A couple nights ago, my friend reminded me of something I've been awfully curious to try, but for some reason, I never followed through on it: Choffy. It's ground-up cocoa beans that you brew like coffee. That's where they get the clever name "Choffy."
I was in one of those moods, so right after I told my friend I'd try out the Choffy if she would, I ordered some from Amazon before she ever said whether or not she was in. I mean, how wrong can something that is like the love child between coffee and chocolate really go? How bad can it be?
My bag arrived yesterday afternoon via the UPS truck, and they hadn't even gotten to the end of my driveway before I had the bag ripped open, and 4 tablespoons of Choffy measured out in my French Press. (I was making a 12-ounce cup, because life's too short to muck around with a 6-ounce cup of coffee or Choffy!) Yeah, I have a French Press. Not because I'm a coffee snob. I bought the French Press on a whim a few years ago and have enjoyed about three big cups of gritty coffee from it, because as it turns out, there's a bit of a learning curve and some patience involved in learning how to use a French Press, but my coffeemaker's foolproof (mostly). But I figured French Press is the way to go with this Choffy, and I didn't want my bare-bones basic coffeemaker messing up my experience and putting me off Choffy forever, in case it's really great.
So I measured, stirred, waited, plunged, and poured and took a sip of this Choffy stuff.
I think that it's the closest approximation of what that chocolate river from the original Willy Wonka movie tasted like. I have a palate about as sophisticated as Buddy the Elf's, though, so I couldn't drink it black. I added 2 teaspoons of sugar, which is a major cut-down for me, and enough milk to lighten the cup o' Choffy.
It's never going to be hot cocoa or hot chocolate, this Choffy. It's never going to be a cup of coffee, because there's absolutely no coffee in it. It's ground-up cocoa beans, so think straight-up cocoa powder, before there's any sugar mixed in. No fat. Just kind of a bitter taste with cocoa overtones. If you're used to drinking black coffee, black Choffy won't even be a problem for you. In fact, if I were drinking it with a giant cookie or a sweet pastry or the like, I would have left it alone and not added the sugar and the milk.
I think Choffy needs to take off and join the ranks of coffee, tea, and hot cocoa as a nice hot drink on a day, especially like today, when it's cold and drizzly. I didn't want to have a coffee in the afternoon, but tea kind of bores me, and I didn't want to spend the 240 calories a 12-ounce mug of hot cocoa would have cost me. I was really fixated on having 12 ounces of hot drink. Straight-up, a 12-ounce mug of Choffy sets you back 20 calories. The sugar and milk or other lightener or sweetener you might add will raise the calorie count accordingly.
With those stats, though, you know how there are certain times when you need something chocolate or there'll be carnage? I think this gives you all the benefits of a darker chocolate especially, without loading you up on sugar and fat, too. A personal trainer once told me that one Hershey Kiss is enough to stop a chocolate craving. I still think he's a damn liar. One Hershey Kiss is enough to set off a chain reaction, where I eat the whole bag, eat the entire back-up bag, because I buy them only when they're on a 2-for special, and when I've reached the bottom of the back-up bag, I'm on my way to Wellsville for another 2-for on Hershey Kisses. After my cup of Choffy, I felt good enough to step away from having a second cup- there's something about the way a hot drink warms you up from the inside out that makes it easier to stop consuming.
I guess that's why Hungry Girl's been trumpeting Choffy for years. It's worth a check-out!
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