The Good: Great bulking, Generally decent ingredients
The Bad: Not as flavorful as I might have hoped.
The Basics: The Lindt Cappuccino Lindor truffle is adequate, but not extraordinary, for those who love coffee and chocolate together!
One of the truly nice things about going on vacation is being able to encounter and experience things one loves, but no longer has access to. For me, one such thing is being able to stop at a local Lindt chocolate shop. While on vacation to Minnesota, we went to the Mall Of America (reviewed here!), where I was coerced by my wife into buying all of the flavors of Lindt Lindor Truffles that have been released since we moved from upstate New York to northern Michigan. The first one I am sampling for review is the Cappuccino flavored truffle.
Unfortunately, this is not an auspicious or particularly compelling start to my renewed exploration of Lindt Lindor truffles. The Cappuccino truffles are not bad, not by any means, but they are less remarkable and flavorful than I would like.
Basics
Lindt Lindor Cappuccino 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 white chocolate with a shell about an eighth of an inch thick. This shell covers a thick chocolate Cappuccino ganache ball inside and that center ball is a softer substance than the outer coating. Each of the truffles comes individually wrapped in a light purple-brown foil wrapper, which is fairly easy to distinguish from other Lindt Lindor truffles. The closest truffle to the Cappuccino – by the wrappers – is the Irish Cream 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 white chocolate globe sealing in a near-solid coffee-flavored ball inside. Currently sold individually (at approximately $.75/ea), by the pound or in various-sized packs outside the Lindt retail stores, Cappuccino Lindor truffles are priced the same as the rest of their non-exclusive truffle flavors.
Ease of Preparation
These are candy, so preparing them is as simple as unwrapping the plastic/foil wrapper around the actual chocolate truffles. There is no special way to unwrap or eat Lindt Lindor Cappuccino truffles; it's not like preparing a pot of Cappuccino!
Taste
Opening the wrapper from the Cappuccino truffles, the white chocolate emits a very faint coffee flavor in addition to the white chocolate scent. This is a truffle that has a very subtle scent to it; it is not one of the more aromatic Lindt Lindor truffles. The scent is more creamy than coffee, but it is inviting for those who love lattes or cappuccinos.
Despite being speckled with (apparently) coffee bits in the white chocolate, the coating of the Cappuccino Lindt Lindor Truffle is entirely creamy and white-chocolate flavored. As the coating melts away, the less-solid center of the Cappuccino truffle bursts out with a sweet, coffee flavor. The coffee flavor is much less dark than the flavor from the Coffee truffles (reviewed here!), arguably because it is cut by the sweet, creamy white chocolate coating of the Cappuccino truffles. The combination of white chocolate and coffee flavors is good, but it takes a while before the white chocolate coating dissipates enough for the coffee flavor to assert itself properly and fully.
The Cappuccino lindor truffles leave a faint, slightly dry coffee flavor on the tongue for about two minutes after one has consumed them.
Nutrition
The Cappuccino Lindt Lindor truffles 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 made of good ingredients, though, which is probably why they are so expensive. The primary ingredients are white chocolate, vegetable oil and sugar. There is nothing unpronounable in these candies, which is something I have come to expect from Lindt, and there is actual coffee in the ingredient list.
A serving of the Lindt Lindor Cappuccino truffles is one truffle (finally, a serving size that makes these look as nutritious as they are delicious!). From a single truffle, one consumes 70 calories, 50 of those calories being from fat. There are five milligrams of Sodium, but no cholesterol in these truffles. This flavor is also devoid of any vitamins in these truffles. There is, however, 2% of one’s RDA of calcium in a sphere, 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 Lindt Lindor Cappuccino 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 truffles we bought a week ago would have lasted until next year, but it won't (because we are enjoying them fully!).
As for cleanup, throw the wrappers in the garbage and that is all of 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 Cappuccino Lindor Truffles would get a higher rating from me if only they were called “Latte.” Seriously. As a coffee enthusiast with an espresso machine at home, I love strong coffee. The Cappuccino truffles embody a flavor much closer to lattes than cappuccino beverages. As a cappuccino-flavored truffle, they fall a little short, despite being flavorful enough to make me happy we found a Lindt store on our vacation!
For other Lindt treats, please check out my reviews of:
Lindt Excellence Chili Chocolate Squares
70% Cacoa Chocolate Squares
70% Cocoa Almond Brittle Chocolate Bar
5.5/10
For other food reviews, please check out my Food Review Index Page!
© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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