Taza Chocolate & Their New Dark Bark (+ special discount for you!)

When I first started eating paleo, I felt pretty lost when it came to what would I would eat when it came to sweets. I grew up on crappy chocolate that wasn’t even real chocolate so I didn’t really know where to turn for high quality, real ingredient chocolate. Have you ever looked at the ingredients in a cheap chocolate bar? I was pretty surprised to see the ingredients – Milk Chocolate (sugar, milk, cocoa butter, lactose, milk fat, soy lecithin, PGPR, emulsifier, vanillin, and artificial flavor). What are some of those ingredients?! I can’t believe I ate that kind of stuff for so long! It wasn’t until one day when I was wandering around Whole Foods, I found this adorable round disc of chocolate with extremely simple ingredients – cacao beans and cane sugar. That was it. The packaging explained it was a mexican-style chocolate but I didn’t know what that meant until I bit into the chocolate and instantly fell in love with the texture.

Mexican-style chocolate is different in the fact that it’s stone ground and minimally processed so the flavor of the cacao is much more intense and the texture is different than most chocolates you’ve tasted. Taza uses stone mills in their Somerville, MA factory to grind their ethically-sourced cacao and it truly does make all the difference! No bitter aftertaste like you can get sometimes with other chocolate. All of their chocolate is Certified USDA Organic, Direct Trade Certified, Non-GMO Project Verified, Certified Gluten Free, dairy free, soy free, vegan, and kosher. They also were the first U.S. chocolate maker to establish a third-party certified Direct Trade Cacao Certification program. They maintain direct relationships with cacao farmers and pay a premium above the Fair Trade price for exceptional cacao. Pretty damn cool.

And since trying their chocolate discs probably 6 years ago, Taza has grown so much. They have become one of the fastest growing natural chocolate brands and now have so many bars and flavors to choose from. Their flagship line is called Amaze Bars, with nine dark chocolate flavors currently available in stores nationwide! Here’s a the flavors you can snag for yourself:

• 80% Dark Sea Salt & Almond
• 70% Dark Coconut
• 80% Dark Cacao Crunch
• 60% Dark Toffee Sea Salt & Almond
• 70% Dark Maple Pecan
• 60% Dark Raspberry Crunch
• 80% Dark Coconut Almond
• 70% Dark Espresso Buzz
• 95% Wicked Dark

Their chocolate Mexicano Discs include 8 creative flavors such as guajillo chili and cinnamon. And they also have Origin Bars that transport you directly to the source of the cacao such as Haiti, Dominican Republic and Belize.

But today I’m here to tell you about their newest product – their Dark Bark! Dark Bark is a better-for-you snacking chocolate with just 6-7 grams of sugar per serving for most flavors. This seriously satisfying snack starts with organic, 80% dark stone ground chocolate. Then Taza mixes in crispy, protein-packed quinoa, and tops each variety with crunchy, crave-worthy ingredients like toasted almonds, coconut, and pumpkin seeds. Don’t worry, I know quinoa is not strict paleo, but I also know that many of you (including me) are mixing in more gluten-free grains into your diet and figuring out if they work for you!

These 80% dark chocolate snacking thins come in 5 different flavors:

• Sea Salt & Almond
• Toasted Coconut
• Pumpkin Seed
• Coconut Almond
• Peppermint

And every single one of these flavors are absolutely delicious! This Dark Bark is made from the best ingredients including organic cacao beans, organic almonds, organic cane sugar, organic puffed quinoa, organic cocoa butter, sea salt, organic vanilla, and organic pumpkin seeds. After trying all 5 flavors…a few too many times…I think my favorite is the sea salt and almond. But the peppermint and the pumpkin seed both tie for second.

I created my website years ago to make healthier choices easier for anyone out there. And I wanted to show people that they have better options when it comes to what they feed themselves. And Taza is doing exactly that. They are proving that chocolate can be absolutely delicious without any of the added lactose, soy and unknown ingredients. The founder of Taza, Alex Whitmore, believes in not only making a better quality product for his customers, but he also believes that both the farmers and the chocolate makers should both benefit from creating an amazing product. You can see more about their Direct Trade here!

But enough about how awesome Taza is – let’s get chocolate into your hands RIGHT NOW! I’ve had an awesome relationship with Taza for years now (they even offered to supply chocolate for our wedding goodie bags – but taking that to Jamaica just wouldn’t have worked out) and they are kind enough to offer PaleOMG readers a 20% off discount for any tazachocolate.com order with the discount code PALEOMG! That means you can try their brand new Dark Bark (that you’re seriously going to be obsessed with), their Amaze Bars, Origin Bars and their Mexicano Discs all right now for 20% off! This offer is one time use per customer and expires August 31st, so grab it before this discount is gone! 

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This post is sponsored by Taza, but all opinions are my own! This sponsorship helps with expenses to keep this blog up and running! Thank you for all your support!