Testimonials on the Brewed Chocolate website boasted feeling a ’sense of well being’ after drinking the warm beverage made out of water brewed whole cocoa beans and organic evaporated cane juice.

I was intrigued. I’m a big fan of warm, chocolately drinks and always open to trying something new.

Mara Krausz at BC offered to send me a sample so I could decide for myself and I offered to write a review (if I liked it).

A few days later, I received a small box in the mail (with the sample inside) and invited my boyfriend to participate in trying our new chocolate drink.

At first, I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure how I’d like it, but I followed the directions and stirred in a teaspoon to my half a cup of hot water. My boyfriend followed.

We both sat back in our chairs and sipped on our brewed chocolate, which reminded me that big things do sometimes come in small, decadent packages.

It was delicious, grounding and calming, not in a sweet thick chocolately kind of way, but rather in a mature, centered Chai tea kind of a way.

As always, I was curious about the story behind the humans who created the product. Here’s more from Mara:

Brewed Chocolate is the inspiration of Rob Polevoi, who very much wanted to create a chocolate product that would contribute to the well being of his clients.  We all know that chocolate can make people feel good and recent studies highlight its health benefits.  We wanted to take the best things out of chocolate from an emotional and physical health standpoint and present it in a natural way.

We had discovered that the ancient Mexicans seemed to value chocolate even more for how it made them feel than for how it tasted, which was very striking.  They didn’t conceive of it as a dessert or as a sweet confectionary.  That got us thinking about chocolate in a new way.  We experimented for almost three years and the result was Brewed Chocolate.

Through taste testing, we found that brewing cocoa beans revealed the various physical/emotional effects of chocolate, e.g. mood elevation, stress relief, a gentle energy lift, clear calm.  We also chose to brew the purest form of chocolate possible; raw, unhulled and unground cocoa beans.

What I enjoy most is hearing from people about how they enjoy Brewed Chocolate and how it has helped them.  That is my inspiration.

I think I just found my new favorite hot drink, and just in time for the winter. Philip?

For more info on how to order Cabaret Brewed Chocolate, visit the website: www.brewedchocolate.com.