Cluizel Noir Cafe

I hardly have to say more than:
Michel Cluizel
Noir
Au Café

After all of the chocolate I’ve sampled today for you, dear readers, it might be difficult to get a good review.
But this one is good. Beyond good. You’ve had chocolate before, right? Good chocolate? Good chocolate with coffee?
Have you ever had a fabulous chocolate with an espresso built in? That’s this bar.
It’s not just any espresso, either, it’s the wonderful French espresso that you can’t seem to find anywhere except in France.

Reviewed: Cluizel Noir au Cafe
Personality: One of my lifetime favorites
How to enjoy: With a nice glass of water, just like you are served in a café.
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Safran chocolate in Tuebingen, Germany, and http://www.chocolatmichelcluizel-na.com/

Zotter Kuerbiskerne marzipan

Safran in Tuebingen specializes in Zotter chocolate. When we were there, they had just gotten in a new shipment, perhaps the biggest selection of Zotter I’ve seen. The Austrian Zotter bars are perhaps the most creative I’ve seen anywhere. Their particular flavor combinations can’t be duplicated anywhere. Austria is, in my mind, the Montana of Europe. Fewer people, but people who are totally committed to being themselves. That commitment comes out clearly in this bar.
Today’s Zotter is a pumpkin seed and marzipan bar. Who could have thought to combine these two? Curious.
Curiously attractive, too. This handmade bar is also Bio and Fair trade. Zotter’s web site is worth a read, where you’ll learn more about his philosophy and practices.
This bar is wonderful, with chunks of pumpkin seeds blended into a superior tasting marzipan. The almond and pumpkin see flavors blend well, and the chocolate coating makes it perfect.

Reviewed: Zotter Kuerbiskerne mit marzipan
Personality: Upscale trophy chocolate
How to enjoy: Laid out nicely on a beautiful plate, these are to be savored by eye as well as the tongue.
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Safran chocolate in Tuebingen, Germany, and http://www.zotter.at/4.html
UK: http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/
USA: Rumore has it, Zotter is sold at The Candy Store in San Francisco. http://www.thecandystoresf.com/

Leonidas Pralines

Tuebingen is a big small city in the middle of Baden-Wuerttemberg. As a university town and a medical center, the downtown supports the needs of those groups rather than people supporting a town. That results in a thriving downtown that is filled with many fun things to do.
Last weekend we found a number of nice experiences as we window-shopped. The best café is the one overlooking the Neckar bridge, where you can see hundreds of people walk by. As we walked back to the market from the café, we indulged in ice cream. DH had a Fig-Grape mixture, and I had Lemon Basil. Not the lemon-basil herb, but lemon ice cream with regular basil as an accent flavor. It. Was. Amazing. The fig was good too, but the grape didn’t come out so well.
We also visited Safran. If you’ve seen the “Mistress of Spices” movie, or “Chocolat,” then you’ll understand when I tell you that Safran is a perfect mixture of the stores featured in those films.
And Safran sells chocolate. Good chocolate. I scored a Cluizel bar, a Zotter bar and some Leonidas pralines.
We bought just enough Leonidas for the weekend, and I was going to look up the names of the pieces, but it seems the Leonidas website is under attack, and my virus checker kept me from using the site.
They are good, though. The white one is a Manon Café. With a good solid white shell, and a creamy center, it’s praline perfection. The chestnut shaped one is a coffee nougat with krokant. More solid than the Manon, the krokant is crispy and fresh, like a good toffee should be. The aftertaste of this piece is excellent. We didn’t specifically wish to purchase so many coffee-flavored pieces, but that was the bulk of Safran’s stock.
These pralines are all different ones from my last purchase in Strasbourg. And they’re all good. http://talkalotachocolate.blogspot.com/search/label/Leonidas
The square one is Tosca, a brandy ganache. The brandy taste comes out immediately, and enhances the deep dark ganache.
The rectangular is a nougat with puffed rice. A bit of a non-sequitor compared with the others. I keep thinking about the Nestle Crunch bar, but the chocolate is here much better, of course.

