Sugar Savvy

This week’s See’s Piece by Piece continues the exploration of See’s Candies coffee flavored truffles. In last week’s post, I tasted and rated the Café Hazelnut Truffle.

While I liked the Café Hazelnut Truffle enough to give it an 8.5 rating, the very strong coffee taste was such a jolt I thought only the hardcore lovers of caffeine-laced chocolates would really enjoy it.

Well, if that truffle was like an infusion of black espresso, this week’s truffle is like sipping a perfectly brewed cup of Café Au Lait, all that is missing is the foam.

Tasting Report:

Description: The truffle is a rough oval with one end slightly pointed. It is filled with a creamy looking, beige buttercream. The chocolate covering is a deep brown, with lighter chocolate drizzles crisscrossing the top, giving it a distinctive marking. (Each of See’s truffles has a different marking.) It is piece number 58 on the webpage and in the catalog.

Taste: Yum. Yum.

(Well, okay, the coffee flavor in the filling is just right, assertive but well tamed by the butter, cream and other ingredients. Either this truffle is less sweet than others in the line or the coffee flavor seems to balance out the sweetness. The amount of chocolate covering enrobing my truffle was substantial and the chocolate meshed nicely in my mouth with the coffee flavor creating a nice mocha experience. The buttercream lingered on the tongue, prolonging the whole taste experience.)

See’s Trivia: According to the book See’s Famous Old Time Candies by Margaret Moos Pick, See’s Truffles were designed to compete with Godiva’s, but at a less expensive price. After three years of recipe experimentation and truffle development, the first See’s Candies’ truffles were test marketed in August 1985 in 24 shops in California. After more tweaking, the truffle line formally debuted in December 1985.

Ingredients: Sugar, chocolate, cream, milk, cocoa butter, corn syrup, coffee, butter, salt, soy lecithin, vanilla, vanillin.

Well Fed Network Rating: Needless to say, this is a chocolate I will always want in The Chocolate Box. Using my scale of one to 10, as compared to other See’s Candies, I am rating it a 10. (A first!) Pros: Smooth coffee taste with rich chocolate. Cons: Not for those who don’t like coffee.

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Photo credit: See’s Candies