Chocolates Are Us - Coconut Rough product reviews

Coconut rough, to me, is the best combination of sweet treat. Tropical sweet coconut smothered in smooth and creamy chocolate. Being a non-native (but adopted) Kiwi, it is only in the last five years that the beauty of this confectionery has come to my attention, and in that time I have tried every single one that I could get my hands on. For that reason, I was super excited to receive the Chocolates are Us coconut rough to review.

The first thing I noticed was the size of the bag. It was far bigger than I was expecting. It was nicely packaged- enough to be a great gift for a lucky someone. However, the clear window at the front showing me the contents was too tempting for me, so I ripped straight in to the packet!

I was really surprised with what I found inside. I expected to find the uniform, mass-produced identical pieces that I have been used to in most packaged chocolates. Instead, I found chunks which had obviously been produced in a bar and then broken up. This was lovely - a real home-produced product made with love and attention. It also had the added bonus of some really huge pieces- which I obviously made a bee-line straight towards.

The chocolate itself was dreamy- smooth and rich, although a little sweeter than I would have expected from a dark chocolate (although I do usually go for a 70-80 % dark chocolate, so this might just be my perspective). The coconut was fine, so didn't stick in your teeth. It was more of a subtle surprise when the chocolate had melted down. To me, there was the perfect amount of chocolate to coconut, not too much of either and enough to get the flavour of both without being overpowered from either.

I understand that the price may seem a little dear, however, I think that these are chocolates designed to be given as a special treat or gift, so I would say that they are comparable to those of a similar nature. I feel it would be worth paying a little more for the time and attention that has had to go into making a handcrafted product such as this- and I'm sure that anyone who received them would realise what a special treat they had been given.

Great product, made with love and care which you can almost feel coming through the chocolate. I would love to receive these as a treat myself (hint hint to anyone I know 😜) and I would definitely buy them as a special treat for friends and family.

For as long as I can remember I have always loved the combination of coconut and chocolate. If buying chocolate at the supermarket, I would always head for something with coconut in it. I love biscuits and slices that use coconut - I think it's easy to say I LOVE coconut! I was quite excited when this product came up for review and had my fingers crossed that I would be lucky enough to receive a pack, and I was!

I love that this product is NZ made. This is clearly written on the packet with "Whitianga NZ" written on the sticker. The sticker also includes the companies website (www.chocolatesareus.co.nz for anyone else who may want it!) and an 0800 number to ring. I think this is great as if you like the product you have the details right there to be able to purchase more. Every time I looked at the label I did think of Christmas however, as there is a pohutukawa flower on the front, but this just tells me even more that it is an NZ product. The packet also has a clear window in the front which means it is easy to see the product that is inside. I should note here too that the packet was filled from bottom to top, which is another plus especially when you can see inside the packet.

Upon opening the packet I was met with the most amazing chocolate and coconut smell. I noticed that the pieces were quite rustic looking. They were all different shapes and sizes. In some of the bigger pieces you could see a line where it had obviously been set in a bar or slab with break lines on it. I do love that the pieces are all different as you can either have a lot or a little. With one bite I was in heaven! Chocolates Are Us have got the perfect amount of chocolate to coconut, and in my opinion, the dark chocolate is the best mix for the coconut rough. The coconut is evenly spread within the chocolate and the pieces are little, so they don't overtake the taste of the chocolate either.

I would love to try more of the chocolates in this range, although I am pretty sure none of them will beat this coconut rough! At $8 per bag it certainly is a bit of a treat especially because I think I could eat the whole bag in one go (and probably regret it after!), but it is a product I would like to purchase again. I will be keeping a close eye on their Facebook page and website to see if they ever have any specials in the chocolate as then I can stock up even more!

Growing up my dad loved Coconut Rough and would buy it whenever mum was not around as she is not a huge fan. I have great memories of stealing them from dad or if we were really good he would give us some. Or whenever we went down South to visit his family he would always stop at this one diary on the way down there and buy mum love hearts and he would get $1 worth of these that we would all share. I personally don't buy them that often now, as my girls and my husband are not huge fans - on those occasions we drive down south I sometimes stop at the dairy and buy a couple as the price has increased drastically since when I was younger.

I found the packet is rather plain and is broken up by the sticker which is nice and vibrant with a beautiful red flower. The packet is see through so the chocolates sit there looking at you, taunting you to try them. The packet is very easy to rip open and has a resealable lock so no need to worry about them falling out and if you play your cards right the kids do not realise that the packet has already been opened.

They do not taste like I remember as a kid, actually they are completely different. The first thing you notice is the rich chocolate that melts in your mouth first and then the sweet coconut makes an appearance after you have almost finished your mouthful. The coconut is not overpowering at all and you actually forget you are eating a coconut rough until the end when you are left with bits of coconut in your mouth. The shape is also different and not the jagged circle but more of a rectangle with rather straight edges.