Reviewed: Leonidas pralines
Personality: Upscale trophy chocolate
How to enjoy: Laid out nicely on a beautiful plate, these are to be savored by eye as well as the tongue.
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Safran chocolate in Tuebingen, Germany, and Leonidas everywhere. http://www.safran-tuebingen.de/shop.php?cat=safran&subcat=agb

Caffarel Cannella

Our vacation was spent in Berlin, and we stayed just around the corner from the world-famous KaDeWe department store. Stunning place, it’s a real old-fashioned department store, except that it’s a department store on steroids. The food department alone is beyond belief. Here are a couple of pics from our visit. Yes, it’s a liberty bell formed out of chocolate. 1.6 meters high.

They had a sale (yes a SALE) on Caffarel gianduja. These are normally pricey items, costing 50 Euro cents apiece, but we got a bag with a variety of flavors for much cheaper.

Each flavor is more wonderful than the others. You might remember I reviewed the chili version and the blue version and the gold version in earlier posts. This time I tried the cinnamon.

This Caffarel was a perfect balance of chocolate and cinnamon. First you get the slight snap as you bite into the bar, and the gianduja slowly melts on your tongue. Then the cinnamon hits with a subtle but distinct. It’s nice, because they didn’t make it too intense. I love cinnamon red hots, with lots of good cinnamon, but a chocolate this good deserves a cinnamon that complements it, not overpowers it. And Caffarel succeeds nicely here.

Reviewed: Caffarel Cannella
Personality: nicely spicely
How to enjoy: One of the best. Even better when they’re on sale
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
http://www.caffarel.com/uk/uk/home2.html
KaDeWe in Berlin, Germany http://www.kadewe-berlin.de/index2_engl.php

Aldi Choco Bistro Knusper

Cough! Cough! Choke! Gasp!

It may not be a good sign when the first bite of a chocolate puts me into a coughing fit, because the crispy flake goes down the wrong pipe.

But it’s not so bad after all. Aldi has brought us a good budget collection of crunchy chocolates (Knusper means crisp in German), and they are a good product for the price. The candies inside look a lot like the photograph on the front of the box.

The chocolates are a mix of dark, milk and white chocolate, all have a crunch of some sort. The one piece that looks like a coated truffle is a round wafer filled with nougat, and tastes very rich, if a bit sweet. There are some chocolate covered nuts and a couple of cookies covered in chocolate. Our box had two compartments with rolled wafers covered in chocolate and nuts.

You can also buy some of the products packaged by themselves, but the selection is a good deal and provides a lot of variety

Reviewed: Aldi Choco Bistro Knusper Selection
Personality: Unpretentious and crunchy
How to enjoy: A great way to treat yourself at the end of the month when the bank account runs a little low.

Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Aldi stores

Heilemann Marc de Champagne

Heilemann is a chocolate brand I discovered lately. Their chocolates appear in grocery stores, and generally in a large variety. Sticks of chocolate are also becoming trendy, and I’m seeing more and more of them in the shops.

This bar is the size of a large candy bar, coming in at 40 grams weight, or about 1.4 ounces. It’s a milk chocolate with a truffle filling, made with marc de champagne, which is 60% alcohol volume. The filling is not too sweet, which is very good. Too sugary, and it overpowers the fine chocolate.

The alcohol can definitely be tasted, although it’s no worse than any other filled chocolate. No one can eat enough of these to get drunk, but a piece of this does make a nice end to a heavy dinner, like one with a lot of cheese. (We just ate Hawaii toast for dinner, and the cheese is quite filling.)

All in all, it’s a pleasant chocolate, and not too pricey. I don’t consider this to be quite as good as Lindt, and far away from the gourmet chocolates, but it’s very enjoyable.

Reviewed: Heilemann Marc de Champagne
Personality: Unassuming, like the quiet neighbor who actually has a million bucks stashed away
How to enjoy: Share it with your dinner party after an evening of cheese fondue.

Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Groceries in Germany

Nestle Die Weisse

Nestle is well-known worldwide, and they are an institution in Switzerland. Here’s a translation of the back of this package.
Inspired by the milk expertise of Henry Nestle, in 1875, on the banks of Lake Geneva, the first Swiss milk chocolate was invented. Even today, this uniquely delicious and creamy white chocolate is manufactured with the unchanged passion and great experience of the Swiss chocolatiers.
Pretty ambitious statement, almost arrogant. How does the chocolate actually taste?
The first taste is ultra-smooth. As it melts, it’s a little rough, but not quite grainy. Good but light chocolate flavor, and no discernable aftertaste.

