A couple of days ago, I picked up a pound of Caffe Vita’s Theo Blend coffee. Even though I’m a dedicated label reader (due to my vegan-osity), I occasionally miss things. Case in point: I didn’t realize until I was putting my groceries away at home that this particular coffee is a blend of Caffe Vita coffee and Theo chocolate.
My friend Kaitlin and I had visited Theo’s factory/store in Fremont a year or so ago. From what I remember, Theo didn’t have much of a selection of vegan chocolates at that time, so I was concerned that the coffee might not be vegan.
I researched the product on both the Caffe Vita and Theo Web sites and didn’t find a detailed list of ingredients for either the coffee or the dark chocolate blended into it. So I sent an e-mail to Theo.
I received a response in less than 24 hours. According to Theo, Caffe Vita’s Theo Blend coffee is vegan and doesn’t contain chocolate; the name reflects a partnership between the two companies. This is also represented in the Theo’s Coffee Dark Chocolate bar, which is vegan and contains coffee from Caffe Vita.
The following Theo products are also vegan* although they might not be designated as vegan on the Web site:
* Theo Phinney Fig, Fennel & Almond bar
* Theo Origin Madagascar, Ivory Coast, Blended, Ghana and Venezuela bars
* The Classic Combination Mint, Orange and Cherry & Almond bars
* Theo/Nicobella truffles
* Theo dark chocolate is free of milk fat and other dairy ingredients
In addition, the person who responded to my inquiry (Dave) said to feel free to contact Theo with any further questions about any of their products. Also, from what I recall, the labels on the actual bars or boxes of chocolate list all of the ingredients.
* Disclaimer: Dave let me know that the vegan chocolates are processed on the same equipment that’s used to process the non-vegan products. However, the equipment is cleaned thoroughly between batches and it’s pretty likely that the vegan chocolates don’t pick up any trace non-vegan ingredients.
I haven’t tried the Theo Blend coffee yet … stay tuned …