Today, I feel like reviewing two rather different bars, which are very similar in the overall aims and principles but quite different in taste and texture/appearance.
The two bars you will now read about are presented below! :3
Nākd- Caffé Mocha
LoveRaw- Coconut Chia
So... I'll evaluate each bar and provide you with a review, and then I'll compare them. Sounds good? YES. Now let's get going ^-^
Caffé Mocha
A rather recent coffee flavoured bar by the company Nākd.
Ingredients- I have no problems at all with the ingredients used in this bar. The bar is approximately 67% dried fruit and 26% nuts. It is around 7% flavouring agents used to give it the unique, coffee taste. Don't get scared off by the term 'Flavouring Agents!'. What this means is ingredients that give this bar the unique taste that sets it apart from other bars. This is 6% cocoa to give it a chocolate touch, and 1% of what is listed as 'natural flavours'. In this case, there's a 99% chance that this contains some form of coffee extract, which is rather amazing because although the bar has a distinctive flavour, it is only about 1% 'Natural Flavours'. If you want to know how small this is, divide a Nākd bar into 10 pieces. Now divide each of those pieces into 10 again. Take one of those pieces, and that is how much 'Natural Flavours' the bar has. The ingredients are very impressive. Mainly dates and raisins, which come with benefits of their own. Dates and raisins are both very nutritious and boost the value of this bar. The high nut content, in the form of cashews in this bar, is also impressive and delivers healthy fats often found in nuts and some other nutritional benefit as well. Finally, cocoa is only around 6% of the bar but does contribute to the total antioxidant content of the bars.
Appearance and Texture- I have to admit that for me, this is the most boring area to cover. However, the appearance of the bar is quite nice and not repulsive at all. It is a very nice bar shape, quite dark in colour and the appearance also shows just how raw the bar is. You can see the nut pieces inside quite clearly, too. The texture is fairly soft and moist, chewy but not too chewy- just right.
Nutritional Value- Alright, again, I find this a fairly dull area to cover so...
Let's just get to the parts most people are going to want to know. The bar clocks in at 130 calories (which is about 6-9% of most people's daily calorie intake recommendation). 3 grams of protein, 3 grams of Fibre which is approximately 12% of most people's suggested intake.
Taste- Well, it's healthy, but how good is the taste? There is no point of making a healthy food if it tastes horrible, so how does this particular bar stack up in terms of flavour? Well. Since I'm not American or English, I may not be able to make the same comparisons as you, so it's up to you to try it out and see what it tastes like :D In other reviews, I have seen comparisons to brownies. The bar has a strong coffee smell, and taste too. It is very sweet, and to be honest if you were to ask me what it reminds me of I would say... well...
You know how sometimes you have coffee flavoured chocolates with those coffee fillings inside?
Well... I have to say this particular bar reminded me of just this filling on its own in both taste and texture.
Coconut Chia
The first bar I have tried from the company LoveRaw. It is intended to be coconut flavoured.
Ingredients- As with the Nākd bars, I have no problem at all with the ingredients used in this bar. The ingredients are as follows; Almonds, Dates,Coconut, Figs, Chia Seeds, Cinnamon.
Almonds contribute to the nutritional content and are high in positive nutrients such as Vitamin E. Dates , as previously mentioned, are quite nutrient-dense and so are the figs. The coconut is very healthy and makes sense to be the third ingredient, Chia seeds are a very popular 'superfood' that make up approximately 10% of the bar and cinnamon contributes to the unique flavour. No problem at all, every ingredient is very healthy and something I approve of ^o^
Appearance and Texture- Very similar to the Nākd bar in texture but much lighter in appearance (which is actually quite obvious). However, apart from that, both bars actually look very similar to each other. In texture, this bar is quite hard and stable to the touch and soft once you start to chew it. This bar has a different shape- it's wider and shorter. You can literally see the almonds and chia seeds in there :)
Nutritional Value- Unfortunately, I threw away my wrapper and was unable to find the information online. There are 213 calories (which is 10-15% of most people's suggested allowance) and about 6 grams of Fibre, which clocks in at about 25% of the suggested intake! :) Omega-3 content is 1272mg and there are 1997mg of Omega-6.
Taste- Coconut flavour is quite subtle but still detectable. The sweetness is at a good, balanced, level- not too sweet and not too...well...bland. The cinnamon flavour really does stand out and makes this bar taste great. Overall, I do like the taste of this bar and since I never had Chia seeds before, I cannot really comment on how much the Chia flavour stands out. However... I do know that the balance of ingredients used is surely good! Although the cinnamon is the last ingredient, it stands out quite strongly.
Now, here goes the comparison ^-^
Similarities-
- The overall aim of both bars is the same. A healthy snack bar that provides sufficient energy.
- Main ingredients are also very similar. Fruit and nuts make up the base of both bars.
- The appearance is also almost identical except for colour and shape.
- Texture and taste is quite similar, with the flavour differing (obviously).
Differences-
- The flavour, quite frankly. Nākd is also sweeter.
- The shape- the Coconut Chia bar has a wider and shorter shape.
- Nākd is more suitable for a younger market because of the bright, appealing packaging and language used on the wrapper (for example; the encouraging messages are very casual and user-friendly)
- LoveRaw focuses more on the super-food content and health of the bar, and Nākd focuses more on taste than LoveRaw does. However, both companies appear to have both the taste and health in mind.
That's it for today!
What am I reviewing next?
Raw chocolate covered Goji Berries- predicted date for the review is Thursday
Other Notes:
- My birthday is coming up on Friday, and as a special (okay...that's a bit of an exaggeration but ya gotta learn how to exaggerate if ya wanna survive in today's world) treat, I think it won't do any harm to reveal my age. I already revealed that I live in London, so I assume I can also reveal my age. I won't get any more personal though. At least not now, anyway.
- This blog is going to get an autumn make-over just in time for October. Actually... it would make more sense to switch it to a Halloween look for the month, and then in November back to autumn. I know I'm a little late since Autumn started over a week ago, but hey.
- I'm finally going to comment on this for the sheer pleasure of whoever the heck posted that comment. M'kay, I got my first hater the day before I left for vacation, and yes, I DID anticipate this coming. Anyway, the exact comment said ''You have a horrible life. And you suck.'' Firstly, what do I suck? I'm actually sucking a hard candy right now UoU So if that was your intention, gee, surprisingly accurate. At first I didn't want to bring this up, I was just like.. ''Alright, haters gonna hate, move on.'' So I did, and managed to forget about it. In future, I probably won't bring up any more hater comments in the blog, but this was my first one. Anyway, moving on; okay, you can't really say I have a horrible life because what I wrote down was just a very vague outline of ONE day, which is in short about 0.02% of my entire life so far. Dude, you can't just make a judgement based on just over 0.01% of my life, and since that post wasn't even THAT detailed, you probably only got a glimpse of LESS than 0.01%. Logic in that? I doubt the commenter is even reading this blog unless they're really sad and are looking for more ways to envy me (oh yes, I'm that vain). Anyway, the hater is also very stuck-up and I can tell because they said I have a horrible life. Did I mention bullying, threats, abuse, violence, racism, slavery, captivity, murder, starvation, poverty etc. etc. ANYWHERE in the post? NO, I DID NOT.And those things are the defining parts of a truly horrible life. If you think my life is horrible, I dread to think how cold-hearted you are. Bottom line- I was not at all impacted by your comment and I find it funny you commented anonymously :) You are a very cold-hearted saddo that I don't want to get into any further contact with. Gee, I don't care who you are. For all I know, you could be the same person as one of my ''friends''. I don't even care x3