Reviewed: Nestle Die Weisse
Personality: Sort of a work horse – plain and practical, but unsurprising.
How to enjoy: Best for baking.
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Where Nestle is sold, therefore most groceries.

Sarotti Nuss Chili

Chili and chocolate is a natural pairing, and Sarotti has jumped on the bandwagon, but in their own way. This is a 32% milk chocolate, and instead of putting the chili into the chocolate, Sarotti has caramelized it onto the hazelnuts. With each bite that has a nut in it, you get both smooth, cooling chocolate and a power kick of chili when you bite into the nut.
If you let the chocolate melt first, then you have a candied hazelnut piece spiced by cayenne pepper.
Sarotti is part of the Barry Callebaut concern.

Reviewed: Sarotti Nuss Chili
Personality: Milky sweet with a powerful chili punch
How to enjoy: In small bits, accompanied by a cool drink
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Germany: Sarotti is available in grocers and candy stores. http://www.sarotti.com
USA: http://www.germandeli.com/sarotti.html

Gauss Curry Cocos Banane

Chili and chocolate is a natural pairing, but I’m not so sure about curry and chocolate. The last curry chocolates I’ve tried have been unpleasant.
Gauss chocolatier has proven me wrong, at least in part. They started with white chocolate, added banana, and then some curry. This actually works.
The pictures you see are not wrong – the chocolate has a definite greenish cast. I kept looking at it over and over, trying to figure out if my eyes were mistaken. I’m guessing it’s a combination of banana and curry. The manufacturer doesn’t say if it’s a green curry, but it certainly could be. The coconut is a great added touch, giving you a nice aftertaste, having absorbed the curry and banana.

Reviewed: Gauss Curry Cocos Banane
Personality: Reminds me of Bali – exotic and attractive
How to enjoy: Potentially addictive
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Gauss Chocolatier in Nagold, Germany

Dovgan Waffeltorte

Dear Hubby (DH) has been bringing various delicacies home from the store on Saturdays. Ho goes out most every weekend to the Real grocery store to buy things that we regularly use every week. One reason to go there is to buy the deli turkey breast, which is the best I’ve tasted anywhere.

This time he brought home an Ivan & Marja waffle torte from the manufacturer Dovgan. I don’t know if they’re related to the Dovgan vodka. It’s a cake or a bar cookie, with 4 waffle layers filled with a nougat-like filling and a walnut on top, with a final coating of chocolatey glaze.

This came out of the box stale. The waffles were crisp but old, and the filling was sugary. The glaze was waxy, and did not taste like chocolate.

The ingredients indicate this: mostly sugar, vegetable fat, …
Yuck.

Reviewed: Ivan & Marja Waffeltorte
Personality: The picture on the box is the most tasty part or this product
How to enjoy: Leave it on the shelf
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Grocers in Germany

Gauss Edelbitter-Orange

Back to Nagold, on the edge of the Black Forest, for another sample of Gauss’ fine hand-made chocolate bars.

This one is a dark chocolate with orange flavor. Right after putting it in your mouth, you can taste the orange, not too weak, not too strong. Nicely balanced flavors.

I couldn’t wait for the chocolate to melt, but it chewed nicely, and there was no grittiness. This is a 62% chocolate, and it’s a good quality, with the orange enhancing the floral note of the dark chocolate.

Reviewed: Gauss Edelbitter-Orange

Personality: Inauspiciously sophisticated

How to enjoy: Good tasty eating chocolate. Great for a bedtime snack or as you sit out on the front porch in the evenings.

Rating:

1: Better than sex

2: Little bites of heaven

3: Share with your best friend

4: Will do in a pinch

5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:

Gauss Confiserie in Nagold, Germany

Ritter Sport Rum Trauben Nuss

One of the best things about Germany is alcohol in chocolate. It's no big deal - just sitting there on the grocery shelf, begging to be purchased.

Like my latest find, Ritter Sport's Rum Trauben Nuss. Rum. Raisins. Nuts. How could this possibly get better? Try Jamaican rum. And clarified butter. And sultana raisins.

Oh baby. That's good.

Reviewed: Ritter Sport Rum Trauben Nuss

Personality: A chocolate version of your best party buddy

How to enjoy: Take a small square at a time, and let the flavors unfold in your mouth. A real treasure.

