Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Get Them For As Long As We Can! Coffee Lindt Lindor Truffles Are Worth It!



The Good: Great taste, Great bulking, Generally decent ingredients
The Bad: Still pricey/No serious bulk currently available.
The Basics: The Coffee truffle is everything fans of Lindt Lindor truffles might hope it to be . . . except available in a big box!


I understand a cautious approach being taken by confectioners when they release something new to the marketplace. Sure, one never knows quite how something will go over with the masses, but sometimes timidity is punished by consumers as well. When visiting the mall recently, my wife and I were given a sample of the brand new Lindt Coffee Lindor truffles. One taste and we were rushing back to buy more.

Unfortunately for those who fall in love with this flavor: 1. It is a temporary flavor until Lindt determines that there truly is a market for it and 2. It is not yet available in stores in any significant bulk. That means there is not currently a 120 piece box. There are the individual truffles, the small packs and buying them by the pound. But for those who want to truly stock up on this delightful chocolate (and anyone who loves the combination of coffee and chocolate will!), we are stuck buying the more (proportionately) expensive packs until we prove just how much we love this new truffle. Bummer.

Basics

Lindt Lindor Coffee truffles are one of the newest chocolate truffles from the Swiss chocolatiers Lindt & Sprungli and their U.S.-based subsidiary. Each truffle is a one inch sphere of chocolate with a shell about an eighth of an inch thick. This shell covers a thick chocolate coffee ganache ball inside and that center ball is a softer substance than the outer coating. Each of the truffles comes individually wrapped in a dark brown foil wrapper, which is fairly easy to distinguish from other Lindt Lindor truffles. The closest to the Coffee truffle is the 60% Cocoa Dark Chocolate Truffle. While I usually rail against the environmental impact of individually-wrapped candies, it is hard to imagine Lindt Lindor truffles not wrapped. This keeps each one clean, unmelted and intact.

Each Lindor Truffle is a sphere with a seam at the hemisphere that is essentially a chocolate globe sealing in a near-solid chocolate ball inside. Currently sold individually ($.50/ea), by the pound or in underwhelming 11.9 oz. packs (approximately 28 truffles), Coffee Lindor truffles are a little more expensive than most of the other flavors.

Ease of Preparation

These are candy, so preparing them is as simple as unwrapping the plastic wrapper around the actual chocolate truffles. There is no special way to unwrap or eat Lindt Lindor Coffee truffles; it's not like preparing a pot of coffee!

Taste

There is a strong scent to these Lindt Lindor Truffles, which is an obvious, wonderful and potent aroma of coffee. When one unwraps the foil around this candy, they are almost instantly overcome with the scent of fresh coffee and rich chocolate. The scent is unmistakable and it wafts away from this chocolate perfectly distinctly, making anyone who loves coffee salivate in anticipation.

That anticipation is well-rewarded by Lindt this time around! Setting the Coffee Lindor truffle on one's tongue immediately results in a flavor of rich, dark chocolate and coffee. To be fair, the Coffee truffle is not made with dark chocolate, but it sure tastes like it is because of the coffee which delightfully corrupts the outer milk chocolate. Pressing the tongue through the shell, one is rewarded with the flavor of coffee, bold, dry and delicious. The two flavors melt together onto the tongue in a particularly delightful blend which is entirely satisfying to those who love coffee and chocolate.

The Coffee Lindt Lindor truffles have a slight, dry aftertaste which is to be expected from chocolate and coffee. I enjoyed the aftertaste because for several minutes after eating each truffle, I could still enjoy the benefits of the flavor of each truffle.

Nutrition

Well, these are candy, so it is tough to look at these for something nutritious and then blame them for not being healthy. Lindt Lindor truffles are surprisingly good, though, which is probably why they are so expensive. The primary ingredients are sugar, vegetable oil and chocolate. Still, there is nothing unpronounable in these candies, which is something I have come to expect from Lindt.

A serving of the Lindt Lindor Coffee truffles is considered three balls. From three truffles, one consumes 220 calories, 160 of those calories being from fat. There is less than five milligrams of cholesterol, a negligible amount of sodium, nor any vitamins in these truffles, but seriously, did you think there would be? There is, however, 2% of one's daily iron and 2% of their daily calcium in three spheres, so there is something to rationalize gluttony to!

Honestly, these are candy and anyone looking to them for actual nutrition needs to get a reality check. These are not Vegan-compliant, nor are they recommended for anyone with a nut allergy as they are produced on the same equipment that peanuts (and tree nuts) pass over. They are, not marked as kosher, nor gluten-free.

Storage/Clean-up

The bag of these Lindt Lindor Coffee truffles remain fresh for quite some time. However, they ought to be kept in a cool environment between 60 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Kept in such an environment, the bag of truffles we bought a week ago should have lasted until next year, but it didn't (because we gobbled them down at every opportunity).

As for cleanup, throw the wrappers in the garbage and that is all the cleanup needed! Outside that, there is no real cleanup needed, unless one is eating them in a hot environment. In that case, it is likely one would need to wash their hands. If these truffles melt into most fabrics, they will stain. For that style of clean-up, be sure to consult a fabric guide for whatever you stained.

Overall

The Lindt Coffee Lindor Truffles are truly great and if we have to buy them a little more expensively at first, it is worth it in order to insure that Lindt keeps making these!

For other Lindt treats, please check out my reviews of:
Lindt Orange Chocolate Truffles
Lindt Raspberry Lindor Truffles
Lindt Pistachio Nut Bar

8/10

For other food reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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