CACAO BARS
River cacao bars: two or three ingredients, no added sugar
Shiro, Amara, Stop, Fragile and Tato are about simple ingredient ratios first: milk, cacao, coconut milk and cocoa butter.
River Journal
No-added-sugar cacao bars
PACKAGING
Fragile is supposed to arrive broken
A thin paper-and-cardboard package lowers shipping volume and material use instead of adding bulky protection around a thin bar.
recommended design
Fragile
A three-ingredient cacao bar with no added sugar, designed to arrive broken on purpose. Fragile turns a shipping problem into the format: thinner packaging, less waste and pieces that are meant to be shared.
INGREDIENTS
Why Amara uses milk powder instead of added sugar
The question was texture: cacao needed body and natural lactose sweetness, not a separate sweetener.
recommended design
Amara
A bitter milk-cacao bar for people who like dark profiles: 2/3 cacao and 1/3 milk powder, with no added sugar. It lands close to an 80% dark character, but the softening ingredient is milk, not plain sugar.
STOP DESIGN
Stop: 62% cacao, 38% coconut milk, one clean proportion
Stop was the first River bar: vegan, bitter, fatty enough to melt cleanly, and shaped around the same 62/38 balance as the recipe.
recommended design
Stop
The first standalone River cacao bar: vegan, bitter and built around 62% cacao with 38% coconut milk powder. The same rounded 62/38 proportion shapes the bar, while the coconut fat gives it a clean melt-in-the-mouth texture.
NO ADDED SUGAR
No added sugar is not the same as sugar-free
River bars avoid added sugar, but milk, cacao and coconut still bring their own natural sugars, fats and flavor.
recommended design
Amara
A bitter milk-cacao bar for people who like dark profiles: 2/3 cacao and 1/3 milk powder, with no added sugar. It lands close to an 80% dark character, but the softening ingredient is milk, not plain sugar.
CACAO FAMILY
Tato, Fragile, Shiro and Amara: one cacao family
The recipe tree moves from dark cacao and white cream toward a softer two-sided bar.
recommended design
Tato
A three-ingredient cacao bar inspired by childhood creamy milk bars, but with cleaner ingredients and no added sugar. Amara and Shiro are the parents; Fragile is half of each; Tato is the next generation, closer to Shiro.
CACAO PROCESS
How River cacao bars are made in a melanger
Ingredients go into a stone grinder for hours until the texture becomes smooth, the recipe comes together, and the flavor settles.
recommended design
Amara
A bitter milk-cacao bar for people who like dark profiles: 2/3 cacao and 1/3 milk powder, with no added sugar. It lands close to an 80% dark character, but the softening ingredient is milk, not plain sugar.
CACAO GUIDE
Cocoa nibs or cacao paste: where the bar starts
Starting from roasted nibs asks for long conching. Starting from 100% cacao paste can make the process much shorter.
recommended design
Stop
The first standalone River cacao bar: vegan, bitter and built around 62% cacao with 38% coconut milk powder. The same rounded 62/38 proportion shapes the bar, while the coconut fat gives it a clean melt-in-the-mouth texture.
FLAVOR GUIDE
Why some cacao bars taste sharper than others
Bean treatment decides whether the flavor stays bright and acidic or becomes rounder and more mellow.
recommended design
Amara
A bitter milk-cacao bar for people who like dark profiles: 2/3 cacao and 1/3 milk powder, with no added sugar. It lands close to an 80% dark character, but the softening ingredient is milk, not plain sugar.
Also from River Family
Air purifiers
Roy
A quiet, USB-powered air purifier that just does its job. Cleaner room air from a printed object that actually looks like it belongs on the shelf — no humming appliance, no exposed electronics.
Ice air coolers
Yuki
A full-size ice-pack air cooler built from printed parts, a quiet USB fan and a frozen water pack. Freeze the pack overnight, place it inside, and Yuki sends a steady cooler stream across the desk with very low power use.