Rating:

1: Better than sex

2: Little bites of heaven

3: Share with your best friend

4: Will do in a pinch

5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:

Grocery stores in Germany, and http://shop.ritter-sport.de/

Lindt Excellence Cocos

This is a white chocolate with fine coconut bits. It’s heavenly. Summer is such a good time for white chocolate, isn’t it? Even better when it’s stored in the freezer.

This bar melts in your mouth, but without any of the odd aftertaste that comes with the more plebian white chocolate candies. That’s what I expect of Lindt, and they definitely delivered.

Reviewed: Lindt Excellence Cocos
Personality: Tastes like a fresh Caribbean cocktail
How to enjoy: Fresh out of the freezer in the middle of summer

Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Grocery stores in Europe and the US.

Coppeneur Trinkpralines

Hot chocolate is delicious. So are chocolate pralines. I also remember fondly how a café in Eindhoven, The Netherlands would put a piece of chocolate in their coffee cups as they served it. That was a wonderful treat at the bottom of my cup.

When coppeneur came out with Trinkpralines, drinkable candy, I was impressed. I immediately bought a package to try out.

As you see, the pralines are dark chocolate shells. Drop anywhere from a few to many of these in hot milk, and you will have a delicious hot chocolate. This particular flavor has a bonus of chili to give it a little boost.

That little boost wasn’t even close to enough. The chocolate wouldn’t melt and dissolve properly, and regardless of how I heated the milk, I couldn’t get it to work. It wasn’t gritty or anything, clearly the chocolate is good, but it never became hot chocolate.

Sigh.

Reviewed: Coppeneur Trinkpralines
Personality: Clumsy, like the guy who keeps falling over his own feet
How to enjoy: Enjoy looking at them on the shelf, then buy something else from Coppeneur that you can chew

Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Gourmet food stores. I bought mine in Stuttgart at some place whose name escapes me at the moment.

Lagerhaus caramels

Lagerhaus is an ambitious business. Diverse, too. Not only do they make high quality chocolates, but also high quality soap. They have a café, which has Irish music concerts and an occasional chocolate tasting menu.

Impressive. At 60 km out of Stuttgart, it’s little far away, but still impressive.

Their caramels are impressive too. This package contained both regular caramels and fudgies. Fudgies are my pet name for caramels with chocolate in them. Some of the caramels and fudgies had nuts in them, I’m guessing hazelnuts.

These were delicious, and in general were more fudge-like than sticky caramel-like.

Reviewed: Lagerhaus caramels
Personality: Feels like a hot spring day, not too hot to melt, but hot enough to melt in your mouth
How to enjoy: These tiny cubes are perfect when you want a little something, but not too much. Kinda like a little energy boost, only delicious.

Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Lagerhaus in Gomadingen-Dapfen
http://www.lagerhaus-lauter.de/

Gauss chocolatier in Nagold, Germany

Nagold is a beautiful town on the northern side of the Black Forest. Many buildings are well-preserved, and they have a glorious downtown, where cars are only allowed to drive at walking speed.
After a nice walk in the woods last Sunday, we decided to stop in Nagold for coffee.
We found a fabulous cafe-confiserie named Gauss. There's a corner of the building in the picture with the Apotheke.
The cakes were gorgeous, and they had a selection of handmade candies and chocolates, so you'll get to hear of a couple of interesting pieces I picked up before we left.
The white chocolate truffle cake was a killer, with a delicate sponge cake topped by a thick layer of white chocolate mousse.

Today I'll show you two treasures. First, Gauss makes their own namesake cookie/cake/whatever. It's a macaroon, topped by a creamy ganache and coated in chocolate. The finishing touch is a tiny spot of gold leaf.

They also sell hard peppermint candies that have a chocolate filling. They are a little crumbly if you bounce them about, but the peppermint is not too strong, and the chocolate filling is dark enough to be tasty.

