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/