I found them rather sweet and something I enjoyed is I only needed a couple till I was content and could not eat any more for a while, which is great for my waistline. I asked the family if they wanted to try and both girls enjoyed and said they were yummy but when I asked if they wanted some more they both declined and said maybe later. My husband also tried and where as he had two, he said it was different to what he expected but did not think it was something he would eat that often.

Looking at the price it was more than I was expecting and to be honest I would probably not buy again. I did enjoy them but the taste is not what I was expecting and where as I liked the coconut after taste I found it was a little too rich for my liking.

As a kid, I quickly discovered that chocolate + coconut = taste heaven for me. It was on a trip to the US and a chance encounter with a Bounty Bar that did it, and since then I have loved that combo far more than each alone - a true synergistic experience for me. Over the years I have come across some really good examples, and more than a few disappointing ones, so I think I know what I am talking about when I say that for me, this was included in the list of "better than most" Coconut Roughs.

I really liked how the bits were not moulded into pretty, uniform bits. They were clearly broken from a larger slab, and that gave every piece a unique character, but an equally short lifespan in my mouth. Even with my sensitive teeth, they were so easy to eat. I even managed, with intense self-control, to let one of them slowly dissolve in my mouth, releasing the flavour, and small bits of coconut, over the span of about half an hour. If you can manage to do that yourself, I highly recommend it. It is something quite delightful.

I would have used these as ingredients in something else, but they were just too good, and I couldn't bring myself to risk experimenting with them and having it fail. So, a very pleasant snacking-treat for me for a week or so, and then, that dreadful moment when I realised that the bag was empty. Alas, poor chocolate... I knew it well!

Overall, one of the best hand-crafted Coconut Roughs I have come across, and I certainly hope to see it succeed and become a favourite for many, many others.

As soon as I opened this packet, I regretted that I had invited three of my friends to help me to taste it. Two of my favourite flavours - coconut and proper dark chocolate - combined in a wickedly deceptive, very ordinary looking collection of pieces. They look home made and not especially appealing, but the first bite tells you how truly delicious they really are. Reluctantly, I stopped drooling over my piece, tipped the rest of the contents on to a plate, and offered it round.

It was interesting to see their reactions. One of the three, a woman in her late fifties, had been keen to try this confectionery because she had memories of going to the movies in Invercargill with her mother. They used to buy a packet of chocolate rough to eat while they were watching, and my friend remembers this fondly. She had not tasted chocolate rough since, but she had clear recollections of how it tasted. She said the main difference was that the product she remembered was made with milk chocolate rather than dark, and the pieces of coconut were bigger and not so evenly distributed. However, she did say that this version was very pleasant (and to prove it, she took a second piece!)

The other two had different impressions. One, who has a partial denture where his front teeth used to be, was pleased to find a nut product that he could chew. He said that the coconut was so fine it did not need to meet his teeth at all; he could suck the sweet until it vanished down his throat. This was a real plus for him as he has problems eating very hard food or food that is too big. He liked the way that this product was already broken into pieces, and that he could break (or cut) a piece in half if necessary. He loved the flavour and said he would buy it again.

The third tester said he could imagine it grated on top of a cake. His suggestion was that the cake could be covered in cream and then the chocolate grated liberally on top. That way, you would have the flavour of the chocolate and the coconut jazzing up a plain cake and adding interest to it. He also said he thought it would be nice grated on a pavlova. However, he also liked the pieces just as they were, describing them as "melt-in-the-mouth delicious".

Personally, I really like this product. In the end I was glad I had invited others to help me as the entire packet disappeared with the four of us all eating the contents, and I fear if I had not invited them over I might have been tempted to eat the lot on my own!

This has definitely been my favourite variety of the four that were available to review at the time. Potentially because it is the product that comes the closest to simple chocolate. Toasted coconut mixed with chocolate. Properly mixed too, not layered like other bakery coconut roughs that sometimes have a biscuit base. This is purely the chocolate coconut mix.

The packaging is a simple resealable foil pack with a clear face so you can see the product. The product is broken into pieces similarly to how the cashew brittle variety is done, so you get a lot of variety in the size of the pieces; some pieces may be double the size of an M&M, while others are larger than your thumb. So some may need to be further broken down to make it easier to break.

The product has 270 calories per 50g serving (the packet has 3 servings), though I personally had much smaller servings myself. The chocolate is reasonably rich, and tastes slightly darker than what you would get from a cadbury bar. Personally, I've had the packet for over a week, and am happy snacking on one or two pieces at a time, so I'm not too concerned about the calories.

The chocolate is reasonably solid, so it isn't messy at all to handle, which is another plus. The packet is rather narrow, so I don't want to have to reach into a sticky packet to reach pieces at the bottom. With many servings, and a richness that leaves you satisfied, this product is an ideal treat.