Reviewed: Gauss Gauss and chocolate-filled peppermints
Personality: Alluring
How to enjoy: These make a special treat

Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Germany: Gauss Cafe in Nagold, Germany

Mars Planets

Road trips are often good places to find new chocolates to try, and my last trip to the Fränkische Schweiz was no exception. At a rest stop, we headed into a shop to buy a bottle of water, and there was a display of Mars Planets standing in a highly convenient location. I both admire and hate the way store apply perfectly good science to finding new ways to subliminally convince you to buy things. That’s why they put the cheaper items lower on the shelves, use the right colors to appeal to your culture, and make you walk in a certain direction around a store.
These guys were lying in wait just as I walked through the door. “Buy me! I’m new!!” Right next to the bottled water on sale, they made a convincing pair, so I bought a package.
Mars Planets are three different candies in one. Inside the package are three different sizes of round candies, each with a different filling. The smallest ones are a typical caramel candy, middle sized are crunchy, and the larger ones have soft fluffy nougat like you would find inside a Mars Bar.
At 37 grams, they weigh in with a slightly lower calorie count than most candy bars, so if you’re shaving the calories off, but still want honest, straightforward candy, it’s the same stuff as the larger bars.

Reviewed: Mars Planets
Personality: Reminds me of sifting my fingers through pebbles on the beach
How to enjoy: A nice snack without being too much
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Autobahn rest stops

Alpia Torinos

As a kid, I hated bridge mix. You never knew whether you were getting a nut or a raisin, and I hated chocolate covered raisins at the time. Now they are a real treat.
One equivalent in Germany to American bridge mix is this bag of crunchy dragees. There are almonds, hazelnuts and raisins in this package, and they are covered in dark, milk or white chocolate.
These were good but not great. The luck of the statistical draw gave this bag just one raisin. Too bad. Maybe I’ll have to buy a bag of chocolate covered raisins as well.
The chocolate was good, but I could hardly taste a difference between the dark and the milk chocolate. It was nice to enjoy both hazelnuts and almonds rather than the filler things like nougat.

Reviewed: Alpia Torinos
Personality: Crunchy pleaure
How to enjoy: Nice in small handfuls
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Grocery stores in Germany

Vivil Creme Classic Schokogeschmack

Sugar free does not mean calorie free. Vivil is the king of sugar free candies, offering a number of flavors, and having a special recipe that reasonably mimics creamy caramel.
Their chocolate version, however, is terrible. The first taste is almost like cocoa, but that immediately goes away. Afterwards, I can only find a metallic flavor, nothing like the creamy caramel flavor version.

Reviewed: Vivil Creme Life Classic Schokogeschmack
Personality: Hard and unpleasant
How to enjoy: Keep them on your desk for emergencies, but let the people who clean out your candy jar at night eat them
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Grocery stores in Germany

Moevenpick Creation Meringue

These cookies are da Bomb! Moevenpick, which is a huge corporation, has hotels, restaurants and ice cream under their control, as well as some fine foods.
Their cookies are fabulous. The meringue layers are cloud-light, just sturdy enough to showcase the smooth melty chocolate ganache. Then they go just that one glorious step further by dipping it in a lovely dark chocolate.

These are tiny cookies, and I have to confess that this was the last one. I insisted we stop and photograph it before it disappeared into DH's tummy. It took us about 4 days to finish a box of 100 grams, which I believe shows that we exercised considerable restraint.

Reviewed: Moevenpick Creation Meringue
Personality: An angel among cookies
How to enjoy: One at a time, letting each bite melt slowly in your mouth
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
German grocery stores, also in Austria
http://www.moevenpickfoods.com/feingebaeck/p_meringue.html

Ferrero Duplo zartbitter

Ferrero Duplo regular leaves me cold. It’s too sweet, the milk chocolate isn’t very chocolatey, and I don’t bother with it unless I have a really strong chocolate craving and nothing else is available. Same can be said for regular KitKats.
Then I discovered KitKat dark chocolate. Mmmm,. Much better. When I saw dark Duplo in the store yesterday, I knew I had to try them.
Now Duplo is made by Ferrero, the makers of Rocher. Rochers are one of my favorite candies, better than a candy bar because they are small, and not as expensive as high-class pralines. With Rocher, Ferrero has proven itself quite capable with light crunchy wafers and nougat cream.

How did they do with Duplo? Just as good. Certainly, Duplo doesn’t have that lovely crunchy hazelnut that the Rocher has, but if I want a little candy bar, and the dark Duplo is there, it’s a good choice for something light.
What’s better – KitKat or Duplo? Duplo, hands down.

