I got today’s candies the best possible way: the mall See’s stand had a little basket of individually wrapped candies by the register, and the owner told me to help myself to as many as I wanted. I nabbed a Cafe Latte Krispy and Mint Krispy, along with a Butterscotch Square and Dark Butterchew.

Both pieces were squares of flavored toffee covered with a thin layer of chocolate. The Cafe Latte Krispy was a golden brown coffee toffee hidden in milk chocolate.

The toffee chip cleaved into shards with a great crunch. It had a bit of a tendency to gather as grit in my molars but mostly melted on my tongue.

The thin milk chocolate coating melted thickly and tasted of malt and caramel. The toffee had a nice coffee flavor without any bitterness. Combined with the chocolate, it had a nice mocha frappucino effect.

The toffee crispness kept the whole treat feeling light. It was a nice mix of texture and flavor and OM-worthy.

The Mint Krispy was a white mint toffee covered in dark chocolate. The texture of the mint toffee was the same as that of the Cafe Latte: light and crisp.

The minty center was powerful in flavor and scent. It tasted strongly of peppermint oil and was nearly spicy in how it set my mouth a-tingling, with just a hint of bitterness to the finish.

The strength of that mintiness overpowered the dark chocolate, which came through as just a hint of cocoa flavor undertone. I enjoyed the treat but it was too minty. An O.

See’s has long been one of my favorite confectioners for good reason. They make delicious treats at reasonable price points, and they may be enough impetus to get me back to the mall more than once every six months.

As I noted on Wednesday, Javaz are chocolate covered coffee beans that are then covered with a shiny sugar shell. The milk ones were lovely, and the dark ones even more so.

With their deep obsidian shells lightly flecked with bits of white, they could be little marble pebbles. Just check out that lovely sheen!

Thankfully, they’re much more edible than actual pebbles. The dark chocolate was a bit stiffer than the softer milk chocolate. Otherwise, the textural combination of sugar shell crunch and coffee grit was similar to that of the milk Javaz.

The chocolate had a lightly sweet fruitiness in its body and a slightly smokiness to the finish. I think the deepness of the chocolate made for a better foil for the bitterness of the beans.

Each complimented the other, so that the bitter astringency of the coffee was reduced and the fruitiness of the chocolate was amped up. For me, this was an addictive combination. An OMG.

They’re chocolate covered coffee beans – a once novel treat that’s become fairly run of the mill these days – but with a twist: they’re also covered with a candy shell.

The beans are absolutely gorgeous to behold. The milk chocolate ones had smooth and shiny cream colored shells flecked with brown. If they were stones, they’d make gorgeous earrings!

The shell was crunchy and lightly sweet while the beans in the center were gritty. It wasn’t the most pleasing texture combination, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker for me.

The milk chocolate was sweet with a nice butteriness to the finish. It reminded me of a Hershey’s Cookies and Cream bar, thanks to some creamy dairy notes.

The coffee bean was doing the heaviest flavor lifting here. At times, I felt it overpowered the lovely nuance of the milk chocolate, but when you buy a coffee treat, you expect the coffee to be a star, so I shouldn’t complain. An OM for this version.

There was something slightly alarming about the warning on the package, “Not for minors and pregnant women.” But coffee marshmallows are a novel treat, so I was willing to give them a try.

The Mocca Mallow was labeled as a “cocoa espresso marshmallow snack” and contained 200 mg of caffeine, roughly the equivalent of a couple of cups of coffee.

It was surprisingly dense and looked more like a brownie than a marshmallow. It was fun to squish it between my fingers. When eaten, the texture was fluffy, like a sponge, but lacked all spronginess when chewed.

It tasted quite sweet and heavily of coffee but managed to lack bitterness. The chocolate flavor was deep and well balanced with the coffee. An OM.

The Coffee Mallow was a “double coffee marshmallow snack”, also with 200 mg of caffeine. It had a mild roasty flavor and a sweet finish. There was a slight bitterness to it that the Mocca lacked.

The texture had a bit of sugary graininess but was otherwise similarly fluffy. The coffee flavor was nice, but the treat as a whole lacked the complexity of the Mocca. An O.

Finally, the Java Mallow was a “double espresso marshmallow snack” with a whopping 280 mg of caffeine. As expected, the coffee flavor was even punchier here.

I think this marshmallow was even denser than the other two. Its finish was both bitter and sugary sweet. Another O.

I enjoyed the flavors and textures of these, but I think their caffeine wallop overwhelmed my usually caffeine-free system. I had a couple of bites of each, and a few hours later, I had an upset stomach and a caffeine headache.

Their caffeine content is not to be taken lightly! If you’re not as sensitive to the effects of caffeine as I am, they’re definitely a tasty way to perk yourself up. My ratings apply to their taste, not to their side effects, as I know I’m not Caffex’s target consumer base.

Ebidebby of Snack Love also reviewed these, if you’d like another take. She too, felt their buzz.

