These pretty little chocolate cups of coffee made by Anthon Berg were another random “gourmet” shopping find. I’d never seen little chocolates filled with coffee before, only liqueurs, so I was eager to give this type of candy a try without making myself woozy from the alcohol. Yes, I am that much of a lightweight that this sort of thing concerns me.
I made my purchase and I eagerly did some internet research on Anthon Berg, which is a company from Denmark with an impressive confectionery history dating all the way back to 1884 when Anton Berg, a green grocer in Copenhagen, decided to start making chocolate. How’s that for an impressive history?
The premise of these treat are simple. A 55% dark chocolate shell holding a flavored syrupy center. They are cute; shaped like little coffee mugs with color coded foil wrappers. The first thing I did once I unwrapped one was gently bite the top off one so I could taste the chocolate alone. I find that it’s pretty average bittersweet chocolate, which is fine considering their main purpose is serving as a vessel for the liquid coffee interior.
Structurally, they chocolates are pretty sound. I had no leakage on any of the pieces and when I bit into them I could feel how thick the chocolate case is. The think foil packaging kept things fresh too, so they get points for that.
Espresso: Smells more of chocolate, but with a good coffee hit to it. The espresso is bitter but doesn’t taste terribly strong. It balances nicely with the sweet chocolate.
Cappuccino: The taste is strong and the coffee is more bitter and acidic. There’s a milky flavor to it, even thought the liquid coffee doesn’t show any dairy addition (not lighter in color at all). It’s terribly sweet.
Toffee Macciato: This one has a very milky and strong caramel aroma to it. The flavor is lighter than all the others with a really big toffee/caramel taste. There’s only a light coffee hint to be found so it’s by far the most mild, coffee-wise, of the bunch. It’s really more like dessert than a drink, as the caramel toffee flavor is very pronounced.
Vanilla Frappe: Smells of light, sweet coffee. The flavor is of a medium-bodied coffee with no acidity and a smooth vanilla flavor. It’s also very sweet.
I don’t quite get the appeal of these. If I want chocolate, I’ll have chocolate. If I want coffee, then I’ll grab myself a cup. These, while nice, are just a little tease of both for me and I find myself frustrated as opposed to satisfied. I need to go get myself some coffee now to fill this odd flavor void I’m feeling at the moment.
Rating: Might Eat Again
Links:
Anthon Berg Website
I’m always impressed by the candy that I find from Meiji, and Coffeebeat is one that I always see at my local Asian market without fail. The fact that I see it all the time has made me continually hold off on buying it, until recently when I finally told myself: “Just try it already! Sheesh!”. I didn’t really know what it was exactly, other than chocolate and coffee were involved, so I was interested to see what I’d gotten myself into.
These look familiar, like M&Ms to be exact. They are all a rich brown color and have a wonderful roasted, coffee aroma. They’re immediately enticing.
Biting into one, yes, they really are like M&Ms. The candy shell is thin and has a good crunch to it. Inside is the chocolate center, and it carries not only the flavor of coffee, but it has notes of cream and chocolate as well. It’s more of a mocha than a true black cup of coffee. I think the flavor carries well here, the sweetness doesn’t overpower the coffee and vise versa. I also like the form of the candy too, I have always been a fan of the little lentil shapes for chocolate.
The packaging is really a nice design too. The tube allows you to take as little or much as you want at one time, and whatever you don’t eat is easily saved for later or shared with friends.
A nice treat if you’re into coffee and chocolate. I’ll have these on hand when for when my next craving strikes.
Rating: Might Eat Again
Links
Meiji Coffeebeat Webpage
I saw this bar on the shelf of a overlooked convenience store and knew it was something that was long and forgotten. Despite my better judgment, I picked it up anyways. Once I was home I checked the code on the back; it read 87F2Z 61 2 . Ahh, it was considered peak freshness in Jan 2006. No wonder I haven’t seen this bar anywhere else!
As I opened the bar (yes, I did plan on eating it!) a strong smell of coffee came through. The smell, mixed with the caramel and chocolate, makes a very malty cappuccino effect. Impressive, for once, since candy often claiming to be coffee of cappuccino flavored tend to fall short on their promises. So far this one smells spot on.
Overall, it looks pretty good. There was a little blooming in the chocolate on the bottom side of the bar where the chocolate had cracked near the caramel cavity. There was also a little on top where the chocolate has been bumped from storage and rough handling during shipment. Still, it looked nice for something so old!
The bar itself is split into four square cavities, with all of them sitting on a nicely molded rectangular base. There’s nice decorative cross hatching on the top, surrounding the Hershey’s logo. The ingredients list is pretty clean, no trans fats listed, unlike Hershey’s products today, but PGPR is shown on there.
I break off a piece to try….
Ugh. Not good. The chocolate is dry and the caramel is thick and sticky. Not in a good way either; but an old, tacky sort of way. The cappuccino flavor, which I’m sure was good a long time ago, now just tastes like two week old coffee: bland, odious and oddly artificial. I bet this tasted great two years ago, but now not so much.
I don’t know why I feel so surprised about this. Let this be a lesson to you: don’t eat candy that’s expired over two years ago.
Rating: Inedible (but it’s my fault!)
