Are Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans really chocolate covered coffee beans?

I think they are delicious! I like the flavor, and texture. I like the crunch they make when you bite into them. They are so good that, naturally, I tried eating a couple of dry roasted unground coffee beans.
They were… terrible!!! One bite and I was left with an incredibly bitter, brown yuck that got all inside my mouth. I’m sure the residue was strong enough to stain my kitchen cabinets.

So, what are the “beans”? Are they really coffee? Do they lack caffeine? Are they some kind of unusable coffee bean? What is the trick?