Kheops was described as, “crunchy gianduja and whole almond.” It came in a pretty flat-topped pyramid shape with Kheops etched into the side.

The center gianduja was rather dry and pasty. It had a light, almost airy crunch that made me think there were rice crisps inside.

The chocolate and hazelnut filling tasted sweet and fruity with notes of citrus. Hitting the center whole almond bought a nuttiness to the confection, but the finish was still too fruity for my taste. An O.

Evasion was a square “hazelnut and almond praline” with leaves etched on top. It had the same citrus fruitiness of the Kheops.

The almond praline was featured in little crunchy toffee bits. They would have been a nice addition to nearly any treat, but the cloying, cocoa finish of the rest of the Evasion was off-putting enough to outweigh any praline benefit. An –.

Arabica was described pretty simply as “coffee mousse.” I thought it was the most visually striking, with the contrast between the chocolate brown coffee bean (not a real bean; it was made of chocolate) and the white chocolate coating.

Biting into the Arabica revealed even more contrasts – the inside ganache was milk chocolate. It tasted lightly of coffee with a slight, almost burnt bitterness. The whole thing made me think of Mocha Frappuccinos.

The ganache was thick and, like the other chocolates in this box, a tad too sweet for my taste. Another O.

Finally, the Coupelle, which was, “crunchy chocolate mousse.” It was a pretty little fluted cup of ganache topped with crunchy chocolate sprinkles.

This was by far my favorite of the bunch. It was made with dark chocolate. It was still sweet, but not as cloying as the others, and the cocoa flavors were deeper with red fruit notes.

And it had an amazing dusky finish that made it addictive. Furthermore, those chocolate sprinkles added a nice depth of cocoa flavor. An OM.

I’m really glad that I didn’t pay full price for these chocolates, as the Coupelle is the only one that I would want to eat again. Overall, not recommended, despite all the fancy packaging and hoity-toity names.

There are three bars in the winter line: the Coffee bar, the ‘Bert bar, and the Honey bar.

The Coffee bar was “coffee caramel with toasted walnuts hand-dipped in 70% dark chocolate. It smelled dark and roasty, just on the delicious side of nearly-burnt.

It tasted dark and deep upon first bite. The caramel had a light pull to it and tasted of roasted coffee with a light bitterness.

The walnuts were mixed throughout the caramel. They added a serious crunch and a nutty, oily aroma. Finally, the chocolate added a layer of deep cocoa. An OM.

The ‘Bert bar was “milk chocolate, filberts, peanut butter, and crispy rice hand-dipped in 70% dark chocolate.” Its filling was a mix of milk chocolate embedded with large chunks of filbert nuts and crunchy, crispy rice.

There was a hint of peanut butteriness to the flavor as a light undertone. It mostly tasted of toasty crisped rice and the nuttiness of the filberts. There was noticeable sea salt sprinkled throughout that added a nice sparkle. An OMG.

The honey bar was my favorite of the bunch. It was “honey caramel with filbert nougat hand-dipped in 70% dark chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt.”

The bar was comprised of a thick layer of a soft, not-at-all sticky caramel topped with a filbert-studded layer of sweet and soft nougat, all covered in dark chocolate with a sprinkle of sea salt crystals.

Holy cow was it delicious! The nougat had a wonderfully light roasty nuttiness from the filberts, but it was the honey caramel that set this bar apart. It was absolutely limpid, with a pure honey tinge and a light hint of deep butterscotch to the finish.

The chocolate took a nice supporting role here, while the sprinkles of salt highlighted the caramel and chocolate. It was a perfectly balanced mix of flavors and textures. A ZOMG!

If you don’t live near Portland, Oregon, where these bars can be found in stores, you can get them from Etsy. They don’t come cheap, at $20 + shipping for a set of 4 bars, but those Honey bars are totally worth it!

From left to right, the top row is Marzipan, Mocha, Peppermint, and Gianduja. The bottom row is Paris, Raspberry, Amaretto, and Champagne (which was identical to that of Monday’s wine truffle collection).

Marizpan was dark chocolate contrasted against a dry and crumbly marzipan center. I could feel the bits of almond in it, which makes me think it could have been homemade.

The marzipan was sweet and grainy. It wasn’t as sweet as marzipan can get, but it was still on the sweet side for me. And it had a light residual mintiness from the Peppermint truffle.

Mocha was made of milk chocolate and topped with a little roasted coffee bean. Most of the coffee flavor came from the bean, though if you look closely, you can see little black flecks of bean in the ganache.

The ganache was sweet and tasted of fruit and caramel. As one of my friends put it, it would be great if coffee could taste like this truffle!

Peppermint was a dark chocolate shell cut with a white chocolate slash and filled with a dark chocolate ganache. The filling was mild and understated, sweet with a light freshness. It was like a quietly sophisticated and much-weakened York Peppermint Patty.

Gianduja (below) had a milk chocolate shell with a nutty gianduja (chocolate and hazelnut) filling. The filling was amazingly genuine – I could tell that it was made with real hazelnuts, as it had that hint-of-astringency edge to it. It was definitely a cut above Nutella!

