Friday Find | Crio Brü

by Lizzy on March 14, 2014

Crio Bru via KitchenNomad.com

My love of chocolate rivals only my obsession with Adam Levine…and bacon. (Yes, of course I now he’s Jewish. Insert joke here.)  

Chocolate has formed a part of my morning routine since I was a child. As a kid, I drank Quik chocolate milk every morning, and I wouldn’t go to bed without a glass of it beforehand. If I was at my Abuela’s house in Puerto Rico it was Ovaltine because she claimed it was healthier. Growing up, I switched to hot chocolate graduating from the instant childhood stuff to Ghirardelli and Godiva, which I drank for many years along with a myriad gourmet varieties I picked up on travels. That was all before I was diagnosed with severe migraines.

While chocolate doesn’t trigger my migraines, as a preventive measure I had to find a new morning drink because the copious amounts I consumed daily weren’t helping my five-to-six-days-a-week migraine episodes. My neurologist gave me a list of things to avoid, placed me on epilepsy medication and instructed me to change my lifestyle. Easy for him to say! He hadn’t been drinking the stuff from the bottle.

For a few years, I floundered experimenting with chai and different teas. The migraines were under control after years of suffering, and eventually my taste buds missed chocolate. Also, I never felt satiated with other drinks; I needed something stealthier. However, I knew better than to go back to my chocolate habit, or I would risk literally going blind, albeit temporary (a nice side effect of my migraines).

Enter Crio Brü. I don’t remember where I first saw it, but I do recall reading about it on a great blog. Crio Brü is a brewed cocoa made from ground cacao beans in their purest form. There are no chemical additives and no sugar. When I read the write up, I had to try it.

I ordered a sample variety pack so I could taste a few different flavors and get a sense of what I liked. If I haven’t said it before, I like bold flavors and when it comes to chocolate I like the one that’s typically too intense for most people. The darker and richer, the better in my book. Crio Brü’s site had all this health information about antioxidants and theobromine I found encouraging after years of drinking so much sugar.

From the sample variety pack, the Cavalla was a good starting point, but I personally found the other flavors too weak for my palate. I returned to the site in search of another deep, dark chocolate variety and discovered Cavalla French Roast. On its own, the Cavalla French Roast was too bitter for me but when combined with Cavalla, it made the perfect blend for my morning ritual. I know, I sound like Goldilocks. Miraculously, drinking this daily hasn’t triggered migraines nor even increased their frequency.

How can I drink roasted cacao beans and not suffer migraines? I don’t know, but maybe it’s magic. I’m just happy to drink it every day.

Have you tried Crio Brü? If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Colleen May 3, 2014 at 10:28 am

Excited to try this. I’ve become addicted to Lake Champlain’s Old World Drinking Chocolate, but it’s probably not the healthiest breakfast for one to enjoy every morning!

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2 Lizzy May 3, 2014 at 2:21 pm

Oh, I love Lake Champlain’s chocolates so the drinking chocolate must be amazing! Thanks for the tip. I highly recommend Crio Bru; let me know if you try it.

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