Reviewed: Duplo zartbitter
Personality: Rocher’s candy bar
How to enjoy: OK, I brought one into work, but it didn’t last 15 minutes. So sue me. I’ll skip dessert today.
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Grocery stores in Germany.
USA: http://www.germandeli.com/ (maybe not the dark – you’ll have to ask
Ferrero: http://www.ferrero.com/eng/index.html

Lindt Edel Marzipan

One more from Lindt tonight. This one is a bit of a problem, because they disappeared so fast that I can hardly remember their special characteristics.
I do remember buying them half-price after Easter, choosing them because marzipan and chocolate is my husband’s favorite, and really enjoying the one I had.
Then suddenly the rest just faded into oblivion. Next thing I knew the bag was empty, one more stinkin’ thing I had to cart off to the recycling, and I could see a big smile on my husband’s face.

Reviewed: Lindt Edel Marzipan Easter Eggs
Personality: Husband pacifier, better even than beer
How to enjoy: Drop one into the husband’s hands, then ask for anything you want
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Lindt is sold many places worldwide

Lindt Hot Pralines

Some manufacturers are pussy-footing it around the theme of chili and hot pepper. They add a little, and sometimes you don’t even know for sure that you’ve tasted the pepper. Other manufacturers have a product portfolio broad enough to offer a choice.
Lindt is exactly that manufacturer. They have hot spices accenting their product line richly, and none is better than the Hot Pralines.
I bought all three flavors in one set, but they are also available in bars. All three flavors are great, and the fruit flavoring comes across as well as the heat.
Maracuja (passion fruit) is the one with the middle amount of heat. Granatapfel (pomegranate) is less hot, while the best combination of heat and flavor comes out in the papaya-flavored praline.

Reviewed: Lindt Hot Pralines
Personality: Reminds me of the sweet jelly which accompanies the cheese popper appetizer, plus a really nice chocolate
How to enjoy: Good kicker for dessert after a mildly spiced dinner
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Lindt is sold many places worldwide

Stainer Masai

In spite of the name, Stainer is an Italian chocolatier. They are also highly creative, with spice combinations like this one, the Masai. The Masai spice mixture is a complex blend of cola, cinnamon, Tonka-bean and vanilla. Wow. Lots of my favorite flavors.
The spices come over in the scent of the bar, which came wrapped in plastic. At first I was wondering if it wasn’t a bit cheap, but now I see that the plastic protects the spice flavors’ intensity.
Part of Stainer’s World Spices collection, this is a sophisticated taste, with plenty to experience while the chocolate melts on your tongue. This is a chocolate for savoring. The chocolate is not as pushy as a Cluizel dark chocolate is, but the spices really stay with you.

Reviewed: Stainer Masai Dark Chocolate 70%
Personality: Earthy
How to enjoy: Drink a cup of tea or coffee with this one, so the spices which linger on your tongue can reach full expression.
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Germany: Salon du Cacao http://www.salonducacao.de
USA: Stainer website http://www.stainerchocolate.com/

Ritter Sport Zitrone

I definitely have a thing for white chocolate at the moment. Standing in the store yesterday, I settled on Milka cow patch chocolate, milk with white patches. At work today, I sampled a tiny Toblerone bar, again milk, but with a layer of white chocolate, and now Ritter Sport called to me from my freezer when I got home tonight.
Last summer when I went to the Ritter Sport factory outlet in Waldenbuch, I picked up some tiny white Ritter Sport bars. Ritter recommended that you keep them in the freezer, and enjoy them on a hot day, which I thought was a great idea, except for the fact that I don’t often think to look in my freezer when I think of chocolate. Hence, it wasn’t until I decided to empty out my freezer that I though of them again.
These are the mini size, and they go down fast. The lemon is tangy and crunchy, and the yogurt-white chocolate is smooth, even better as a frozen treat.

Reviewed: Ritter Sport Zitrone (seasonal)
Personality: Chilly-icious delicious
How to enjoy: Definitely keep them in the freezer. They’re a delight, and I only hope Ritter brings them back this summer.
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Sorry, not available, but maybe when summer comes again. Keep your eyes on the Ritter homepage for more info. They do now have an online shop, same prices at the stores. http://shop.ritter-sport.de/

Cioccolatta Carlotta Tartufi Dolci

The Piedmont is an area of northern Italy known for its agricultural products. It's also the home of chocolate manufacturer Ferrero, so when I found these chocolates in a local Italian grocer, I had high hopes. I was disappointed.

