Trader Joe's 72%, chocolate covered espresso beans, and chocolate covered cherries

Trader Joe's: people have opinions.  But good news: I love opinions.  And ain't nobody gonna out-opinion me, no sir.

So here's my opinion: nice.

Trader Joe's makes a 72% bar.  It tastes like chocolate.  You know what chocolate is supposed to taste like?  Chocolate.  So let's just consider that a success.  It's sort of like a quality upgrade from the Food Emporium or CIBO Express bar, but it's a similar principle.  Nothing fancy but likely to win plenty of taste tests.

I also got my hands on dark chocolate-covered cherries, which I gave away (cherries are not my thing) and dark chocolate-covered espresso beans, which I should have given away, but instead devoured over two long nights at works, winding up shaking pretty noticeably for about a week straight.  Remember that I have only recently come to tolerate coffee and chocolate, so this was a pretty intense experience.  But I'll say this: I ate them all, and I wasn't complaining.

Bottom Line: There is a reason the lines are so long.  It's for the chocolate.  Right?

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Almonds

Is there nothing Trader Joe's can't do? You already know my feelings regarding their chocolate-covered peanut butter-filled pretzels. Turns out their dark chocolate almonds are every bit as amazing.



As you can see on the packaging, these bite-sized babies are sprinkled with sea salt and turbinado sugar, and that makes them highly, highly addictive. As I sit here writing about them, I just want to keep eating them, but I have already eaten about a dozen tonight, plus it's past midnight, so I know I shouldn't. But I want to.

Chocolate-covered almonds are one of those foods that can really run the gamut. Some are very good. Some are waxy and kind of gross. These ones are spectacular.

BOTTOM LINE: Trader Joe's comes through on the chocolate front once again.

Trader Joe's chocolate-covered peanut butter pretzels

Chocolate-covered peanut butter pretzels are the greatest thing Trader Joe's has ever done. Possibly, they are the greatest thing anyone has ever done, at least at a $3.29 price point. They are exactly the right size, exactly the right mixture of salty and sweet, exactly the right chocolate to peanut butter to pretzel ratio, and exactly the right amount of crispiness. Whenever I bite into one of these, I think to myself, "The world can't be all bad, after all."



BOTTOM LINE: An anytime snack that will fill you with optimism, joy, and peanut butter.