Monday, December 1, 2008
Starbucks Chocolate: Eggnog Latte TrufflesThe Hershey’s & Starbucks marriage has moved quietly out of the honeymoon stage. I see the products around quite a bit, though I haven’t been tempted to buy any again since I tried their launch line of items. Then I saw their new holiday truffles. They have three new variesties that I spotted at both Rite Aid and Target. The new truffles are: Peppermint Mocha Truffles, Gingerbread Latte Truffles and Eggnog Latte Flavored Truffles. I stared and stared at the two packages for Gingerbread and Eggnog and I couldn’t figure out the difference. Gingerbread was going to be a little more on the cinnamon side and eggnog was going to be more on the nutmeg side. Both are milk chocolate. Even though they were on sale, I opted for just the Eggnog ones. I think nutmeg is a hugely underrated spice and I love the combination of milk chocolate and nutmeg. (Frances bought all of them though.) First let me say that I’ve never had a Starbucks coffee drink before. I’ve had straight lattes and cappuccinos and tried their Chantico hot chocolate before, but I’ve never had any of their flavored drinks. Like my aversion to sodas, I just don’t care much for sweet drinks. So I can’t compare the experience of this truffle to one of their actual hot Eggnog Lattes. The narrow domed pieces are very attractive. Nicely molded and aromatic. I got an immediate whiff of chocolate and nutmeg with a little hint of rum flavoring. The chocolate shell is shiny and nicely tempered. The chocolate is sweet but has a slight pop of coffee flavors. The sugar, cream and palm oil ganache center is creamy with a few little bits of spice in it. There’s a very slight hint of coffee from time to time, but for the most part this is a chocolate piece about the egg nog flavors, not espresso. Overall, as I’ve found with egg nog in the past, this is pretty sweet stuff. The piece is nice, but as I’ve noticed with the other truffle boxes, I kind of want a variety. I did see a gift box at Target that had a mix of Mocha, Peppermint Mocha and Gingerbread Latte Truffles, but at $10 for less than 6 ounces it was a worse deal ounce for ounce than the stand up boxes. So I think I’m just going to keep my eye on it and hope it’s still there after Christmas. Or go to a real chocolatier and get something that’ll really roll my eyes back in my head. As drug store chocolates go, they are all natural and Starbucks makes a point of saying that their coffee and chocolate are sourced ethically and grown sustainably (doesn’t say anything about the palm oil though). They’re certainly better than most other mass-produced boxed chocolates in that respect. Kosher. Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:57 am |
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Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.
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I work at a cafe that sells Starbucks products, and it might be good to note that people can’t expect the candy to taste exactly like the drink, mainly because every cafe gets its eggnog from a different source. The dairy that we buy from doesn’t put nutmeg in its eggnog, but many other brands do.
I’ve never had eggnog but these sound yummy.
with a little hint of rum flavoring.
Well there you go, that’s another difference between eggnog and gingerbread!
eggnog=good. chocolate=good. Putting them together sounds like one of the best ideas since the last great idea I heard of!
Maybe I can get my boss to buy some for the office. Hmm… Sounds delicious!
Great evaluation of this candy. I too am an eggnog fan. However, I much prefer dark chocolate over the milk chocolate. Do they make it with dark chocolate?
Also, nutmeg is an interesting spice. My mom puts it in apple pie and it gives a tremendous twist to the flavor. However, I haven’t had it in candy before, much less with chocolate. Did you find the mixture discordant at all?
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