Tartufi dolci are "sweet truffles," therefore not the fungus. I wondered at first if these were simply old, but the nuts inside were fabulously crunchy, indicating their freshness. Basically, these truffles were chocolately, but quite dry, with flakes breaking off at every bite.

Reviewed: Tartufi Dolci from Carlotta

How to enjoy: Don't bother. Look for another brand, maybe they'll be better.

Rating:

1: Better than sex

2: Little bites of heaven

3: Share with your best friend

4: Will do in a pinch

5: Halloween candy

Where to buy: http://www.buonissimo-world.de/Produkte/3116, or go to Alba, Italy and try them for yourself

Mövenpick Chocolate Picante ice cream

Mövenpick has a lovely array of products from restaurants and hotels, to chocolate, gourmet cookies, smoked fish, and now premium ice cream. Whoa! SMOKED FISH? Oooo-kay. A little diversification isn’t bad for a business, I guess.
This week I fell victim to advertising. Mövenpick has announced its line of premium ice cream, with Chocolate Picante being one that caught my eye.
So Dear Hubby dutifully put the ice cream on his next shopping list, and today was the taste test. “Prüfung bestanden,” the Germans say. “It passed with flying colors,” say the Americans.
It’s definitely a premium ice cream, with good density and flavor. The Picante part could be a little more pikant, but it’s still noticeable.
What really bugs me about ice cream in Germany are the chocolate bits. They put these tiny chocolate chips into many ice creams, but these things can hardly be described as chocolate, they are so dry and tasteless. It’s not just Mövenpick, but rather every ice cream with bits that I’ve tried. Give me a small thread of ganache instead, and I’d be much more satisfied.

Reviewed: Mövenpick Chocolate Picante ice cream
Personality: Chilly Chili Chocolate (boy, wouldn’t that be a great name for an ice cream. Trademark!!!)
How to enjoy: Dole it out in small portions, because it comes in a pint size or less, and is reasonably priced
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Edeka grocery stores in Germany, but I don’t think it’s outside of Germany yet
Check in with Mövenpick to see where it's offered: http://www.moevenpick-icecream.com/de/home.aspx

J.D.Gross Confiserie Eier mit Alkohol

Here's one from J.D. Gross that did not impress me, even though it's a bargain price. Or maybe it was because it has a bargain price.

They are large dark chocolate eggs, total weight about 20g, with a ganache filling. The ganache has alcohol in it, but not very much.

The egg liquor flavor has a nice yellow color inside, but was more creamy sweet than liquor-flavored. The other flavors were similar, and I had a slight preference for the Scotch over the Pralines.

Reviewed: J.D. Gross Confiserie Eier with Alcohol
Personality: A big lump of so-so chocolate
How to enjoy: Buy them after Easter, because they're not really special enough for your Easter nest.
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Lidl grocery stores

Lindt Vollmilch Mousse Caramel-Vanille

My favorite grocery store is the Edeka just around the corner from my house. The chocolate aisle, and there IS a chocolate aisle is roughly 25% Milka, 40% Lindt, and the rest is everything else. There’s always something new to try when I turn the corner.
Today I bought Lindt’s Vollmilch Mousse bar, flavored with Vanilla and Caramel. It’s one of their thick bars, designed to accommodate a milk chocolate mousse plus a vanilla-caramel layer. Yum! It’s a great combination of flavor and texture, with enough chocolatey goodness to keep you happy for a while.

Since I had large quantities of the Castelain milk chocolate I reviewed yesterday, I decided to do a head to head comparison.

The Castelain is a touch more smoky, but not really smoky, just more so than the Lindt. Smoky is the only word I can think of that makes sense at all.

Both are equally smooth, and I can’t really decide which one is better. They are just different. Ultimately I’ll have to give the edge to Lindt, since I love the added flavors, but the Castelain cannot be downgraded in the least.

Reviewed: Lindt Vollmilch Mousse Caramel-Vanille

Personality: Cuddly like a fuzzy kitten, yet has a better flavor

How to enjoy: Lock it away because it’s way too easy to eat twice as much as you ought to.

Rating:

1: Better than sex

2: Little bites of heaven

3: Share with your best friend

4: Will do in a pinch

5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:

any major grocery store
http://www.worldwidechocolate.com/