Healthy Chocolate?! {Mayesa #Giveaway (11/30) US}

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My oldest was excited to try Mayesa's Healthy Chocolate beverages the second I told him I was going to review them. Every day, until my samples arrived, he'd come home from school and ask, "Did they come yet???" He's a big chocolate & mint lover, so he was really looking forward to trying Mayesa's Mint-flavored drink. The day the samples arrived, you'd have thought he won the lottery. I explained that I had to review the drinks, so I needed him to consider everything about them for me.

He sure took his job seriously! He checked out the label of each package, mentioning things he found interesting: He actually knew what each ingredient was - no need for a great deal of food chemical knowledge! Most of the ingredients are organic. It has a lot of vitamins in it - even 50% of the RDA of Vitamin D. It's dairy-, gluten-, and soy-free. And, it's all-natural.

Then, seeing an opportunity to use my computer, he asked if there was a Web site. OK... I figured that if he wanted to do all of the homework for me, then why not, right? I found him the Mayesa product information page. Being 13, he found it intriguing that I'd let him drink something with hemp in it. (LOL!) I explained that the "hemp" he was thinking of is only one type of a whole group of plants. We managed to have a little history/social studies lesson on what hemp was and is used for, beside the obvious. He was amazed that it contains protein and Omega 3 & 6 fatty acids. Also, hemp requires little water, no pesticides, and contains no GMO's. He also learned about cacao (a.k.a. "chocolate"!) and that it's actually very good for you. Since he's well-aware of the importance of antioxidants and protein, he was really stuck on those. I has to remind him that the milk chocolate he likes is very different from "cacao" and that, if he was thinking of trying to use his new information to get me to buy more candy, he was nuts!

Time for the taste-test. He tried the Mint Flavor first. He didn't like it. Said that it had too much flavor. Well, that's kind of weird. "Did you shake it up?" No, he didn't. He had put the straw right into the Tetra Pak, to the bottom, where all of the flavors had settled. We shook it up and he tried again. Oh, yeah! He loved it! He drank about half of it down, then wondered how it would taste warm (he loves minty hot chocolate). He poured some into a cup, heated it, and that was a thumbs-up, too. You should have seen him smelling, sipping, rolling it around in his mouth, etc.! We went through the same taste-testing with the Original flavor, but didn't skip the shaking part this time. He loved that, too, but preferred the mint.

Little Guy and I got to taste the Original, too, while my oldest kept the Mint all for himself. I liked the richness in it. It was like drinking liquid chocolate! The flavor was strong and good - not bitter. In fact, this is how I've imagined the chocolate drinks that Mayans made would taste. Smooth, flavorful, slightly sweet, and filling. Little Guy was enthusiastic about helping Mommy test this new drink, too. He tried to parrot all of the chocolate drink-connoisseur stuff my oldest had done. Hilarious! He loved it, too, and had a fit when he found he'd drank it all and there wasn't anymore!

I can say that, hands down, Mayesa passed the taste test in our family and passed my Mom inspection of the nutrition and ingredients labels.

A few other things I want you to know about Mayesa:

• The Tetra Pak containers that Mayesa drinks are packaged in are made of cardboard from trees grown in managed forests and are recyclable.
• Mayesa supports Kiva, a non-profit organization that provides loans to people around the globe in order to help them start businesses that will keep their families from poverty.
• You can find Mayesa in stores if you live in Southern California, Texas, or Massachusetts. You can also order it online from the Mayesa site. (You'll also find printable coupons at that link!)

You can find Mayesa at the Web site, on Facebook, on Twitter, and their Blog. 

So, would you like a chance to win a 6-pack of Mayesa to try yourself? Mayesa has offered to give one reader 3 of their Original Cacao and 3 Mint-flavored healthy chocolate beverages. Just fill out the Rafflecopter form, below, and you'll be entered!



I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.