does, this box is totally worth it! Dark chocolate lovers will delight in tasting new dark chocolate carefully sourced from around the world!
Kekao Box Coupon Code: Get $5 off your first month of Kekao Box with coupon MSB5 (only valid on month-to-month subscriptions)
Kekao Box
Kekao Box sends you 3 premium dark chocolate bars each month. The founder, Dino Hodzic, got hooked on dark chocolate after receiving Peruvian chocolate from some friends. He has been in search of where to source the best premium dark chocolate, so this box does the work of finding great chocolate for you!
Get $5 off your first month of Kekao with coupon MSB5.