Paris was the ambiguously named one of the lot. Its center was a smooth, fatty, buttery caramel-flavored ganache with a savory finish. Think sophisticated butterscotch.

Raspberry was sprinkled with the red dust of crushed, dehydrated berries. Its ganache had a thick and sticky texture.

This truffle packed a powerfully bright punch of genuine raspberry fruit flavor, like a whole flat of berries concentrated into just one bite. It also had a great tanginess to it, and just a hint of manageable astringency to the finish.

Finally, Amaretto, easily identifiable by its topping of crushed almonds.

I love the taste of Amaretto, especially drizzled over vanilla ice cream. I loved the smell of this – just like uncorking a bottle of the actual liqueur.

Its ganache and flavor was smooth and buttery and tasted of sweet, almond extract. The liqueur was nicely highlighted with the crushed almond bits.

The Amaretto, Raspberry, and Gianduja were the standouts of this bunch. They get OMGs, while the box as a whole is OM-worthy. I really enjoyed it, but not as much as I enjoyed the wine truffles.

The Meltykisses came in impressive packaging. The outer cardboard box had a perforated flap that opened to turn the box into a serving piece. Conveniently, that flap that could be easily, repeatedly resealed with just a slight touch. Why can’t my cereal boxes do that?

Inside, the Meltykiss cubes were individually wrapped in pretty checkered foil wrappers. Coffee’s wrapper was blue. A strong coffee scent flooded out as soon as I tore the wrapper open.

The coffee Meltykiss was like a little cube-shaped truffle: a tan center with a thin milk chocolate coating. The texture wasn’t as smooth and melty as the name had me imagine. Instead, it had a bit of a grainy crumble when I bit into it before then melting in my mouth.

It tasted mostly of cappuccino/frappuccino – a sweeter, milder take that bypassed the deeper roasted flavors of unadulterated coffee. Still, it was quite tasty, if a bit sweet, with an appropriately bitter finish. An OM.

Black sesame came in a sea green and brown checked wrapper. Its composition was similar to that of the coffee version, only the inside filling was a purply-grey studded with black flecks (below right).

I was initially surprised at how well the milk chocolate went with the nutty, roasty, slightly bitter sesame. Then I remembered Hedonist’s delicious sesame bark, and it all clicked.

I loved how the savory black sesame mingled nuttily with the sweet cocoa. Sesame and chocolate are a stellar combination that should really be featured more often. It gets an OMG.

On the one hand, I regret not buying more boxes and more varieties of Meltykiss. On the other hand, it’s probably good that I don’t have too many of these addictively delicious fatty truffles hanging out in the house.

I can’t read any of the Japanese text on the packaging – if any readers know, feel free to leave a translation in the comments! I think the cherry blossom in the bottom left corner means that it’s a Limited Edition/seasonal flavor.

Like all the Japanese Kit Kats that I’ve had, these came in two individually wrapped sets of two fingers each. More packaging makes it less environmentally friendly, but it does help with portion control.

I probably would’ve eaten my way through all four fingers if they hadn’t come separately packaged (tangent: what a weird sentence out of context). That would’ve been bad, as it would have meant no sharing.

This Kit Kat was made from white chocolate. I’m usually not that big on white chocolate, but this was a pretty tasty white chocolate. It tasted fresh, creamy, and milky.

From the looks and taste of it, the coffee flavor was stashed in the cream that sat within the wafers. It tasted deep and crazy roasty, like a fresh brewed pot of coffee.

There was a light bitterness to coffee, but that only added to the genuine flavor. The coffee taste lingered in the finish, long after the chocolate had melted and the airy, crisp wafers had been crunched away.

I loved this bar, with its great mix of textures and solid coffee flavor. An OMG from me. If you want other takes on it, check out what Jim and Jen had to say!

I, unfortunately, had never been lucky enough to catch it in the wild in any of its previous incarnations, so this was my first time trying it. My packaging made no mention of limited-edition-ness. Perhaps that means it’s here to stay?

The wrapper describes it as “chocolate cookies bars; coffee caramel; milk chocolate.” The back of the wrapper proudly proclaims it to be made with Mars’s real chocolate.

It’s like a regular Twix bar, only the cookie is chocolate and the caramel is coffee tinged. If you’re not familiar with Twix, they come in “fingers”, with a bottom layer of cookie and a top layer of caramel, with the whole thing covered in milk chocolate.

The caramel was sticky yet smooth with a candied coffee flavor. It had a beautiful pull.

The coffee flavor was dry and roasty, with burnt caramel and cocoa notes. As the flavor progressed, it got darker. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the coffee flavor.

The chocolate cookie was soft and dry, and it crumbled rather than crunched. The milk chocolate coating was just so-so, sweet without any distinction.

I give this an OM. I wish the cookie were just a tad crunchier, but otherwise, I thought it was a great mix of flavors and textures. In fact, I like it better than regular Twix, as it’s less sweet and more interesting.